Everything that could go wrong with technology did in this episode. The livestream crashed, the fan beeped, and I was left scrambling in real-time.

It turned out to be the perfect metaphor for how most people use AI: expecting magic without understanding the process.

In this episode, I take you behind the scenes of how I actually work with AI tools like Manus, ChatGPT, and Perplexity. Nothing polished or perfect, but the messy, real version where I'm designing political t-shirts for IMMI Shirts and showing you exactly what works and what doesn't.

Most people treat AI like Google: type a question, get an answer, move on. That's why it feels useless.

The real power comes when you stop delegating and start partnering, when you give the AI your raw, unedited thinking and let it help you see connections you might have missed.

I walk through a real example: creating designs inspired by the inflatable frog that stood up to ICE. You'll see the difference between the "empty prompt" approach (useless) and the "thinking partner" approach (game-changing).

But we also need to talk about the hard truths: the environmental cost of these models, the companies racing toward monopoly, and how we reconcile using these tools while staying true to our values.

The goal isn't mastering AI. The goal is mastering yourself.

Key Takeaways:

• Why "AI" is a meaningless term, think products, not technology (ChatGPT ≠ Manus ≠ Perplexity)
• The "empty prompt" problem: why most people get useless responses from AI
• The voice recording method: how verbalizing your thinking unlocks better AI responses
• Real example: designing political t-shirts using AI as a thinking partner, not a task machine
• Why sharing your raw, unedited thinking gets better results than "perfect prompts"
• The magic of partnership: how AI stops asking questions and starts creating with you
• The critical truth: AI companies' environmental harm, political interference, and monopoly race
• Why the humanity you bring matters more than the tool itself
• The goal isn't mastering AI, it's mastering yourself