How Learning AI Is Holding You Back - What The AI Gurus Don't Tell You

Stop drowning in learning debt and start building with AI today.

Watch today’s article as a YouTube video here:

So yesterday, I got another reminder how pernicious consuming AI educational content can be. I came across a Substack note that was cross-posted on LinkedIn and that was one of those “everything and the kitchen sink” laundry list of resources, positioned to be the “ultimate roadmap for learning to build with AI”.

Here’s a quick snapshot of SOME of what it contained. The more I read, the more hopelessly overwhelmed and dumb I felt.

This creator is actually smart. She knows full well that this content gets a ton of reach, not because it will actually help people and not because people will sit down to read through the laundry list and take these courses. She knows it will get shared because:

1) People love to incur learning debt (I’ll save this for “some day” when I can read through all these resources in detail), and

2) People love to telegraph how smart they are by resharing something obviously so “technical” and “smart”. It makes them look smart by association.

The Learning Trap

And it’s also a trap. A trap that junks up your brain and stores yet another “resources” for future learning. In other words, you’re using the precious RAM of your brain to not build something, but to store something that “may be useful” or that may make you feel smarter, but doesn’t have any practical value to you right now.

Will knowing the Stanford CS course numbers help you build that AI app next week? Doubtful. What about going through Microsoft’s AI curriculum? It might, but unlikely, given that I’ve yet to have my AI development blocked on learning what Microsoft has to say about AI.

The Way Out

While everyone else is creating endless lists of courses, resources, and technical jargon that leave you feeling overwhelmed and inadequate, I've discovered the ONE THING that's actually helping non-technical people build production-ready AI apps in record time.

And it's the exact OPPOSITE of what most gurus are telling you to do.

Let me explain...

For the past several months, I've been leading a group called the Vibe Builders Collective - a community of primarily non-technical product managers (with a few engineers sprinkled in) who are building real AI applications without traditional coding backgrounds.

And I found something interesting - the biggest obstacle preventing people from even starting to build with AI isn't lack of technical knowledge or being unprepared. It's the feeling “I’m not ready yet because I haven’t read all these resources and taken all these courses and learned all these acronyms”. In other words, Vibe Builders are feeling the CRUSHING WEIGHT OF AI LEARNING DEBT.

Beware The AI Learning Trap: It’s Everywhere

Here’s the problem. We’re literally drowning in Substack posts, emails and YouTube videos just like the one above because, as I explained, they are designed to get shared by looking extremely “smart”:

"Start with fundamentals: ML and software foundations..."

"Take these Stanford and MIT computer science courses..."

"Master TensorFlow, Keras, FastAPI, AsyncPython, Docker..."

"Understand vector databases, RAG systems, and LLM architecture..."

The lists go on and on, with dozens of courses, books, and technical terms that might as well be written in hieroglyphics if you're not already deep in the AI engineering world.

Here's what happens: you bookmark these resources, feeling at the same time impressed by the creator and overwhelmed by how much you apparently need to learn. You tell yourself you'll "get to it someday" when you have time to take all these courses.

But that day never comes. The only thing that has happened is you’ve incurred LEARNING DEBT. And your AI vibe building project has still not been touched.

The Vibe Builders Approach: Learn As You Build

I'm doing something radically different with my Vibe Builders Collective, and it's working pretty well.

Instead of drowning in courses before writing a single line of code, we start with picking an actual concrete, “this is what it does” project and learn exactly and only what we need along the way. In fact, we have a rule to not learn more than we need in a building session.

Let me show you how this works in practice:

I'm currently building a commercial app called the FA Content System for financial advisors. I have beta customers lined up and a launch date scheduled - there's no wiggle room for endless learning.

So when I encounter terms like "RAG evals" and "vector databases" that I need to understand, I resist the urge to dive into the learning rabbit hole and take 5 different month’s long courses. Instead, I:

1. Create an architecture document with Perplexity AI (see my post on how to create all the structural documentation for your AI project in under 5 hours)

2. Ask my Perplexity AI Dev Coaching Space (in Deep Learning or Labs mode) to analyze my architecture and building approached based on any new information I encounter in my feed or email.

3. Evaluate the specific, actionable recommendations of how this information applies (or doesn’t) to MY project, and

4. Evolve the architecture and approach and implemented any changes immediately

This approach has saved me countless hours of unnecessary learning while still giving me exactly what I need to move forward with actual BUILDING, and not stuffing my brain with theoretical information.

The OLD vs. NEW Way of Learning AI Development

Let me break down why the traditional approach to learning AI development is fundamentally broken:

OLD MODEL:

- Learn everything before building anything

- Take dozens of courses and read multiple textbooks

- Understand every technical concept and framework

- Feel overwhelmed and never actually start building

- Incur massive learning debt that creates psychological resistance

NEW MODEL:

- Start with a specific project goal

- Learn exactly what you need when you need it

- Use AI tools to help you understand complex concepts

- Build incrementally and improve as you go

- Experience the satisfaction of creating something real

The old model assumes that knowledge is the bottleneck - that you need to understand everything before you can build anything.

But in today's world of powerful AI tools, the real bottleneck is TAKING ACTION. The people who are succeeding aren't the ones with the most comprehensive theoretical knowledge. They're the ones who are actively building, testing, and learning through direct experience.

Why This Matters Right Now

The window of opportunity for non-technical people to capitalize on AI app development is WIDE OPEN - but it won't stay that way forever.

Every day you spend drowning in courses instead of building is a day you're falling behind those who are creating real applications and gaining practical experience.

The truth is, you don't need to understand every technical term or framework to build something valuable. You just need to start with a clear goal, use the right tools, and learn as you go.

This is what we're doing in the Vibe Builders Collective - creating a space where people can learn through building, get support when they hit roadblocks, and celebrate wins together as they create real AI applications.

Join the Vibe Builders Movement

If you're tired of feeling overwhelmed by endless resources and ready to start actually building with AI, I've got good news.

I've just opened up paid subscriptions to the Vibe Builders Substack, where I share everything I'm learning about building production-ready AI applications without traditional coding skills.

And if you subscribe to the paid tier, you'll also get an invite to our Vibe Builders Collective on Slack, where we have specific onboarding projects designed to take complete beginners through the process of building increasingly complex AI applications.

No more learning debt. No more feeling inadequate. Just practical, hands-on experience building real things that solve real problems.

The choice is yours:

You can keep bookmarking comprehensive resource lists that make you feel like you’re hopelessly falling behind...

OR

You can join a community of builders who are learning exactly what they need, when they need it, and creating valuable AI applications right now.

What will you choose?

If you’re a paid Substack subscriber, here’s a recording of our live call collaborating and learning as we build Onboarding Project 3 from scratch in Replit, using Perplexity as a guide: