Forem: Mohammed Husain

How AI Is Rewriting the Way We Learn and Consume Knowledge

Mohammed Husain — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 19:14:25 +0000

Imagine needing a week to find the answer to a single question. That was the reality not too long ago. Now you can get it in seconds. But is faster always better?

This post is a deep dive into how the way we consume knowledge has changed over time, especially with AI stepping into the picture. We’ll walk through the past, examine the present, and explore how to keep learning in a world where information moves faster than ever.

Back When Learning Took Patience

Before the internet, knowledge was a long game. Books were rare, experts were hard to reach, and finding the right answer often meant physically going to a library or writing letters to professors.

In 1982, a study published in Educational Researcher noted that college students spent an average of 10 to 15 hours per week researching in libraries just for assignments.

Now contrast that with a 2022 report by the World Economic Forum, which stated that “the same amount of knowledge that took a decade to acquire in the 1970s can be absorbed in under 7 days today” due to digital tools, video learning, and AI-powered platforms.
We valued knowledge because it took effort to find and understand it.

The Shift: Key Tech That Changed How We Learn

Here’s a quick timeline of when things started moving faster:

1996 – Google Search launched. Finding information became easier than asking a person.
2001 – Wikipedia went live. Crowd-sourced knowledge became the new encyclopedia.
2005 – YouTube started. Visual learning exploded and “how-to” became a top search format.
2012 – MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) took off with platforms like Coursera and Udemy.
2022 – ChatGPT arrived. AI could now explain, simplify, summarize, and tutor.

The Impact of AI on How We Learn

The Good

Instant clarity: You no longer need to read three books to understand one topic. Ask once, get a summary, and dig deeper when needed.
Personalized learning: Tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI tutors adapt to your pace and style.
More creators, more sharing: Anyone can teach or explain now (look at me). AI helps write, illustrate, and even code ideas into reality.

The Not-So-Good

Shallow learning: With fast answers, we often skip understanding. We know the what but forget the why.
Too much, too often: There is so much content that we start consuming without intention. This leads to burnout.
Dependency: Over time, we rely so much on AI that we stop trusting our own problem-solving ability.

So How Do You Keep Up Without Burning Out?

Here are a few strategies:

Be curious but intentional: Don’t just type questions for quick fixes. Ask follow-ups. Go deeper. Let curiosity lead, not urgency.
Let AI guide, not decide: Use it to explore different angles. Then pause, reflect, and form your own understanding.
Balance consumption with creation: Reading and watching is great. But make sure you’re also writing, explaining, or building something with what you’ve learned. That’s when knowledge sticks.
Practice digital minimalism: Pick a few trusted sources or tools and stick to them. You don’t need every newsletter, every course, every thread.
Schedule ‘deep dive’ sessions: Block 30 minutes daily or a couple of hours weekly where you go deep on one topic. No multitasking. Just learning with full presence.

Summary

AI has cracked open the gates of knowledge. It’s no longer a matter of if you can learn something. It’s a matter of how you do it meaningfully.

So yes, the world is moving fast. But you don’t need to run to keep up. You just need to be aware of what you’re consuming, why you’re consuming it, and how you’re using it.

Stay curious. Stay grounded. Use the tools. But don’t forget the value of patience, focus, and depth.

You are not falling behind. You’re just learning to learn differently.

What If I Told You Prompt Engineering Could Make You a Better Leader?

Mohammed Husain — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 04:02:56 +0000

When people talk about AI, they usually mention code generation, productivity hacks, or content creation. But here’s something you don’t hear every day:

AI can actually help you become a great leader.

Not in some abstract, futuristic way, but right now, in the real challenges you're facing with your team, time, and decision-making.

Let me share how I discovered this.

My Experience: Leading with AI at Ecobee

At Ecobee, I led a team of 12 technical support specialists. We were in the middle of a big transition, moving from UKG to Workday. As anyone who's dealt with platform migrations knows, this meant new workflows, retraining, and lots of uncertainty.

Team members had questions. Documentation was scattered. Training sessions were eating up too much time.

So I decided to bring AI into the room.
I opened ChatGPT and wrote a detailed prompt:

Prompt: “Create a 2-page training summary for Workday tailored to support reps who were previously using UKG. Highlight key differences, use plain language, and include a sample workflow.”

What came out was surprisingly solid. I edited the tone, aligned it with our team’s voice, and shared it internally.

It saved us hours. Training sessions became smoother. The team felt more confident.
And most importantly, I had more time to focus on listening, guiding, and being present as a leader.

What Prompt Engineering Really Means

Prompt engineering sounds complicated, but it’s really about asking questions thoughtfully. The better you frame your request, the better the response you get from AI.

Prompt engineering is:

Asking the right questions
Giving the right context
Getting the right output

Think:
❌ “Summarize Workday.”
✅ “Summarize Workday in simple terms for tech support agents transitioning from UKG, focusing on time-off requests and schedule changes.”

It’s not about being technical. It’s about being intentional.

Tools Beyond ChatGPT That Can Help You Lead Smarter

Here are a few AI tools I’ve explored or seen others benefit from:

Tool	Free Tier	Paid (USD/month)
Perplexity	✔️ Free	$20 Pro / $40 Enterprise
Pi.ai	✔️ Free only	—
Klap	❌ No	$29 Basic / $79 Pro / $189 Pro+
Beautiful.ai	❌ No	$12 Individual / $38–46 Team
Notion AI	Limited free use	$8–10 add-on (workspace) → \$18–25 total
Reclaim.ai	✔️ Free	$8 Starter / $12 Business / $18 Enterprise

You don’t need to master them all, just experiment and see what fits your flow.

How Can AI Help You Lead Better?

Here’s where AI makes you a 10x leader:

Communication: Auto-draft tricky emails with the right tone 🎯
Strategy: Brainstorm ideas with zero bias 🤝
Conflict Resolution: Simulate conversations before the real ones 🧘
Coaching: Role-play feedback sessions to become more empathetic 💬
Decision Making: Compare pros/cons fast with reliable data 📈

The Takeaway

AI won’t replace your leadership instincts. But it will give you leverage.

It helps clear the clutter so you can focus on what actually matters, your team, your vision, and your ability to lead with clarity and intention.

And once you start using it this way, you’ll wonder how you ever led without it.

Why Everyone’s Talking About AI Now (Even Though It’s Been Around for 100 Years) What Changed?

Mohammed Husain — Wed, 28 May 2025 17:40:12 +0000

My friend Hatim messaged me the other day.
“Bro, this AI is scary. Is it going to replace all of us?”

This same friend has been relying on Google Maps, trusting Netflix recommendations, and using Face ID to unlock his iPhone for years. All of that is powered by AI. And it never once scared him.

So what changed? 🤖

The moment AI started sounding...human.

We have lived with AI for a long time. It sorted emails, flagged spam, told your phone when to sleep, and suggested which video you might like next.

It was helpful but quiet. A background assistant that did its job and stayed invisible.

Then came tools like ChatGPT, Gemini!

Now AI writes your work email
It explains your messy code
It helps you brainstorm startup ideas at 3 in the morning, that’s when people started paying attention.

Before vs now 🔄

Let’s make this simple:

Back then:

Your phone corrected typos
Spotify guessed your vibe
Gmail guessed how you wanted to reply

Now:

AI writes blog posts
It drafts business proposals
It gives you movie ideas and relationship advice

Same tech under the hood. But now it talks like you. Acts like you. Thinks with you. That’s a whole new vibe.

What really changed

Generative AI in Natural Language Processing: It means AI that can understand and create human-like language; writing emails, stories, or code, based on the way we naturally speak and that hits different.😱 (will talk about it in detail in the next post)

Old AI was a tool
New AI feels like a teammate
Sometimes it even feels like a clone

We have been using AI without realizing

Every time your bank flags a suspicious transaction
Every time YouTube keeps you on the platform for two hours
Every time your camera blurs the background on a video call That was AI doing its thing

We never feared it. Because it was silent, useful, and in the background

The fear started when AI stopped whispering and started speaking 🗣️

So why are we so conscious about it now? 🙇🏽‍♂️

Because for the first time, AI is showing us a version of ourselves.

It is not just helping with tasks - It is performing them
It is not just learning rules - It is mimicking style
It is not just solving problems - It is doing what we thought only humans could do

⸻

What this really means

AI is not new but now we see it and it sees us back. 👀

The question is not “what can it do"
The real question is “what are we going to do with it

AI Won’t Replace You But Someone Who Uses It Efficiently Will

Mohammed Husain — Tue, 20 May 2025 14:03:09 +0000

I’ve spent the last year as a Technical Lead leaning on AI every day, and trust me, it’s brilliant at repetitive work but stumbles on creativity and context. AI alone won’t steal your job and the ones who do exactly what they’re told will get left behind.

We’ve been bombarded with thumbnails and podcasts screaming “Coding is dead,” “Software engineer is dead,” etc..etc..all clickbait hype.

🤔 Are You at Risk of Being Replaced?

You will be replaced if you are robotic and do only what you are told to.
You will be replaced if you lack creative problem solving and never push beyond the obvious.

In other words: if your value is just “execute tasks,” AI can do it faster. But when you bring empathy, critical thinking, context and creativity; no algorithm can match that.

🤜🤛 Why AI Feels Like Your Work Buddy

Cuts out the repetitive stuff so you can dive into real challenges
Sparks fresh angles when you hit a wall or need to switch gears
Teaches you neat new tricks and tools as you go

Here’s an example of how it helped me:

In October 2024 at ecobee, a firmware update sent our SmartSensors out of sync, causing odd temperature swings and a flood of support tickets. I fed AI our device logs and error reports, and it quickly spotted a timing glitch in the sensor handshake. It even generated a simple diagnostic script. We rolled that out in under 24 hours, cut sensor-sync tickets in half, and gave our engineers back their evenings.

How to Partner with AI and Become Irreplaceable

Define your goal before you prompt.
Add context, share your project details, constraints and audience.
Iterate on outputs, ask “what if” questions, refine tone, request examples.
Inject your judgement, review suggestions, adapt them to real-world needs.
Measure and learn, track which prompts and models boost your productivity.

Real World Use Cases

📝 Drafting complex documentation in minutes, then infusing it with your voice.
🔍 Generating test cases from user stories so you never miss an edge case.
⚙️ Automating deployment scripts so you can audit and optimize them.
📊 Summarizing meeting transcripts into action items that actually get done.
💬 Role playing stakeholder interviews to sharpen your communication skills.

Keep Growing and Follow My AI Prompt Research

I’m diving deep into AI prompting every week, testing new tricks to boost efficiency, spark creativity and solve real-world challenges. Follow me here on DEV.to to get the latest insights and prompts that will help you own your role in the age of AI.