Brainstorming With the Future

In my weekly YouTube video and podcast with Anthony Pompliano, I spend a great deal of time highlighting the macro importance of artificial intelligence and how it is disrupting everything we think we know, from the economy and recessions to historical stock market valuations and profit margins. The problem is, most people still are not using it daily. Instead, they are observing it: reading headlines, listening to experts, maybe even feeling overwhelmed, but staying on the sidelines while the biggest technological shift of our time unfolds in real time. What they do not realize is that the key to beginning their journey toward mastering AI is not technical at all. It is something they learned as toddlers: the ability to talk. That simple act is now the starting point for one of the most important skills of the future.

We are living through the fastest acceleration of change most people will ever experience, and it is just beginning. In the past, you could wait to adapt. You could let a new wave settle before deciding whether to learn it. But with artificial intelligence, delay is the risk. The longer you wait, the harder it gets. The most important decision is not to master it. It is to start. Right now.

I was reminded of this urgency recently while listening to a powerful episode of the Moonshots podcast with Peter Diamandis. It captured something I have been thinking about and being asked about constantly: how do we adapt to AI, not just for ourselves, but for our children? The speed of transformation is leaving many people anxious, especially those who built careers in traditional job tracks or are raising kids for a world that no longer exists. Diamandis did not sugarcoat it: “The only job that’s going to survive in the future is entrepreneur.”

That does not mean everyone needs to start a company. It means the old blueprint is gone. Schools trained us for stability, for narrow roles in predictable environments. But AI is replacing routine work across every field, from coding and analysis to writing and decision support. In this new world, relevance comes from adaptability, from the ability to think creatively, connect ideas, and solve problems in real time. That is the entrepreneurial mindset. And it is becoming non-optional.

Even seasoned builders are struggling to keep up. Mo Gawdat, former Chief Business Officer at Google X, made a striking comment during that same podcast:

“Even I, today, am struggling to start a business at this pace. I mean seriously, and I’ve started countless businesses.”

He was not exaggerating. He was being honest about the emotional and cognitive whiplash of this moment. Many people assume that once you are displaced by automation, you will just pivot. But most were never trained to reinvent themselves, and even those who were are now scrambling to keep up as the foundational skills shift faster than anyone expected. Mo’s message was clear: we cannot afford to be passive. Adaptation must be intentional.

That is where this paper begins, with the idea that brainstorming with AI is the on-ramp to adaptability. If entrepreneurship is the job of the future, then speaking to AI, asking questions, exploring ideas, and building mental agility is how you train for it. You do not need to be a founder. But you do need to become someone who can think independently, create value, and move fast. The tools are already here. The only requirement is that you begin.

About a year ago, I faced a choice: join one firm for my next role or build something of my own. I had two non-negotiables if I were to join an established organization. It needed a clear investment vision for how AI and crypto would shape its future. It did not take long to realize that most firms were not ready. The pace of innovation had outgrown traditional institutions, and I could see that adaptability, not scale, was going to be the differentiator. So I made the decision to go out on my own and build partnerships. I began using AI as much as I could, not just in my work, but in how I thought, planned, created, and explored. Slowly, it became my trusted assistant, and ultimately, the foundation of everything I was building as an entrepreneur.

Over the past year, I have created a lot of content exploring the rise of artificial intelligence and how it is reshaping the way we live and work. Lately, I have noticed a shift in the questions I receive. Enough time has passed, and the pace of innovation has been so breathtaking, that people are no longer just asking what AI is. They are asking how to get started with it, both for themselves and, increasingly, for their children. Parents want to prepare their kids for a world that seems to be accelerating daily. Students and professionals alike are searching for a roadmap.

I chose to go down this entrepreneurial path instead of joining a single firm because I did not believe traditional institutions could keep up with this level of change. I wanted to build my own business and partner with smaller adaptable firms able to benefit from AI like 22V. As I often say, the greatest inertia to AI adoption is human inertia. Put hundreds or thousands of people inside a bureaucratic system, and progress stalls, no matter how good the technology is. If Elon Musk, with all his resources and influence, could not drive change inside the largest bureaucracy in the world, Washington, D.C., how can we expect large organizations to move quickly enough to adapt to AI?

That is why I wanted to write something simple, practical, and clear, something that cuts through the noise and emphasizes one essential truth: the first step is just to begin. Like riding a bike, you do not get better at using AI by watching others or reading about it. You get better by doing, by having conversations. This is about building a relationship with AI, one rooted in communication, curiosity, and most of all, brainstorming. Think of it not as a tool, but as a collaborator, a thinking partner that is always ready to help you explore, refine, and expand your ideas.

What makes that powerful is not just the information AI can provide. It is how it helps you connect ideas. Some of the greatest thinkers in history, polymaths like Leonardo da Vinci or Benjamin Franklin, were known not for specializing in one area, but for pulling insights from many fields and using that diversity to drive breakthroughs. Charlie Munger called this approach a “latticework of mental models,” a framework for making better decisions by borrowing tools from physics, psychology, biology, and economics. Brainstorming with AI gives everyone access to that kind of thinking. It helps you see across disciplines, test assumptions, and explore multiple outcomes, the way a great poker player weighs every hand. Annie Duke’s Thinking in Bets makes the case that life is one long game of uncertainty, where decision quality matters more than outcome. In that context, AI becomes like having a sharp-minded partner at the table, one who never tires, always thinks in probabilities, and helps you examine every angle before you make a move.

I was lucky enough to have a long conversation with Annie Duke a few years ago. We started with Thinking in Bets and poker but quickly migrated to psychology, decision-making in life, business, and everything in between. It was a real-time brainstorming session, the kind where ideas bounce back and forth, expand, connect, and evolve as you talk. We got along well, and we both left that conversation sharper than we started. That single interaction left a lasting impact on me. It reminded me that some of the most important breakthroughs do not happen in isolation. They happen in dialogue. I have referenced her book countless times since then, not just for its ideas, but because it represents what happens when you think out loud with someone who challenges and complements your thinking. That is what AI can now do for anyone, every day. It is not about perfect answers. It is about widening the lens, surfacing second-order effects, and helping you make smarter bets in the game of life. If you want to start here, have a conversation with ChatGPT about Annie Duke’s book and see where it takes you.

The difference with AI, and what makes it so uniquely powerful, is that you can now have these kinds of conversations anytime, across any discipline, even those you know very little about. If you want to become an entrepreneur but have no idea where to start, begin a conversation and keep talking. Want to explore a theory in evolutionary biology? Dive into macroeconomics? Understand the philosophy behind Stoicism or the math behind compound interest? Just start talking. By the end of the session, you will likely understand more than you expected, and you will also begin to see connections between that new knowledge and things you already thought you understood. Even in areas where you feel confident, AI has a way of surfacing fresh angles, overlooked patterns, or analogies that help everything click.

And here is what is different now. You do not even have to type. You can just talk. Use voice mode. This is what Alexa and Siri were supposed to be: conversational, helpful, intelligent assistants that you could speak to naturally. But they never got there. This does. For the first time, you can hold a real dialogue with an AI that listens, understands, responds, and builds with you. You can brainstorm while walking, driving, or thinking out loud in the kitchen. Bring your kids into the next time they ask you a question. Allow AI to be part of the conversation. Once you start using voice mode, AI stops feeling like a tool and starts feeling like a collaborator. And once that happens, you will wonder how you ever thought alone.

There is also real science behind this. Research consistently shows that brainstorming, especially when done out loud, engages more areas of the brain than passive activities like reading or listening. When you speak your thoughts, you are not just absorbing information. You are processing, refining, and generating ideas in real time. This kind of active cognition leads to better retention, stronger neural connections, and deeper understanding. In fact, studies in educational psychology have found that students who “think out loud” perform better on complex problem-solving tasks than those who study silently. In short, if you want to truly learn, not just memorize, you need to interact with your thoughts. That is what makes AI so powerful. It turns reflection into dialogue, and dialogue into discovery.

This is also why brainstorming with AI feels so different from how we were taught to learn. Traditional education conditions us to wait our turn, raise our hand, find the right answer. But AI rewards you for exploration. It does not mark you wrong. It pushes your thinking forward. In school, curiosity often gets boxed in. But with AI, it gets amplified. Suddenly, there is no gatekeeper between your question and the answer. You can follow your instincts, chase tangents, loop back, and go deeper. That is not just more engaging. It is more effective.

And sometimes the hardest part is not learning something new. It is starting. AI helps remove the intimidation factor of the blank page. Whether you are writing an article, preparing a presentation, designing a product, or just trying to get your thoughts in order, the act of starting with something, even a rough response, gives your brain momentum. You are not just looking at emptiness. You are having a conversation. That shift turns hesitation into progress. You move from stuck to started.

Your thoughts become more fluid. You are no longer just feeding a machine. You are engaging in a dynamic, creative exchange that is always at your fingertips. That is where the real magic begins: a thinking partner who helps you learn by helping you think.

One of the things that makes brainstorming with other people hard, especially for students, introverts, or anyone carrying self-doubt, is the fear of sounding dumb. We censor ourselves. We hold back the wild thought (AI hallucination), the half-formed analogy, the question that might make us look like we do not get it. But with AI, there is no judgment. You can let your imagination run, even if it sounds ridiculous. Ironically, one of the biggest criticisms of AI is that it sometimes hallucinates. But if you flip that around, it is actually a feature. You are free to explore any idea, no matter how strange or speculative, and see where it goes. You can go down deep, winding rabbit holes, and instead of silence, you get momentum. You get possibilities. And more often than not, you arrive at something unexpected. That is the beauty of it. The conversation always leads somewhere. So do not wait until you have the perfect question. Just start talking. That is how the learning begins.

For kids especially, this can be life-changing. So many students fall behind in school not because they lack ability, but because they are too afraid to ask what they do not understand. These silent strugglers, often introverts or students with anxiety, quietly fall behind in classrooms because the fear of sounding stupid outweighs the desire to be seen. The hand does not go up. The confusion gets buried. And over time, those gaps widen. But with AI, there is no risk of embarrassment. You can ask the same question ten different ways. You can revisit a concept as often as you need. You can learn at your own speed, in your own voice. Whether it is math, grammar, or history, AI becomes a patient tutor, one that helps kids catch up, build confidence, and feel like they are back on track. For the first time, every child has access to a guide that listens without judgment. That is a breakthrough. As one of those introverted, insecure children, I wish I had access to this when I was young.

Like anything meaningful, the real power of brainstorming with AI comes not from one conversation, but from making it a habit. It compounds just like interest in a savings account or miles on skis. I did not learn to ski until I was 43. On day one, I fell a lot. I looked ridiculous trying to learn something most people start as children. But I kept showing up, kept putting in the reps. Gradually, my confidence grew, my technique improved, and my brain began to trust the process. Will I ever ski like someone who started at three? No. Too many mental barriers. Too much caution built over a lifetime. But I can ski now. I love it and cannot imagine my life without it. I have gotten better than I ever thought possible. AI is the same. You may never use it like a coder, but you do not need to. If you can think and communicate, you already have the skills to brainstorm with it. And the more you do, the better you will get. It is about showing up, day after day, and letting your curiosity compound. Like with skiing, bring your family into it and the benefits grow.

Brainstorming with AI is not a novelty. It is the most powerful habit for thriving in a world moving faster than you can plan for.

It is not about mastering prompts or knowing code. It is about forming a habit of dialogue, learning, and iteration, one that compounds every day. In a time when adaptability is the new intelligence, this is how you train your mind for the future.

This is the starting point. Not perfection. Not fluency. Just curiosity, repetition, and conversation. You do not need a manual. You do not need permission. You already speak the only language that matters: your own. AI meets you where you are. And if you treat it like a collaborator, not a tool, a sounding board, not a search engine, it can help you think more clearly, create more freely, and imagine more boldly. This paper is just an invitation. The real learning starts when you start talking.

One of my favorite movies is Good Will Hunting. In the movie, Will says, “I had conversations with them,” talking about the great thinkers he read on his own: Shakespeare, Plato, Michelangelo. He meant through books. He meant that he listened to their ideas, argued with them in his mind, and let those conversations shape who he became. That line has always stayed with me, because it captures what deep learning really is — a dialogue with great minds. But what makes this moment in history so remarkable is that we no longer have to have those conversations in our heads or on the page. Now, with AI, we get to have them out loud. Real conversations, in real time, with a thinking partner that responds, challenges, and builds alongside us. You do not need a classroom. You do not need a curriculum. You just need to start talking. Because when you do, you are not just using technology. You are brainstorming with the future.