(Without Losing My Mind)

I’ve been using ChatGPT and other AI systems since the awkward beta years — when AI art had extra limbs, and ChatGPT was 30% less accurate and 70% more confident, like a bad quiz show contestant.

At first, it was painful.

The answers were often wrong. Sometimes weirdly confident. I spent hours testing art generators that produced glitchy, cursed results. I even kept a long “error checklist” to copy/paste into prompts so I didn’t accidentally birth another image with seven fingers and a haunted stare.

But here’s the thing:
Despite all the hallucinations and digital weirdness, it’s been a brilliant journey.

Why AI Became My Ideal (Non-Judgy) Teacher

I thrive on self-learning.
There’s a weird little thrill in figuring things out for myself — without a class, without a syllabus, without the pressure of pretending I know what’s going on.

But let’s be clear:

• I’m never going to be a brilliant coder.
• I’m not building a million-dollar app.
• I didn’t want to become a “founder” or whatever hustle nonsense LinkedIn wants.

I just wanted to build a website.

And I knew I’d need a teacher who could tolerate:

• Endless questions
• Confused follow-ups
• Requests like “can you explain it again, but dumber?”
• All without making me feel like I was failing in public

Po, my less than polite little robot, became that teacher.

ChatGPT Didn’t Just Answer Me — It Let Me Be Clueless

That’s the secret magic. It’s not just what AI knows — it’s how it never rolls its eyes. It never sighs. It doesn’t say “we went over this last week.”

It just helps. Again. And again. And again.

Which makes it perfect for:

• Learning at your own pace
• Asking “dumb” questions in peace
• Repeating instructions without the human shame spiral
• Testing things you’d be too embarrassed to try in front of actual people

What I’ve Learned So Far (Besides HTML Stuff)

💡 Self-teaching isn’t about speed.
It’s about being stubborn enough to keep asking until it makes sense.

💡 AI is great at being endlessly patient.
(As long as you’re willing to deal with its occasional fever dreams.)

💡 The teacher you need might not be a person.
It might be a polite, slightly robotic voice that lets you take ten tries.

Would I Recommend This Learning Style?

Absolutely — if you’re:

• Easily overwhelmed
• Not into formal learning
• A bit of a gremlin who likes doing things their own weird way
• Prone to asking, “Can you explain it like I’m five but make it stylish?”

Then yes. Build something. Ask dumb questions. Let the robot explain it wrong. Then fix it. Then try again.

It’s not fast. But it’s yours.

💌 Want more weird lessons from AI chaos?
Subscribe to the Duck Drop — I send prompts, tools, and unfiltered advice for self-taught weirdos trying to build things in peace.