Field Note: I WannAI Hold Your Hand: Learning AI From AI

The AI training market for lawyers is broken. Not because there isn't enough of it — there's more than ever. The problem is almost all of it is aimed at the wrong lawyer. LinkedIn is full of Jetsons lawyers talking to other Jetsons lawyers, while the majority of practitioners are still trying to figure out how to create a PDF. So if the training doesn't meet you where you are, what do you actually do?In this episode:Why the explosion of AI training has created more confusion, not less, for solo and small firm lawyersThe "screenshot, upload, prompt, repeat" method Ron uses to navigate new software with AI as his guideWhy AI has become an always-on tutor — and where that tutor reliably falls shortThe maze-solving metaphor: how AI-guided learning gets you there eventually, but not always efficientlyThree diagnostic questions to ask any AI trainer before you spend a dollar or an hourWhy governance is no longer a procedural afterthought — it's substantive, and good training has to address itTwo new downloadable deliverables: a trainer vetting checklist and a due diligence inquiry templateWe also discuss:Why Microsoft and Google already have excellent AI training most lawyers don't know they have access to — Microsoft Copilot legal training (Microsoft Learn) · Google AI Skills Hub · Google Workspace AI for LegalThe real value of human trainers: shortcuts, judgment, accountability — things AI can't reliably replicateA real example of a law firm that made AI training stick through scheduled, team-wide calendar commitmentRon's earlier Field Note on taking screenshots — and why, in retrospect, that wasn't absurdly basic at all — Episode 003: Specialist AI ToolsThe hallucination field note: 21 ways AI Hallucinates in your Legal Brief — download at lawyeraitoolkit.com/deliverablesDownload: AI Trainer Vetting Checklist + Inquiry Template Two tools to help lawyers evaluate prospective AI trainers before investing time, money, and trust. Available free at lawyeraitoolkit.com/deliverables.Three diagnostic questions to assess whether a training program fits your FSJ levelWhether training is workflow-focused or just a feature paradeHow to assess whether the program takes hallucinations, confidentiality, and governance seriouslyA ready-to-send email/DM template for due diligence outreach to prospective trainersKey TakeawayAI is an infinitely patient tutor. It will walk you through the maze, one wall at a time, and it will eventually get you there. But it won't always get you there efficiently, and it won't always get you there correctly — especially when its training data is three years out of date. The real skill is knowing when to use the bot and when to find the human who can point you at the exit in thirty seconds.This episode speaks directly to Simpsons lawyers who are doing what Simpsons lawyers do: picking up AI tools, bumping into walls, and figuring it out one screenshot at a time. But Flintstones lawyers who haven't entered a single prompt yet will find the framework here — especially the three questions — genuinely useful before they spend anything. And Jetsons lawyers building agent workflows have likely already internalized everything Ron says. This one isn't for them.Mentioned in This EpisodeClaude (Anthropic)ChatGPT (OpenAI)Google GeminiMicrosoft CopilotGoHighLevelCogent MarketingGoogle Drive · Microsoft Word · ZoomHeather Gardner (co-host)FSJ Framework (Flintstones / Simpsons / Jetsons)Ron's Field Note: Confessions of an AI Hallucinator21 Ways AI Can Hallucinate in Your Legal Brief — downloadlawyeraitoolkit.com/[email protected]