Diving Into AI

Updated December 29, 2025 • 2 comments

One of my new year’s resolutions is to learn AI more deeply. Although I’ve kept up with how things are changing in the AI/LLM world, I actually use AI very rarely. It’s just not necessary for anything that I do. And before you say, “well then you must not do anything”, I should mention that my online books, scripts, and plugins enjoy well over one million active users. It’s a LOT of responsibility and work. And because I am a 100% solo entrepreneur, it’s just me doing everything, all of the planning, development, maintenance, marketing, writing, design, and everything else. I am an independent vertically aligned digital operation. And somehow I’ve managed to keep things going for 25+ years without relying on AI for ..literally anything.

Very skeptical going in..

Despite all of the HYPE over AI and how it’s so essential and life-changing, I use it very little. Sometimes for advanced search queries and some creative image generation, but that’s about it. Now though, I am looking ahead. I understand the potential and want to use AI more heavily. If it can boost my productivity and make life easier and better, then I’m all for it. I have my doubts, to be honest, especially when it comes to vibe coding, and anything directly code-related. But I hear some promising things from trusted folks in the industry, and so am diving into AI and LLM in 2026. I am going to learn as much as I can and share the results here at Perishable Press.

Muh goals..

My goals regarding AI in 2026 (and beyond) are as follows:

Find out what is possible with AI
Learn as much as possible about AI
Make plans and integrate AI into my workflow
Ultimately use AI to improve productivity
And of course have fun and learn new things

Depending on how things go, which should begin to be apparent as the year unfolds, I will continue integrating AI into my process and evolving my online plans and workflow. Sort of like a trial run, to get a better sense of what might be possible, and then develop further ideas and plans for the future. If successful, then whoopee, I will be doing more presumably, hopefully, with less effort. Else if not successful and it turns out to suck, too much extra work, too much complexity, or just not my style or whatever, then whatever. Worst-case scenario is that I spend a bunch of time learning new things, which is beneficial in and of itself. Best-case scenario is that I level up my online game and boost my productivity and skills significantly.

At least, that’s the plan so far.. time will tell what actually happens lol.

About the Author

Jeff Starr = Designer. Developer. Producer. Writer. Editor. Etc.

2 responses to “Diving Into AI”

Thomas 2026/01/03 8:33 am

Hi Jeff
Being working as an It professionel for more than 20 years I would also very much like to dig deeper into AI. However, I don’t think it is that easy. It seems like the rules of the game are changing every day. I mostly use AI for daily tasks. Finding solutions or troubleshooting daily issues.

How can we benefit from AI in more complex solutions. That is the big question for me.

Jeff Starr 2026/01/03 9:11 pm • Post Author
Hi Thomas,

What I am discovering is that all AI/LLM/etc. currently falls into one of two categories:
- Free tools. Great for questions, research, help with writing, proofreading, editing, basic image generation, maybe some video generation, and very limited code writing. Basically things that people already can do without AI, only faster.
- Paid tools. For anything more game-changing, like enabling non-coders to create apps, or generating quality images and video, it will cost you minimum $20/month, usually paid a year in advance (otherwise it’s closer to $30/mo). And that’s just for the baseline/intro services. Prices go much higher depending on features, etc.
So I am still playing around with free AI services/apps, mostly for image generation and search/research. To be honest, after spending some dedicated time digging deeper, I am rather disappointed. There really is nothing (at this point) that AI can do (either free or paid) that human brains cannot. The only real difference is that AI can do things much faster, even mind-boggling faster for many things.

And while “much faster” is all very impressive, for people who enjoy taking their time and doing things right, at this point there’s not much incentive for getting too far into AI.

Comments are closed for this post. Something to add? Let me know.

Thomas 2026/01/03 8:33 am

Hi Jeff
Being working as an It professionel for more than 20 years I would also very much like to dig deeper into AI. However, I don’t think it is that easy. It seems like the rules of the game are changing every day. I mostly use AI for daily tasks. Finding solutions or troubleshooting daily issues.

How can we benefit from AI in more complex solutions. That is the big question for me.
- Jeff Starr 2026/01/03 9:11 pm • Post Author
  Hi Thomas,
  
  What I am discovering is that all AI/LLM/etc. currently falls into one of two categories:
  
  Free tools. Great for questions, research, help with writing, proofreading, editing, basic image generation, maybe some video generation, and very limited code writing. Basically things that people already can do without AI, only faster.
  
  Paid tools. For anything more game-changing, like enabling non-coders to create apps, or generating quality images and video, it will cost you minimum $20/month, usually paid a year in advance (otherwise it’s closer to $30/mo). And that’s just for the baseline/intro services. Prices go much higher depending on features, etc.
  
  So I am still playing around with free AI services/apps, mostly for image generation and search/research. To be honest, after spending some dedicated time digging deeper, I am rather disappointed. There really is nothing (at this point) that AI can do (either free or paid) that human brains cannot. The only real difference is that AI can do things much faster, even mind-boggling faster for many things.
  
  And while “much faster” is all very impressive, for people who enjoy taking their time and doing things right, at this point there’s not much incentive for getting too far into AI.