Hi Reader,

I appreciate you being here and hope 2026 has been good to you so far!

Here's what you'll find in today's email:

• AI Skills You Need to Master in 2026
• Want to Work With Me?
• Trending Videos
• Top AI News This Week
• My Bookmarks

🛑 Have You Joined My Free AI Community Yet?

My AI Community now has over 360 members and is completely free to join!

Pro Tip: If you want more support and access to me, the Premium Plan is where I go deeper and work more closely with members.

🧠 AI Skills You Need to Master in 2026

AI advanced at an incredible rate over 2025. Unfortunately there's still a s**t ton of noise and hopefully that dies down this year.

Everyone feels behind and it's only going to get worse.

But here's what I'm noticing: Most people are still treating AI like a chatbot. By the end of 2026, that will no longer be enough.

If you're only using the free version of ChatGPT to write emails or come up with ideas, you are behind IMO.

Getting more technical with AI won't be a "nice to have" skill anymore. It will be mandatory.

The upside? Once you cross this line, your leverage goes way up. Your dependence on expensive tools, vendors, and guesswork goes way down.

Here are the skills that will separate people who actually get results from those who just talk about AI:

1. Reducing Hallucinations & "AI Slop" Outputs

Anyone who uses AI regularly knows it still makes stuff up and sounds confident while doing it.

The fix? Context and knowing what good looks like.

Upload real training data like transcripts, PDFs, or articles and tell it to answer based only on that text. Tell it explicitly not to guess.

Pro Tips:

• NotebookLM is a great free tool for this since it forces citations by default
• ALWAYS use customized versions of AI like GPTs, Projects, or Gems
• Add an 'AI Words & Phrases' exclusions list

Suggested Resource: My AI Content System​

2. Filtering Out AI Hype & Noise

Every day there seems to be an "INSANE" AI update or new tool that you can't miss or you'll fall behind.

The skill isn't keeping up with every AI update/launch, it's knowing what's actually worth your attention.

I ignore 95% of AI news and focus on things that solve real world problems.

Pro Tips:

• Before testing any new tool, ask: "What problem does this solve that my current stack doesn't?"
• Most AI updates are NOT "insane" and don't deserve your attention, despite what clickbait titles claim
• Master the basics of ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro, or Gemini Advanced before diving into the AI tool rabbit hole

Suggested Resource: AI Truths You Need to Know!​

3. Executing vs Experimenting or Consuming

Watching tutorials and testing new tools feels productive. It usually isn't.

The people getting results with AI are building systems that run without them, not collecting bookmarks for later.

Pro Tips:

• For every hour spent learning about AI, spend two hours building something with it
• Tutorials are worthless without implementation
• Pick ONE software or tool to learn this week and actually finish it (Claude Code and Google Antigravity are my top priorities)

Suggested Resource: He Turned AI Systems Into a $1M Business (Jack Roberts Interview)​

4. Knowing When NOT to Use AI

This might be the most underrated skill you can learn.

Believe it or not, there are several business use cases where I'm not using AI and recommend you don't either.

Here are examples of 'high-value' business tasks that should always prioritize the human element over AI:

• High Ticket B2B Sales
• High Stakes Negotiations
• Crisis Management
• Brand Storytelling
• Important Emails
• Ethical & Moral Grey-Area Decisions

Now when it comes to 'lower-value' tasks that are still somewhat important, use AI all day for these:

• Data Entry
• Research
• Content Repurposing
• Intro Email Sequences

Pro Tips:

• Do your own thinking first, then use AI as a sparring partner
• Ask it "What am I missing?" or "Poke holes in this idea" instead of asking it to create from scratch
• AI reliance will cause real problems if you let your critical thinking skills atrophy

Suggested Resource: AI & The Trust Recession (My Podcast Guest Appearance)

5. Curation over Creation (Knowing What is Worth Creating)

As creation becomes easy, curation becomes the bottleneck.

Knowing WHAT to create matters more than knowing HOW. The judgment of what's worth building is the real skill.

Pro Tips:

• Before building anything with AI, write one sentence explaining why it matters
• If you can't justify the "why" in under 10 words, it's probably not worth creating
• Pure volume without strategy is a race to the bottom

Suggested Resource: How to Write AI Content That Sounds Human ​

Other Important AI Skills to Master:

• Knowing the Strengths of LLMs: ChatGPT isn't good at everything. Use Claude for writing/coding, Gemini for media generation, Grok for research & unbiased outputs, and other AI models for specific tasks.
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• Understanding AI Automations & Agents: Map out your repetitive tasks, identify which steps don't need your brain, and connect tools like Make or n8n to build systems that run without you.
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• Getting More Technical with IDEs & Claude Code: You don't need to become a software engineer, but being comfortable tweaking workflows, running scripts, and working inside a terminal will separate you from everyone else.

🚀 Want to Work With Me in 2026?

I get a lot of DMs and replies asking how to go deeper or get more direct help with AI.

If you want support applying AI to your business, content, or marketing strategy, here are the ways you can work with me this year:

1️⃣ Become an Annual Community Member

While my AI Community provides a TON of value for free, those who are serious about implementation join the Annual Plan for direct access, accountability, and my best resources that actually move the needle.

For only $300/year you get:

• 1:1 Intro Call With Me
• Live Q&A Calls With Me
• Priority Support
• My YouTube Growth Course
• My AI Project Details
• Other Exclusive Content
• Plus More Features Over Time

That's $1000s in value across training, systems, support, and direct access to me. If you're serious about using AI to drive real results, the Annual Plan is where I go deeper and work more closely with members.

​👉 Become an Annual Community Member​

2️⃣ 1:1 AI Coaching/Consulting

This is for people who want expert direction but plan to execute themselves.

Here are some areas I've consulted with businesses & entrepreneurs in the past:

• Identifying where AI actually fits in your business (and where it doesn’t)
• Identifying broken systems before AI creates more chaos
• Helping with Marketing, Content, and YouTube Growth Strategies
• Avoiding expensive mistakes and wasted time

You get my thinking, experience, and honest recommendations. No hype, just clear next steps.

​👉 Apply for 1:1 Consulting​

3️⃣ Ongoing Client Work

This is for those who want more of my attention and execution, not just advice.

Depending on your goals, ongoing client work can include:

• AI Authority Accelerator – I help founders build strong personal brands with consistent content and trust signals that turn visibility into leads.
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• SEM Management (Google Ads) – I currently manage over $100K/month in Google Ads spend for clients doing high-ticket lead generation. (ChatGPT Ads Coming Soon).
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• Ongoing Coaching & Support – I help founders and marketing teams fix broken funnels, clarify positioning, help with content systems, and execute marketing strategies that drive results instead of vanity metrics.

This is a long-term partnership with fewer clients and deeper involvement.

​👉 Apply to Become a Client​

*Due to high demand my minimum rate for ongoing work is $3,000/month. My most successful clients are those doing $5-10 Million (or more) in annual revenue, value execution over theory, and want a long-term partnership that benefits both parties.

What AI Skills are you focused on mastering in 2026? Hit reply and let me know!

Until next time 🫡

Ryan

P.S. If you actually want to level up with AI this year then I suggest becoming a Premium Member. This includes $1000s in value across training, systems, support, and direct access to me.

📈 Trending Videos

Be sure to subscribe if you haven't already 🤝

• ​Best Ways to Make Money With AI​
• ​How to Make YouTube Thumbnails With AI​
• ​Custom GPTs vs ChatGPT Projects​
• ​How I Automated My Social Media With AI!​

🚨 Top AI News This Week

I only try to provide AI News that matters and cuts through the noise!

• ​Google Releases a Gemini Gmail Inbox Assistant​
• ​Google AI Avatars Get a Big Update​
• ​OpenAI Launches 'ChatGPT Health'​
• ​CES 2026 Highlights​
• ​NVIDIA's Updates at CES 2026​

📌 My Bookmarks

Completely agree with this... The Claude Code UI even intimidates me a bit lol.

Ole Lehmann @itsolelehmann people who say "just use Claude Code" don't understand that it's UI alone repells 90% of people who are non-technical don't ask a dev what a non-dev should do they have no idea 1:51 PM • Jan 5, 2026 0 Retweets 24 Likes Read 8 replies

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This! I've come across VERY few "vibe marketers" who actually understand what moves the needle in the big picture.

Ole Lehmann @itsolelehmann the problem I have with most "vibe marketers" is that the outputs they present are often mid at best the venn diagramm of people who 1. really know their shit in marketing 2. really know their shit in claude code is EXTREMLY small to non-existent not shitting on vibe 5:18 PM • Jan 9, 2026 0 Retweets 12 Likes Read 7 replies

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Good discussion point from my friend Aaron - Do you prefer Cursor or Claude Code?

Aaron Makelky @aaronmakelky Everyone's hyping @claudeai Code, so I tried it out again After testing it? @cursor_ai still wins I haven't found a single thing Claude Code can do, that Cursor can't I don't see any advantage to the text only terminal over an IDE with buttons, a browser, more built in models 4:53 AM • Jan 8, 2026 0 Retweets 4 Likes Read 2 replies

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Gael is referring to Claude Code & more usage with the Opus 4.5 model.

Gael Breton @GaelBreton Your job right now is to figure out how to maximize the use of a $200 Claude Max Plan. That's where the real arbitrage is on the web. 12:14 PM • Jan 7, 2026 0 Retweets 12 Likes Read 6 replies

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I'm not sure I 100% agree with this. Maybe it's my lack of knowledge inside a terminal but the 'quality' and 'delivery' aspects in marketing are often ignored.

The Boring Marketer @boringmarketer we're probably not far from a 1-person agency run by someone that lives in the terminal doing $100,000 per month with 4 clients, replacing entire teams with agents/workflows/skills 1:5 PM • Jan 9, 2026 1 Retweets 28 Likes Read 9 replies

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