There was a time when lawyers dictated letters to secretaries who typed them up. Touching a typewriter was considered not worth their time, just as GenAI may still feel to many professionals today. Every technological shift begins with this same quiet standoff between convenience and identity.
When I hear people say, “GenAI will replace coders,” or “you’ll soon just talk to your computer and it will build the app,” it reminds me of those early typing debates. In 2025, we’re already surrounded by tools that can summarize, draft, or organize with impressive ease. But the next leap - using GenAI not just to type faster, but to use the computer differently - is still far from evident.
So it’s the right question to ask: how far should your GenAI skills go in 2026? Is it enough to use it for quick summaries and brainstorms, or should you go further - to redesign how you work altogether?
It’s not an easy call. I’ve seen firsthand that creating workflows isn’t simple - at least not yet. I spent four hours refining the prompt for this very blog series, not because I enjoy suffering, but because I wanted to build a process I could use again. The early drafts felt flat until I discovered that Copilot needs “constants” for this kind of multi-step logic. That insight finally got me there.
In contrast, an attorney I know spent half a day asking GenAI to summarize a massive table in sections and stitch it back together. She eventually gave up, deciding the old route still worked better - for now. Neither of us failed. We simply met the limits of our current fluency - the awkward stage between discovery and design, when a new tool reveals what it might do, but not yet how to do it well.
That discomfort is familiar. It’s what happens every time we try to master a new skill and go beyond the existing borders. Learning to type didn’t make lawyers less professional; it made them faster, clearer, more independent. However, learning to use the computer changed how they worked. GenAI will do the same - but only for those willing to go beyond typing.
Beyond Using AI: From Learning to Type to Learning to Use the Computer
By now, most of us know how to “type.” That is, we know how to ask GenAI to summarize a document, draft an email, or clean up a message. These are the foundational skills - important and worth mastering. But as 2026 approaches, the next challenge becomes clearer: how do we move from using GenAI to improve tasks to using it to improve the way we work?
That leap - from typing to using the computer - is about workflow fluency. It’s not coding. It’s the ability to see connections: how one output can become the next input, how reasoning can stretch across steps, and how tools can complement one another instead of duplicating effort. It’s the mental shift from what can GenAI do for me today? to how could this process work better with GenAI built in?
For most, 2026 won’t be the year of mastering every feature. It will be the year of learning enough to see what’s possible - so you can make smarter decisions about where GenAI belongs in your workflow, and where it doesn’t.
What Rogers, Edmondson, and Dweck Teach About the AI Learning Curve
Every wave of technological change follows the same psychological pattern. Everett Rogers called it the diffusion of innovations - the slow climb from early adopters to the mainstream majority. What slows adoption isn’t usually cost or complexity; it’s identity.
Amy Edmondson calls this learning anxiety - the unease that comes with experimenting in public. Carol Dweck’s growth mindset explains the antidote: treating imperfection as progress, not proof of inadequacy. Professionals, especially in law and healthcare, have been trained to avoid error at all costs. GenAI requires the opposite - a willingness to fumble in order to learn faster.
The shift from typing to using the computer required the same courage. In 2026, the most valuable professionals won’t be those who know everything about GenAI, but those who’ve learned how to learn with it.
A 5-Minute Typing Exercise for the Age of Workflow Fluency
Instead of asking GenAI to do something, ask it to show you how to do it better.
“Help me map the steps I take each week to prepare client summaries. Which steps could GenAI simplify or automate?”
In five minutes, you’ll notice two things: first, you understand your own process more clearly; and second, GenAI begins offering structured improvements that combine reasoning with workflow. That’s the modern version of learning to use the computer - it starts by paying attention to how you already work.
From Typing to Thinking: Finding Your Own Rhythm in Generative AI Adoption
We all have to decide how far to go. For some, mastering the basics - learning to “type” - will be enough for now. For others, 2026 will be the year to explore how GenAI can help them “use the computer”: connecting dots, improving processes, and reimagining how work gets done.
Either way, the journey starts with curiosity. The key isn’t to master GenAI in a day, but to practice thinking with it. Because, just like the early computer era, fluency will sneak up on us—and those who experiment early will find themselves typing less, thinking more, and working in ways that feel both natural and new.
Learning to type was once a milestone. Learning to use the computer changed everything. GenAI will do both - if we let it.
Wishing you the very best for 2026!