Before We Begin…

By the end of this piece, you’ll understand why AI rattles even the smartest people in our profession, why that fear says nothing about your intelligence, and how one small action—today—will turn hesitation into momentum.

Now let’s get into it.

I’d Like to File a Noise Complaint

For the past eighteen months, we’ve all been standing in Times Square on New Year’s Eve: neon lights sear your eyes, someone elbows you, you stumble, and the crowd swells until you can’t move.

Except the confetti isn’t confetti. It’s AI hype.

LinkedIn hums with self-anointed mavens touting their mastery of AI. And you can, too, for the bargain price of $250 when you sign up for my class today! Yet you haven’t mastered this before breakfast? Laggard.

So, you open a ChatGPT window...and freeze. The window gazes back, flat and fathomless, like a black hole with expectations. And you wonder why typing a single sentence feels like stepping on stage without a script.

That’s the truth our industry avoids: Professionals aren’t overwhelmed because AI confuses them; they’re overwhelmed because AI shakes loose the identity they’ve spent a lifetime building.

Why AI Hits You in the Gut, Not the Workflow

The legal industry worships one virtue above all else: the grind. The grind begets expertise. And expertise, earned the hard way, is paramount. You know this. You forged it in the trenches—at 2 AM, eyes red, hunting like a bloodhound for The Email; sweating through your blazer in a client meeting because the stakes drove into your shoulders like an anvil; through tears, chasing perfection scattershot-style because your guidance consisted of only two words, scribbled in red ink: Fix this.

But you did it anyway.

Yet that identity didn’t grow overnight. It hardened through years of pressure and late nights, and the constant silent mantra: Don’t miss anything.

Then AI sauntered in—perfect blowout and no shame—and in its best Elle Woods impression said, “What, like it’s hard?”

Of course, that rattles you, because it doesn’t just challenge your process—it challenges you. It’s a tool that hisses, I can do everything you bled for—faster.

And looming over it all sits one venomous misconception: If you haven’t mastered AI yet, you’re already behind.

You hear it on panels, in keynotes, and in milquetoast LinkedIn posts which sound suspiciously like someone fed ChatGPT the phrase “thought leader.” It’s the steady drumbeat excoriating you for not learning faster, doing more, being better.

It’s also garbage.

No one—no one—has “mastered” AI. There’s no certification of enlightenment. No bar exam. Plus, the ground shifts weekly and the tools change while you’re making coffee. But in truth, right now, there are only two kinds of people: those who get reps, and those who beat themselves up for not getting reps—yet.

People in the first group aren’t smarter. They aren’t born innovators. They’re just people—people who are curious. They poke the tools, break the tools, and keep on trucking.

People in the second group stay quiet—not because they’re inept, but because the mastery myth weaponizes their fear. If you believe everyone else already “gets it” and you’re a dunderhead because you don’t, then of course you avoid the blank prompt window.

For years, your value came from knowing things—cases, patterns, workflows, landmines—and from knowing how to act on that knowledge while under pressure. Now, along comes a tool that boasts, callously, that it can outpace you. No sweat.

So, when you open ChatGPT and freeze, it’s not because you’re bad at technology. It’s because some small, frightened part of your brain whispers, Maybe I’m not who I thought I was.

That’s what keeps you frozen. Not the tool, but the lie.

But here's the plot twist: the fastest way to kill the lie isn’t mastery—it’s reps. You don’t become the Arnold Schwarzenegger of AI by deadlifting 300 pounds on day one. You start with five—and you show up again tomorrow.

Your Value Didn’t Disappear—It Intensified

Working without AI feels like pedaling an old-fashioned bike uphill. Working with AI feels like switching to an e-bike. The fundamentals are the same—pedal, steer, shift gears—but the e-bike takes the grind out of the climb. Your attention shifts to the world around you. You’re still getting from A to B, but you got there faster and had a better time doing it. And you’re five minutes early.

AI doesn’t bulldoze your value. It amplifies you.   

Yes, it can draft. Yes, it can summarize. Yes, it can generate options at a speed that would make 2015 you spew your coffee.

But it lacks one uniquely human, inalienable, paramount trait: judgment.

It can’t read a judge’s face and pivot mid-sentence.

It can’t register a client’s anxiety and recalibrate the approach.

It can’t navigate a tense meet-and-confer or defuse a brewing fight.

And because AI can’t do those things, your job—your judgment—shifts upstream. AI expands the possibilities, broadens your thinking, shoulders the grunt work. And that’s a good thing. Because your value was never in typing.

It’s in thinking.

It’s in judging.

It’s in persuading.

AI flattens none of that. If anything, it makes the human element more necessary. It strips away the grunt work and shines a spotlight on the judgment, intuition, and interpretive power that made you indispensable in the first place.

That’s the human edge. AI just sharpens it.

Curiosity Is More Powerful Than Mastery

Confidence doesn’t come before you try something new. It comes because you tried it. Because you were curious. That lets you tinker with the tool without stapling your self-worth to the outcome. Curiosity is permission to explore without the crushing expectation of perfection.

AI rewards the curious. And the people who make AI look easy? The Arnolds of the AI world? They’re just people who gave themselves permission to experiment. They learned that not every prompt will be brilliant, and not every attempt will feel smooth—and that’s okay. All part of the process, actually.

And you, too, can cultivate that fluency. You can do it the same way you’ve built fluency in every other facet of your career: reps. So pick up that five-pound weight. It might feel heavy right now, but curl it often enough and you’ll adapt.

Your First Rep: A 60-Second Confidence Boost

Now, let’s make this real. Open ChatGPT.

Choose any email in your inbox—a follow up, a scheduling ping, a status note, a client update—and draft a response (nothing privileged, please!). Then paste it into ChatGPT and type: “Polish this email and give me three tonal variations.”

Now hit enter.

That’s your first rep. And the value hits immediately—AI tightens your prose, sharpens your point, and cleans up your tone before you’ve even had time to blink.

It becomes…useful.

Next, you’ll build momentum; then confidence; then fluency.

Reclaiming Your Role in an AI-Driven World

Reclaiming your role means owning what makes you human and letting AI crank that strength to eleven.  

You don’t need mastery. You don’t need perfection. You need experience. You need the courage to touch the tool once and prove to yourself that you’re still the one driving.  

AI won’t define your future.

You will.

And when the grind falls away, the human work—the real work—finally gets room to breathe. That’s not automation. That’s judgment. And judgment is the one thing AI can’t fake. 

That’s the human edge.

Now go use it.

You bring the judgment. Let AI handle the grind.

TransPerfect Legal partners with legal teams to pinpoint where AI can safely and effectively support real matters—enhancing speed and insight while protecting quality and trust. Explore AI use cases with TransPerfect Legal.