How I Keep Up With AI (Without Losing My Mind)
2025.21 - We all learn at our own pace and style. Here is how I do it and hopefully you can take away something for your own "Learning Stack"
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Keeping up with AI is wild these days.
There are new models every week. Everyone’s chasing trillion-parameter dreams. Every day brings another headline: mergers, layoffs, tool launches, open-source drama, you name it. Blink and you’ll miss a breakthrough.
As a Technical Program Manager, I don't need to understand every single detail of every single model. But I do need to stay close enough to the ground to know what matters not just for my projects, my team, but more importantly for my own growth.
Over time, I’ve built a simple but effective “Learning Stack”, an effective workflow to help me stay on top of the changing landscape of GenAI and LLMs. It’s not perfect, but it works for me.
If you're a fellow TPM or just someone trying to stay smart about AI, maybe it'll work for you too.
My AI Learning Workflow
I break things into three categories:
Pulses and Signals — quick heartbeats to keep me informed
Active Learning — deep dives into topics I want to master
Passive Learning — ways I learn when I have time to spare
Let me walk you through how this works in practice.
How I Use This Workflow
Daily Pulse Check
Every day, I scan my “pulses and signals” sources. The goal here isn’t to read everything but it’s just to know what’s hot in the AI space. Headlines, new product launches, spicy blog posts. This gives me a quick, high-level read of the landscape.
Follow the Curiosity
From those daily scans, I’ll usually find one or two things that spark my curiosity. Maybe it's something useful for a project I’m on, or a concept that keeps showing up across multiple sources.
That’s when I switch to active learning where I start digging deeper through trusted sources like newsletters, blogs, or even ChatGPT. (Yes, I use ChatGPT to learn about AI. More on that below.)
Use the Downtime
When I have free time — in between meetings, waiting in line, on a walk — I lean into my passive learning stack. Podcasts, short courses, random LinkedIn rabbit holes. No pressure, just exploration.
That’s it. Simple, flexible, and sustainable.
My Go-To Sources
📍 Pulses and Signals (Quick Scans)
Still one of the best places to catch tech news before it hits the mainstream. I check it every morning.
Notes
Think of it like browsing an infinite, ever-refreshing AI library. Short-form, thoughtful takes from writers I respect. Serendipity lives here.
🔍 Active Learning (Go Deep)
Newsletter
The most essential reading. Full stop. Covers product, growth, leadership, and increasingly, AI. Always valuable, always sharp.
Exponential View by
AI isn’t just about tools for the tech industry; heck it’s reshaping economies, politics, and society. Azeem zooms out in a way few others do. His EV Daily Updates are excellent.
Tech For Product by
Practical, grounded advice on using AI tools effectively. Product-minded but very TPM-applicable. Peter and Colin have a fantastic Slack community of people who are using AI to do amazing things in the real world. Its a great source of knowledge and worth the monthly subscription price.
Behind the Craft by
If you want insider views on how AI is really being used in companies, this is gold. His AI track is deep and detailed.
ChatGPT
Yes, I use ChatGPT to learn. But with guardrails. I always ask it to cite sources.
Example prompt:
"I'm a technical program manager. I want to learn how MCPs work and how to utilize them. I like to build things to understand them. Suggest a starting point with resources and provide sources for your answers."ChatGPT won’t replace learning but man it’s a killer jumpstart tool. Better than Googling it 😉.
NotebookLM
I’m still on the fence with this one. It’s promising, but hasn’t quite clicked for me. That said, it might work great for you, so I’m including it here.
🎧 Passive Learning (On My Own Time)
This is the podcast if you want to see how AI is being used for real. Claire is brilliant.
Favorite episode? The 92-year-old Vibe coder who built a full app for his church community. Mind-blowing.
Maven Lightning Talks + Courses
Hands down the best place to learn from practitioners. If your company offers education stipends, stop looking—spend it here. Go learn from the best.
Despite the noise, LinkedIn sometimes surfaces fantastic stuff. I’ve found surprising research papers through people I follow.
Current follow recommendation: Stuart Winter-Tear. He is always thoughtful, always fresh, and always cutting through the hype and craziness of AI. Some of the most interesting research papers I found through is posts.
Final Words
The key to all of this isn’t having the perfect stack of tools or the right mix of sources.
It’s curiosity and experimentation.
Try things. Drop things. Follow rabbit holes. Let your learning be playful.
The landscape is changing fast but if you build a rhythm that works for you, you won’t fall behind. You might even get ahead.
Let me know what’s in your AI learning stack.
I’d love to steal a few good sources. 🙂
Until next time.
-Aadil