Everyone suddenly wants to be an AI expert. Some are even offering to be chief AI officers. But let’s slow down for a second. Let’s do something very unsexy—let’s do the math.
There’s a well-known idea that real expertise takes around 10,000 hours of focused work. Even if you work 60 hours a week nonstop, that’s still about 3 years.
And here’s the part nobody likes to talk about: AI is not a standalone skill. It sits on top of engineering, systems thinking, and real business experience.
So, if someone has no technical background, no engineering experience, and no history of building real systems, there is no physical way they became an AI expert in a year. That’s not gatekeeping, that’s just how time works.
