TDC 066: A Crazy Person's Guide to Living Life in an AI World

TDC 066: A Crazy Person's Guide to Living Life in an AI World

Each ChatGPT usage category reveals what humans are desperately craving in an AI-saturated world.

Episode Summary

In this episode of The Digital Contrarian, host Ryan Levesque dives into OpenAI's first-ever ChatGPT usage study.

You'll learn how each AI usage category reveals human hunger for authentic connection, discover the "Return to Real" opportunity hiding within seven major verticals, and uncover why the world needs more heart, humor, and humanity and not more artificial intelligence.

Question of the Day 🗣️

Which of the seven wedges resonates most with YOUR life right now? Where are you craving more "real" and less "artificial"?

Key Take-aways

• Every AI usage category reveals where people are yearning for what's deeply human and authentic
• Personal writing (18%) shows hunger for genuine voice—opportunities in storytelling and book clubs
• Tutoring (10.2%) reveals desire for someone who sees you—think micro schools and apprenticeships
• Health/fitness (5.7%) shows craving to feel alive—outdoor adventure travel is fastest growing tourism
• The subtext of all AI usage: people want more time doing what's really meaningful and precious

Timestamped Outline ⏱️

00:00 – A crazy person's guide to living in an AI world
01:16 – OpenAI's groundbreaking usage study revealed
02:30 – The overlooked angle everyone's missing
03:27 – Why each AI vertical reveals human hunger
04:08 – Wedge #1: Personal Writing (18%) - Heart, Humor, Humanity
04:50 – Wedge #2: Tutoring (10.2%) - Hands in the Dirt
05:06 – Wedge #3: How-To Advice (8.5%) - Going Analog
05:46 – Wedge #4: Health & Fitness (5.7%) - Best Things Don't Scale
06:17 – Wedge #5: Translation (4.5%) - Oxytocin Over Dopamine
07:03 – Wedge #6: Programming (4.2%) - Category of One
07:51 – Wedge #7: Products (2.1%) - Between Death and Danger
08:26 – The real subtext behind all AI usage
09:03 – Why I stay up past midnight beating this drum
09:42 – Your call to action: Bang your drum

Links & Resources 🔗

OpenAI ChatGPT Usage Study (NBER Working Paper) → https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w34255/w34255.pdf
The Digital Contrarian newsletter → https://thedigitalcontrarian.com

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Credits
Host: Ryan Levesque
© 2025 RL & Associates LLC. All rights reserved.

Transcript

A crazy person's guide to living life in an AI world. Now as I record this right now, I've literally just finished coaching an all-day soccer tournament, six back-to-back-to-back games, with a perfect 6-0 record, I might add, which I'm very proud of as coach. And at a 9.47 p.m. start time this evening right now, I am finally sitting down to get a bit of work done in front of the computer for the first time here today, frankly, feeling a bit wiped.

And this, by the way, is also in addition to an early morning cattle move this morning before the soccer tournament at dawn, you can see a photo of that, as well as in a race against our first hard frost this fall, an evening garden harvest after returning home from the tournament this evening at dusk. Once again, I'll share a photo so you can see a little bit about what this is like. So if you've ever wondered what the day in life of a crazy person might just look like, well, I think today might just be it.

Oh, did I also mention it was my son's birthday today, and we somehow made time to celebrate his big day in between it all? Yeah, that too. Hashtag return to real. Now, the reason why I share all this with you here today is to say today's episode is going to be a bit short.

But in terms of return to real, there is one thing I wanted to share with you here today because I believe it is important. In fact, I might go as far as saying it's the most important thing I have to share with you right now. You'll see what I mean by that in just a moment.

And it all has to do with OpenAI's release of the first of its kind report revealing how people are actually using chat GPT. First things first, did you see the report released earlier this week? Well, if you missed it, the figure on the screen is worth studying. In fact, check it out.

Now, in case you're wondering, the study that this graphic is pulled from is a National Bureau of Economic Research, also known as NBER, working paper by OpenAI's economic research team and Harvard economist David Deming. And it was created to track how consumer usage has evolved since chat GPT's original launch three years ago, pulling from over 1.5 million chat GPT conversations, which for the study are allegedly anonymized. Yeah, we'll see.

Now, essentially, it is the first of its kind study revealing how people are actually using chat GPT. And by the way, if you're curious, you can check out the original study for yourself and we'll make sure to link to that with this episode. So what's this study got to do with the whole return to real movement taking shape in the world right now? And more importantly, what's this all got to do with you? Well, inspired by a LinkedIn post made by the one Greg Eisenberg highlighting how each wedge from that image represents a potential billion dollar SaaS startup, I thought I'd share what I believe is the return to real opportunity that each wedge represents for those of us looking to build into our businesses and our lives more of the analog, the artisanal and the authentic and less of the artificial, automated and algorithmic.

Because each bar doesn't only reveal digital startup potential, it also reveals where people are yearning for what's deeply human, or in other words, what's real. Let me explain. The seven billion dollar AI verticals and the return to real opportunity hiding within each one.

Now, in the study that I mentioned just a moment ago, where OpenAI released how people are actually using chat GPT right now, there's an overlooked angle, and that is this. Each bar in that chart is also a return to real wedge, proof of what people are missing most in a world that many believe has become too digital, too artificial, and too synthetic. And if you look carefully, there's an opportunity within each of these verticals to not only live but also give what the world is craving right now.

Like for example, in wedge number one, personal writing and editing, which represents 18% of the usage of chat GPT combined. So AI helps you draft emails, but the deeper hunger is for seeking a genuine, authentic voice. In other words, real world play, in-person storytelling, physical paper book clubs and spaces where people can learn how to discover and ultimately follow the contrarian voice of their heart.

So the return to real shift here is around heart, humor, humanity. Wedge number two is all around tutoring and teaching, which represents about 10.2% of chat GPT usage. The data here suggests that the desire isn't just for a smarter tutor, but for someone who actually sees you.

Real world opportunities include things like in-person micro schools and modern apprenticeships where kids and adults can learn things like AI while felling trees and baking bread. The return to real shift here is all around hands in the dirt. Wedge number three is all about how to advice, which represents about 8.5% of chat GPT usage.

So yes, AI can show you how to do meal prep, but people ultimately want lived knowledge. The real world wedge here is workshops, analog experiences led by practitioners who have actually done the thing. Like for example, a homestead AI intensive, like the one that we hosted here on our Vermont mastermind that's completely sold out.

The return to real shift here is all about going analog and that takes us to wedge number four, which is all around health, fitness, beauty, and self-care, which is about 5.7%. People ask AI about their bodies, but what they are really craving right now is feeling alive in their bodies. The real wedge here is outdoor adventure travel. In fact, outdoor adventure travel is the fastest growing tourism category right now.

People don't just want to see something new anymore. They want to feel alive, challenged, and changed. The return to real shift here is the best things in life don't scale.

Wedge number five, translation, which is about 4.5%. What's missing isn't just literal translation, it's experiencing cross cultural connection. The real world wedge here is as follows. Now, I remember living in China with my tiny red Chinese English dictionary in my back pocket at all times and my, at the time, state-of-the-art PalmPilot loaded with Pleco software.

In virtually every situation, the translation that I was looking to engage in was rooted in actually seeking a deeper understanding and a deeper connection with another real human being with a real beating heart. The return to real shift here is optimized for oxytocin over dopamine. That takes us to wedge number six, which is around computer programming, which represents about 4.2% of ChatGPT usage.

Devs want co-pilots, but if you zoom out, the deeper trend is that people want to build things again. The real world wedge here is maker labs, woodshops, AI robotics clubs, coding paired with crafting. And I experienced this very thing myself this weekend, in fact, vibe coding a simple app in clod.ai to optimize our soccer roster rotation for the youth soccer team that I coach.

So I could be more present in person for real-time coaching with our kids. Now, I think I may have been the only coach in our league crazy enough to do this, but that's beside the fact. The return to real shift here is to become a category of one.

That takes us to wedge number seven, purchasable products, which is about 2.1%. Sure people want AI shopping help, but what they trust most are objects with a story. The real wedge here is handcrafted goods, provenance rich products, farm to fable stories. The new luxury is actually getting to know the maker, not just passively accepting the algorithm that landed the product into your social media newsfeed.

The return to real shift here is between death and danger is the path. Now these are just a few examples, and this is literally just the beginning. But the takeaway here is this, while the data in the figure I've shared is all about AI, the subtext is the following.

People are using chat GPT in areas of life and business that lend themselves to an augmented experience around what we're all really craving, and that's more time doing what's really meaningful, more time doing what really matters, and ultimately more time experiencing in a very real way this one wild and precious life. And that is why I spend my days like a crazy person, sometimes quite literally from dusk till dawn, on the farm, in the garden, on the soccer field, hands in the dirt, going analog with my wife and our boys, sucking the marrow out of this season of life. And it's why I'm staying up past midnight doing the unscalable, writing this letter, shooting this video to you right now, beating this drum, and not letting up because if we don't intentionally inject analog into our lives, we will become digital by default, and life is too precious to be wasted away in front of a screen.

The world needs more heart, humor, humanity, more oxytocin, less dopamine, and the reason I'm up past midnight recording this right now is because I want to inspire you to bang your drum, to seek and speak your real truth. Because the world needs to hear from you, the real you, the crazy person that you are. Okay, I'll leave you with that for today.

I really do need to get to bed. I have one more soccer game tomorrow and four hours of driving, if you can believe it. I told you, this is a crazy person's way of living life.

So have a great rest of your weekend. Remember to hug the ones that you love, and until next week, I look forward to seeing you again soon. Take care.