If you’ve been online at all in the past year, you’ve probably seen dozens of headlines promising life-changing AI prompts. Some of them deliver, some of them don’t. I’ve written about a few myself, and I’ll be honest—sometimes my results didn’t quite live up to the hype.

But earlier today, I came across a YouTube video from Stanford professor Jeremy Utley called “How Stanford Teaches AI-Powered Creativity in Just 13 Minutes.” The video has nearly 2 million views and was published three months ago.

Curious, I clicked. I expected the usual: vague advice, maybe a push toward a paid course. Instead, I found what might be one of the most useful AI prompts I’ve ever tried.

The Big Shift: Don’t Ask AI—Let AI Ask You

Utley’s central idea is simple but profound: “Don’t ask AI. Let AI ask you.”

He points out that you can’t open Excel or PowerPoint and say, “Teach me how to use you.” But with AI, you can. You can literally ask it to learn about you—your life, your work, your goals—and then tailor its suggestions accordingly.

Here’s the exact prompt he recommends:

“Hey! You’re an AI expert.
I would love your help and a consultation with you to help me figure out where I can best leverage AI in my life.
As an AI expert, would you please ask me questions? One at a time until you have enough context about my workflows, responsibilities, KPIs, and objectives that you could make two obvious recommendations and two non-obvious recommendations of how I can leverage AI in my life.”

Copy, paste, and run that in ChatGPT (or any AI chatbot). Then let the conversation unfold.

My Experience Trying It

I tried Utley’s prompt right away. What followed was a 30-minute conversation where AI asked me thoughtful, context-specific questions about my goals, responsibilities, and friction points.

The results were incredible.

The beauty of this approach is that it’s different for everyone. Your answers will lead AI down a unique path, and the recommendations you get will be tailored to your life.

Why You Should Try It

I won’t share all the personal details of my session, but I can say this: it was one of the most enlightening 30-minute reflections I’ve had in years. Even if you never implement the AI’s suggestions, the act of walking through your goals and challenges—guided by AI’s questions—can be transformative.

So here’s my recommendation: try Utley’s prompt at least once. Let AI interview you about your life, your work, and your ambitions. The answers might surprise you.

And who knows? You might just walk away with a brand-new way of seeing how AI can fit into your world.