AI Fluency for Everyone

It’s the 1980s, the office clicks-n-clacks with the clatter of typewriters, the faint smell of toner, and the occasional frustrated sigh of someone wrestling with a piece of software so complex it might as well have been written in Klingon.¹

The software? WordStar. The challenge? Learning to wield it like a pro.

Fast forward to the 1990s, and the office landscape shifts. Microsoft Office² arrives like a Swiss Army knife,³ Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, all bundled to make the modern knowledge worker’s life easier. Suddenly, fluency in these tools is no longer just a neat trick but the baseline for getting hired, promoted, and respected.

Today, in 2025, a new frontier is rising. Artificial Intelligence is no longer confined to sci-fi dreams or tech lab experiments; it’s the newest, hottest “software” you need to master. And AI fluency is fast becoming the Microsoft Office of our era.

WordStar - The Early Keyboard Kung Fu

Before graphical user interfaces and mice, there was WordStar. Launched in the late 1970s, it became the most popular word processor for a decade. But mastering WordStar was no small feat.

No mouse, no fancy toolbars; just the keyboard and cryptic command combinations. You needed to remember dozens of shortcuts just to perform basic tasks, such as saving, deleting, or formatting. The famous Ctrl-K Ctrl-S sequence to save and Ctrl-Q to quit became office battle cries.

Stories abound of early workers who spent months becoming WordStar wizards, their fingers dancing across keys faster than anyone else’s. Those who mastered it were prized, as their productivity skyrocketed in an era where speed and accuracy were highly valued.

Lotus 1-2-3 - The Spreadsheet Beast That Tamed Data

If WordStar was the king of text, Lotus 1-2-3⁴ was the lord of numbers. Released in 1983, it quickly became the go-to spreadsheet software, especially for finance, accounting, and business analytics.

Before Lotus, spreadsheets were paper-based nightmares or cumbersome software. Lotus introduced a revolutionary mix of calculation, graphing, and data management all in one place. Those macros were like dark magic: scripts that automated complex tasks with the push of a few keys.

Fluency in Lotus 1-2-3 meant you were the office’s secret weapon. Able to whip up forecasts, budgets, and “what-if” analyses, these pros made data-driven decisions look effortless.

Microsoft Office - The Triumphant Conquest

By the 1990s, Microsoft Office came to dominate. Its integrated suite made switching between word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and email a breeze.

Suddenly, fluency expanded beyond just typing or crunching numbers. It became about how well you could build pivot tables in Excel, craft compelling slides in PowerPoint, or manage your inbox like a pro in Outlook. Office certifications became a thing. Companies started training entire workforces on Office 95, 97, 2000, and beyond.

AI Fluency Is the New Fluency

We’ve come a long way from keyboard shortcuts and macros. Today, AI is everywhere, whether it’s ChatGPT drafting your emails, GitHub Copilot helping you write code, or AI tools generating marketing copy, graphics, or even music.

AI fluency is not about memorizing commands. It’s about conversation, knowing how to ask questions, give context, refine outputs, and critically evaluate results. It’s a whole new muscle to build.

AI can create text that sounds human, solve problems on the fly, or generate ideas you’d never thought of. Just like WordStar demands keyboard mastery, AI demands conversational mastery.

AI Fluency Reshaping Jobs

It’s not just coders or data scientists who need AI skills. Marketers, HR professionals, customer support reps, and even executives are expected to understand AI tools.

According to ZDNet, hiring managers across sectors are desperate for candidates who can do more than “talk AI.” They want fluency: the ability to utilize AI to enhance workflows, generate insights, and drive innovation.

Humanitarians AI states that AI fluency is rapidly becoming a core hiring requirement, not just for tech jobs but for roles that rely on creativity, problem-solving, and effective communication.

Get Started

Just like you needed training and practice for Office, AI fluency takes a combination of:

• Curiosity: Willingness to experiment with different AI tools.
• Practice: Building a habit of crafting clear, iterative prompts.
• Critical Thinking: Questioning AI’s answers, spotting errors.
• Continuous Learning: AI tools evolve fast; today’s skills can become outdated tomorrow.

Imagine being stuck in 2000 without knowing Excel or PowerPoint. You’d be sidelined. In 2030, that’s what not having AI fluency might look like: struggling to keep up with automated workflows, missing insights, or losing ground to competitors who harness AI for creative and operational advantage.

But How

• Explore AI assistants: Start with free tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, etc.
• Practice prompt/context engineering: Try different ways to ask questions or give instructions.
• Learn AI integrations in your tools: For example, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Google’s AI.
• Take online courses: Platforms like Coursera, Udemy, Maven, and OpenSesame offer AI fluency training.
• Join communities: Hang out in online social communities focussed on AI that shares tips and hacks.

Software fluency once meant knowing how to type faster, build spreadsheets, or craft presentations. AI fluency means learning how to think with machines and to turn them into collaborators and co-creators.

The digital frontier is open. Just like the early adopters of WordStar and Lotus 1-2-3 rewrote what productivity meant, today’s AI-fluent professionals are crafting a new playbook.