Rewiring Your Mind for AI: How to Think, Work, and Thrive in the Age of Intelligence

by David Wood

In a world rapidly transformed by artificial intelligence, your ability to thrive depends more on your mindset than your technical skill.

Rewiring Your Mind for AI isn’t a technical manual—it’s a survival guide for working professionals, students, educators, leaders, and anyone navigating the accelerating impact of generative AI. Author and educator David A. Wood, Ph.D., argues that the most important shift we need to make isn’t learning to code or mastering AI tools—it’s updating our thinking. In this book, you’ll discover how your long-held beliefs, assumptions, and habits may be holding you back—and how changing them can unlock new levels of productivity, creativity, and career relevance.

With vivid real-life stories—from confused grandparents to innovative college students—Wood illustrates how mindsets formed in earlier technological eras can limit our potential in today’s AI-driven landscape. Whether it’s assuming AI works like Google or expecting it to behave like a calculator, most of us are using outdated mental models that no longer serve us. This book teaches you to recognize those traps and replace them with more flexible, forward-thinking mental habits.

You’ll learn the difference between deterministic and probabilistic thinking and why that matters when working with AI tools like ChatGPT. You’ll understand why hallucinations happen, how to use AI safely, and when to trust it (and when not to). Rather than fearing AI’s creative unpredictability, you’ll learn how to harness it to become a more effective problem solver, communicator, and collaborator.

Packed with powerful examples—from Hollywood production studios to boardrooms, classrooms, and hospitals—Rewiring Your Mind for AI shows how generative AI is already transforming every industry. You’ll see how leading companies are using it to save time, cut costs, and do things that were previously impossible, and you’ll explore how people use it every day to elevate their work.

Throughout the book, Wood draws on psychology, business, education, and technology trends to build a compelling success in the age of AI will go to those who can unlearn the past and embrace uncertainty. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, skeptical, or just unsure about how to engage with generative AI, this book gives you a refreshing, empowering perspective.

Rewiring Your Mind for AI is for learners and leaders alike. Whether you’re an executive making strategic decisions, an employee trying to stay relevant, a student preparing for a changing workforce, or just curious about how to make sense of it all—this book equips you with the most important skill of the AI the ability to change your mind.
We are living through one of the most profound shifts in professional history. David Wood invites us to stop fearing the rise of artificial intelligence and start collaborating with it. His concept of Symbio—the coordination of humans and intelligent agents—offers a compelling blueprint for how we think, work, and lead in this new era. What makes this book truly stand out is its focus on mindset. David makes it clear that thriving in the era of intelligence requires more than just technology tools—it demands a new way of thinking. His vivid charts and real-world scenarios contrast the “old mindset” with the emerging GenAI mindset, helping readers identify where they are and where they need to go.
Tom Hood, CPA, CGMA, CITP
Executive Vice President, Business Growth & Engagement
AICPA & CIMA

Genres: Nonfiction

176 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 25, 2025

Reviews

[Kayla Mayfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Look, anyone whose workplace is heavily pushing AI (most of the corporate world right now) should definitely read this. It’s nothing profound, and was co-written by the author and ChatGPT which is a bit obvious in places (and admitted to at the end), but it absolutely helped me re-shape my attitude toward and understanding of GenAI. I will be using some of these concepts in my own work.

That being said…. the fact that the author had an entire chapter about the risks and ethical concerns over using AI but did not once mention the environmental impact (extreme consumption of power, water, land, other resources) inherent in the data processing needed to build LLMs was disappointing. How can you write 176 pages about embracing AI without once acknowledging that enormous elephant in the room? 2 stars off for the glaring lack of discussion on this point.

[Zach Stanford · Rating 5 out of 5]

What sets this book apart is its range:
• If you’re new to AI, it gives you the language to confidently enter the conversation.
• If you’re already deep in the space, it sharpens your thinking and challenges assumptions you didn’t even realize you held.

As an engineer who is actively building with AI, I came in expecting a light or familiar read. Instead, I found a deeply thought-provoking framework for engaging with AI more intentionally.

David Wood doesn’t just explain how AI works; rather, he helps you rethink how you think.

The paradigm-shifting mindset that “AI Is Not Google” (Chapter 3) is especially timely. It’s easy to just treat AI like an answer vending machine, when it carries the potential to empower “beginners to do the impossible” (Chapter 5).

So I’m recommending this book to anyone and everyone. I genuinely believe AI is reshaping society faster than most people realize, and this book is a cheat code for those who want to stay ahead of the curve.

[Mfon Akpan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[OMER ABDULLAH · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book for those who know little about and are wary of GenAI. It’s a primer on the mindset and ways to think about and work with it.

The section on how it impacts the learning/education experience was the most useful to me.

The one section in the book that was glaringly off was where it talked about “Move 37” - the famous AlphaGo move that saw AI topple Lee Sedol back in 2016. Unfortunately, the book says the move occurred during the game between IBM’s Big Blue and Garry Kasparov, which was not the case. (This is, as the book states elsewhere, a hazard of Gen AI - I know because it had given me the same response a couple of weeks ago, and when I questioned it, it corrected its mistake.)

That aside, an interesting read.

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am part of a team implementing our AI usage at work and this was a recommended read. Even without it being necessary to read for work reasons, I would recommend this as a 101 read for anyone who is using AI on a regular basis - for work or personal use.

The author did a great job breaking the book up into digestible chunks and helped me get a feel for how I should think about and use the technology. It’s relatively short and definitely not dense.

Highly recommend.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really interesting toughts that help to see AI in a good focus, has good examples and analoygies but from a textual standpoint it can get repetative and not deep enough to contextualize such a complex issue.