Gary Vee on Why You *Must* Embrace AI (or Get Left Behind)

Summary

Podcast Summary: Gary Vee on Why You Must Embrace AI (or Get Left Behind)

Podcast: Earn Your Leisure
Hosts: Rashad Bilal & Troy Millings (iHeartPodcasts)
Guest/Main Speaker: Gary Vaynerchuk ("Gary Vee")
Date: May 6, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, hosts Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings sit down with entrepreneur and media mogul Gary Vaynerchuk ("Gary Vee") to explore the urgency of adopting artificial intelligence (AI) in both creative and traditional industries. The discussion dives deep into why embracing AI is critical for personal and professional growth, addresses common fears around automation and creativity, and offers concrete examples of how AI can enhance decision-making, especially for entrepreneurs and investors.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Why You Must Use AI—Now

• Immediate Call to Action:
  Gary Vee opens with strong advice:

  "If you're fucking seeing this right now and you are not spending one hour a day minimally fucking with AI... you are literally your grandma that you made fun of."
  — Gary Vee (02:03)

• He compares those ignoring AI to previous generations who refused to adopt MySpace, texting, or other tech innovations.

The Real Reason People Resist New Technology

• Laziness vs. Nobility:

  "When people talk about new shit and they shit on it on some noble shit, that's the tell that they're too lazy to do the work... You're not out because of fucking... You're out because you don't want to put in 40 hours to learn a new thing because you're tired."
  — Gary Vee (03:13)

• Gary directly challenges people claiming ethical objections to AI, insisting most are just unwilling to learn.

Fear: The Human Constant

• Fear is Universal:
  Troy (AI Skeptic) brings up legitimate fears about AI taking over jobs and being more intelligent than humans.

  "People are also scared though too. It's a lot of fear as far as it's going to take my job... We don't know how far AI can actually go."
  — Co-Host (03:47)

• Historical Context:
  Gary responds with a story about the atomic bomb and the persistent fears surrounding any disruptive innovation:

  "We also created a bomb that can kill every person on earth... My point of that little story is no shit. People fear. People fear everything... Every politician weaponizes fear. Fear is how you control people."
  — Gary Vee (04:08-05:32)

• Tech Adoption Parallels:
  He points to past fears about electricity and cars, emphasizing that humans have always initially resisted new technology, even demonizing it.

How Gary Vee Uses AI in Practice

• Real-World AI Use Case:

  "I use it every day to think, to strategize... I audio everything because I'm better with words than writing. So I'm like. I'm like, yo, chatty. I call it chatty."
  — Gary Vee (06:10)

• Fashion Trend Analysis:
  Gary demonstrates his creative process by using AI to analyze 40-year cycles of baggy vs. tight clothing, leveraging insights to get ahead of industry shifts for investment purposes:

  "If some young girl comes to me in two years and she's like, I'm, you know, I'm going back to like skinny jeans. I might be like, oh shit, it's... She's right. Like somewhere next to three years, let her cook, keep it alive."
  — Gary Vee (07:11)

The Power Divide: Creatives and Agencies in the Age of AI

• Old-School Agency Resistance:
  The hosts point out that agencies "aren’t up to date and don't really understand how to use [AI]."

• There Will Be Pain:

  "Let there be no confusion. There is pain that is coming with this innovation. But that always happens... When the car was invented, nobody cried for the fucking hundred thousand people that lost their jobs selling the yellow pages... If you're not a thinker, if you're just a doer, if you're not the architect and you're just a mason... this is gonna be a fucked up era."
  — Gary Vee (08:35-10:11)

  He describes how every major innovation disrupts existing industries and jobs, from hip-hop displacing 1980s rock music to the automobile ending thousands of jobs cleaning horse manure.

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Notable Quotes

• "You are your grandma." — Gary Vee (02:32)
• "People aren't noble. People are lazy." — Gary Vee (03:41)
• "I'm not letting another invention fuck me up." — Gary Vee (05:32)
• "If you're not a thinker, if you're just a doer... this is gonna be a fucked up era." — Gary Vee (10:08)

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Important Timestamps

• 02:03 — Gary Vee's opening manifesto on why you must use AI
• 03:47 — Co-hosts express fears of AI’s potential disruption
• 04:08 — Gary’s atomic bomb analogy about the roots of human fear
• 06:10 — Gary details how he uses AI for real-world creative strategy
• 08:35 — Gary breaks down the inevitability of economic "pain" through innovation

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Memorable Moments

• Gary framing resistance to AI as the modern equivalent of “your grandma” missing the AOL era (02:32)
• The parallel between historical job loss (e.g., yellow pages, horse manure cleaning) and the coming disruptions from AI (08:35-10:11)
• The honest, unfiltered challenge to listeners: embrace the discomfort of learning new tools or risk being left behind

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Summary Takeaway

Gary Vee argues that AI isn’t just an option—it’s a necessity for anyone who wants to stay relevant, creative, and successful. He dismisses noble excuses for ignoring new technology, frames fear as a constant in the adoption cycle, and offers actionable, relatable examples of how AI can give individuals and businesses real competitive edges. The clear message: engage with AI now, or risk irrelevance.

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Transcript

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[AI Enthusiast / Main Speaker]

See full [e-mail] if you're fucking seeing this right now and you are not spending one hour a day minimally fucking with AI, I don't give a fuck if it's just chatgpt asking it questions and then if you're creative fucking around with all the new shit, mid journeys and this and Runway and all that shit, if you're not in it like you are literally your grandma that you made fun of. Got it. Like how old are you two?

[AI Skeptic / Co-speaker]

I'm 41, 43.

[AI Enthusiast / Main Speaker]

Perfect. When you guys were fucking with AOL, instant messenger and AOL and then MySpace and, you know, cell phone and texting parents, grandparents, UNCs, they weren't about that life. And it was like, hahaha, you know, like I'm in it. They're not in it. If you're 26 right now, let alone early 40s and you're not spending an hour or two a day fucking with AI, you are becoming your grandma. You are your grandma. So all these people are like, no, I don't fuck with that. That's a bullshit. It's, you know, here's my favorite thing. When people talk about new shit and they shit on it on some noble shit, that's the tell that they're too lazy to do the work. I'm not doing AI, because I think it fucks up musicians and I fuck with the arts and music and that's fucked up. And so I'm out. You're not out because of fucking. You're sad that fucking Kendrick Lamar might lose some paper. You're out because you don't want to put in 40 hours to learn a new thing because you're tired, because you just put in a lot of hours to learn the last thing. People aren't noble. People are lazy.

[AI Skeptic / Co-speaker]

Yeah, but people are also scared though too. It's a lot of fear as far as it's going to take my job or some fears are legitimate, right? Like we've created something. When I say we humans have created something more intelligent than ourselves, that's kind of never been done before in human history. As far as, like, we don't know how far AI can actually go.

[AI Enthusiast / Main Speaker]

Let me, let me tell you something right now. I don't know if you know this. You definitely do. This is a little joke. I'm setting it up. We also created a bomb that can kill every person on earth. If the three of us intellects were chopping it up in 1952 and the US just dropped a fucking bomb several years earlier and blew out Japan and I, and we were just chopping it and saying, where the fuck are we going to do with this thing? If I sat here and said, in the next 70 years, no country, no man, no woman will drop that bomb. Everybody be like, get the fuck out of here. Think about what 1950 was. We just dropped the bomb. The last 30 years we've had two world wars, right? So in the last 30 years of society, we just got out of World War I. We just, just, just had World War II. The U.S. just dropped this bomb. Now Russia's got it, and everyone's trying to develop one. And I said, it will never drop. Nobody would believe that. My point of that little story is no shit. People fear. People fear everything. Humans fear. Most parents parent with fear. Every fucking. Let me break it down. I don't love to get political, as you guys know. Let me just make it real simple. Every politician weaponizes fear. Fear is how you control people.

[AI Skeptic / Co-speaker]

Mm.

[AI Enthusiast / Main Speaker]

I'm not letting another invention fuck me up, because guess what? When the car was invented, people were scared about that. Do you know what the word demonizing is? Demonizing comes from when electricity was invented. Word on the street. Check this. Electricity gets invented. We have candles in our motherfucking offices. And house electricity gets invented. And people don't put electricity in their home. Because the word on the street is there's demons in it. Like, if you bring in electricity, you're bringing demons into your home.

[AI Skeptic / Co-speaker]

It's like magic. Like, just cut a light on. So how are you using AI?

[AI Enthusiast / Main Speaker]

I use it every day to think, to strategize. For me personally, I as. As I think you guys know, and some people may know, I'm always thinking, and then I act, and so I'm trying to think of a good one. I already referenced it. I'm fascinated by fashion trends because I think they tell you a lot of shit. So literally, like, two, three weeks ago, I'm on a plane, caught up my work, just on some. This is literally. And by the way, I audio everything because I'm better with words than writing. So I'm like. I'm like, yo, chatty. I call it chatty. So we've been on this baggy trend again. 90s, it seems like, for the last couple of years, it's coming. Like, can you give me the last 40 years on, like, clothes being loose, then tight, then loose, then tight? And what is your prediction on how long this cycle of baggie will last? And the reason I asked it is to get ahead of the next tight

[AI Skeptic / Co-speaker]

wave.

[AI Enthusiast / Main Speaker]

Correct. So as an investor, if I see. If. If. So that was just a random thought that I did. And the answers are crazy. They give you, like, all sorts, and you go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And the answer it gives me really sets me up to think. So then in two years, if I see a new designer, because when I saw Mad Happy, I was like, that's going to hit Kith Watching Ronnie Firm Farm. Like, that's going to hit Siegelman Stables. Those hats I was like, that's going to hit. Like I'm starting to think that what I'm good at with the Internet I should be doing investing in fashion. And so if some young girl comes to me in two years and she's like, I'm, you know, I'm going back to like skinny jeans. I might be like, oh shit, it's. She's right. Like somewhere next to three years, let her cook, keep it alive. And she like that. So that's the shit I use it for.

[Agency Representative / Moderator]

I mean you have the. Obviously you're creative just by nature. Right. You've built that throughout your career. And obviously AI helps enhance that for the creatives. But we deal in a world where a lot of these agencies are old school.

[AI Enthusiast / Main Speaker]

Yeah.

[Agency Representative / Moderator]

And they're not up to date and they don't really understand how to use this. What are your thoughts on them? And I guess this new world of influencer and entrepreneur who are using it and trying to deal with agencies that just don't get it.

[AI Enthusiast / Main Speaker]

There's a lot here. I'll break that down. I'm going to take a little from over here. It all together. A couple things. First, let there be no confusion. There is pain that is coming with this innovation. But that always happens. Hip hop, the music that spoke to me In Jersey in 85, 86, I stopped buying like I would have been if hip hop doesn't come along. I would have bought Van Halen and Bon Jovi tapes, but instead I bought Run dmc, Beastie Boys, the Fat Boys. Big shout out to them. Underrated that, that took paper from someone else. When search engines came out, you, we were, you know, I was a little older than you guys, but we were hyped. Yahoo, Ash, Jeeves and then Google. Right. That was good for us. Nobody cried for the fucking hundred thousand people that lost their jobs selling the yellow pages. This city. Do you know how many job it was to clean up horse poop before the car came out? This city, this the best city in the world that we're sitting in right now. Only a hundred years ago, thousands were employed to clean up horseshit because horses were getting us around. And they, when the car was invented, nobody cried or they did. They wrote article like people talked about it. But there will be pain in this. If you're not a thinker, if you're just a doer, if you're not the architect and you're just a mason, if you just take direction and you don't use this, this is gonna be a fucked up era.

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