Should You Ask AI to Explain, or Diagnose You?
AI can explain anything.
That’s the problem.
Because most of the time, you don’t need more explanation.
You need to find the exact point where your brain went:
“Yep, I get it.”
…even though you don’t.
So today’s Tuesday AI Verdict is simple:
If you’re stuck, stop asking AI to “explain the topic.”
Ask it to diagnose why you’re confused.
The Trap: Explanation Loops
You’ve done this:
You don’t get a concept.
You ask AI to explain it.
It gives a clean, confident explanation.
You feel better for 15 seconds.
You try a problem and instantly realise you still don’t know what’s happening.
That’s not you being dumb. That’s you skipping the real bottleneck:
your first wrong assumption.
AI explanations are smooth enough to let you nod along while staying wrong.
The Fix: Confusion-First Debugging
Here’s the move:
Instead of “Explain X”, you write:
what you think is happening
where you get lost
what you tried
what result you expected vs what happened
Then AI’s job is not to teach the whole topic.
AI’s job is to find the earliest incorrect assumption and fix only that.
Like debugging code. You don’t rewrite the entire program.
You find the first thing that breaks everything downstream.
Why this works
Because confusion is usually not “I don’t understand anything.”
It’s usually:
one definition you’re slightly misusing
one sign convention you’re ignoring
one mental model you copied that doesn’t actually fit
one step you’re hand-waving because it “looks right”
And once that one thing is corrected, the rest clicks way faster.
The Diagnose-Me Prompt
Copy this and keep it saved:
Prompt:
I’m learning [topic]. Don’t explain it from scratch.
First, diagnose where my understanding breaks.
Here’s what I think is happening (might be wrong):
[your explanation in 3 to 6 sentences]
Here’s the exact point I get confused:
[confusion point]
Here’s what I tried:
[attempt / steps]
Here’s what I expected vs what happened:
Expected: [x]
Got: [y]
Your job:
1. Identify the first wrong assumption I’m making (be specific).
2. Correct only that assumption with a tiny example.
3. Ask me one check question to confirm I actually understand it.
4. Then give me one similar practice question.
If you use that consistently, you’ll notice something uncomfortable:
A lot of your “confusion” is actually hidden overconfidence.
Not arrogance. Just the brain filling gaps so you can keep moving.
This prompt forces the gaps to show themselves.
Quick tip: If you can’t be bothered typing all this out, just use voice-to-text or talk it through with AI. Same effect, way faster.
The Verdict
If you’re confused, asking AI to “explain it again” is usually the slow way.
Because explanations can make you feel like you’re progressing while keeping the same mistake alive.
The faster way is to treat confusion like a bug:
show your current mental model
find the first wrong assumption
fix only that
test it immediately
Use AI less like a textbook.
Use it more like a debugger.
Stay autonomous out there.
– The Prompted Learner Newsletter