Why Try AI

Why Try AI positions itself as a weekly AI newsletter deliberately built for the non-technical reader, and that focus is both its strongest asset and its most honest limitation. In a landscape crowded with dense research digests and platform-specific tutorials, Why Try AI carves out a clear niche: it is a curated, plain-language guide to generative AI for people who want to use these tools without needing to understand the underlying mechanics. The newsletter, authored by Daniel Nest, promises a no-BS look at AI, and that editorial voice—conversational, skeptical of hype, and grounded in practical use—is what makes it stand out for its intended audience. Each issue typically mixes tool showcases (like AI journaling apps or Figma’s Jambot), actionable tips (such as getting ChatGPT to respond more concisely), and dedicated Midjourney prompts and guides. The content is designed to be consumed in a single sitting, making it a low-commitment way to stay current if you are a beginner or a professional who needs a digestible weekly update without technical overhead.

Where Why Try AI excels is in its curation and clarity. For a non-techy individual, the sheer volume of AI tools launching each week can be paralyzing. The newsletter acts as a filter, highlighting tools that are genuinely beginner-friendly and explaining them in terms of what they can do for your everyday life—whether that is generating images, writing drafts, or organizing thoughts. The Midjourney prompts are a particularly strong draw: they provide concrete, copy-paste-able examples that help readers immediately experiment with image generation, which is often the most intimidating part of using AI creatively. For content creators and marketing professionals, the newsletter offers a low-risk way to explore generative AI applications without needing to follow multiple Twitter accounts or Reddit threads. The Substack platform also adds a layer of community interaction through comments and discussions, though engagement levels vary by issue.

However, the newsletter’s beginner-first approach means it deliberately skips depth. Advanced users or those seeking technical breakdowns of model architectures, training data nuances, or comparative benchmarks will find the content too surface-level. The tutorials are more inspirational than instructional in a step-by-step sense; they tell you what a tool can do and why you might use it, but not always how to set it up from scratch. Another important caveat: the pricing tiers listed on the site—ranging from $10 to $120 per month—are not for the newsletter itself, which is free to subscribe to via Substack. Those plans are for Midjourney GPU time, a separate offering that can confuse newcomers who might think they need to pay to read the newsletter. This distinction is critical for any prospective subscriber to understand.

In practical terms, Why Try AI is best suited for someone who feels overwhelmed by the pace of AI developments and wants a human-curated, judgment-free entry point. It is less useful for power users who already have established workflows or who need deep dives into specific models. The newsletter’s value lies in its consistency and its editor’s willingness to admit when a tool is overhyped or not worth your time. For a non-techy reader, that trustworthiness is worth more than a dozen technical explainers. If you are an educator, a marketer, or a curious professional looking to build AI literacy without the jargon, Why Try AI is a solid weekly addition to your inbox. Just know that it is a starting point, not a destination—and that the real learning will happen when you take the prompts and tips and start experimenting on your own.