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A member of our board, Bill McGlashan sent me a copy of Matt Shumer’s essay, “Something Big is Happening.” The article makes a compelling argument that artificial intelligence is advancing faster than most people realize. He compared this moment to early 2020, when warnings about COVID sounded exaggerated to many—until the world shut down.
Whether his timeline proves perfectly accurate isn’t the point.
The point is this: the world is changing rapidly.
For people in prison, that reality presents a unique danger.
People going to federal prison will not have internet access.
They cannot experiment with AI tools.
They cannot test new platforms or build digital businesses from federal prison.
While the outside world is integrating AI into finance, law, marketing, education, and medicine, people inside risk falling further behind. It won’t be because they lack intelligence, but because they lack access.
That gap can become discouraging. For those who choose to prepare, the changes can also become motivating.
When I served 9,500 days in federal prison, the internet didn’t exist as it does today. The world changed dramatically while I was confined. I read about how the internet led markets to evolve and industries to disappear. Rather than ignore those changes, I prepared by learning as much as I possibly could. Even though I could not use the internet, I could learn more about the language and how others were using the new technology to disrupt jobs and open opportunities.
By learning, I put myself on a faster trajectory for success when I got out.
When a person stops thinking about the future, the days blend together. That mindset destroys hope and advances prospects for failure. In our courses, I frequently write about five potential outcomes that await people who go to prison. They either:
Struggle with unemployment,
Face challenges with under employment,
Suffer from homelessness,
Encounter more problems with the law, or
Succeed upon release.
At Prison Professors, we create self-directed courses that people can use to prepare for success.
Shumer’s warning is not just about AI replacing jobs. He writes about how change is accelerating. Industries that once evolved over decades now shift in months. Skills that were once stable for a generation will become obsolete in a few years. For someone serving a 5-, 10-, or 20-year sentence, that reality is sobering.
You may return to:
A workforce dominated by AI tools
Automated decision systems
Fewer entry-level knowledge jobs
Greater emphasis on adaptability and digital fluency
If you wait until release to prepare, you will already be behind. Fortunately, preparation does not require internet access. It requires intention and a deliberate mindset.
While serving my sentence, I developed a framework that later became the Straight-A Guide. I began with a simple but powerful step:
What would success mean for me when I got out? Specifically.
Who did I want to become?
What kind of life did I want to build?
What reputation did I want to carry?
Once I defined success, I set measurable goals aligned with that definition.
Earn academic credentials
Develop writing ability
Build a body of work
Establish a documented record of discipline and growth
Every goal had a purpose. Every goal prepared me for the world I expected to encounter upon release.
To show that I had the right attitude, I had to make a 100% commitment to success. My daily actions had to align with long-term objectives:
Read extensively
Write every day
Build relationships with mentors
Document progress
By writing about the progress regularly, I built a coalition of support. That strategy accelerated my prospects for success while in prison, and also upon release.
To help people learn more about Artificial Intelligence, and to help them develop pathways to succeed, I expect to invest more than $50,000 over the coming months to build an AI platform. It will help me learn more, and by learning, I’ll be able to teach more. We all have to learn a new language. People in prison cannot use AI tools, but they can:
Learn what machine learning means
Understand automation trends
Become familiar with the power of agents and skills
Study digital finance
Read about entrepreneurship
Analyze how industries are restructuring
We are building:
Self-directed courses
Vocabulary development modules
Writing exercises
Profile-building platforms
Release planning tools
We want people inside to develop:
Awareness
Discipline
Documentation
Strategic thinking
When someone builds a biography, writes journals, completes book reports, and crafts a release plan, they are not simply passing time. Matt Shumer’s essay is a warning about acceleration. For people going into prison, it should be a call to action.
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