The Age of AI Cognitive Collaboration- Thinking With AI

Welcome to the very first edition of High Tech Tea, the space where I slow down the noise of tech and help you understand what’s tea in AI.

But, first a little Black Intelligence fo you.

Here's a fun and creative way to tap into your intelligence: Elsa Mehary's breakdown of little-known types of Black Genius. The way she broke this down was priceless.

Think of this the next time you don't think you bring any genius to the table. Because you do. And this newsletter? It's built for genius minds who want to stay sharp, stay informed, and stay ahead.

Hit reply and let me know what kind of Black intelligence you use most.

For me its…. Adaptive Intelligence + Resourcefulness Intelligence. A close third would be Cultural Intelligence.

What’s your Black Genius?

Now, let's get into it.

This newsletter isn't about "AI hacks."

It's about power. Narrative sovereignty. And becoming what I call an AI-native thinker someone who knows how to think with AI before ever touching the keyboard.

Every week, I'll bring you:

Let's build your AI literacy from the ground up — with intention, clarity, and taste.

Because we're not building followers. We're building AI citizens.

Welcome to the movement.

— Jeneba 👩🏾‍💻

We've entered a new era where our browsers think, our apps reason, and our tools act.

But here's the truth nobody wants to say out loud:

Most people are using AI without understanding how AI thinks.

And that gap? That's where power leaks. That's where you become a passenger in your own workflow. That's where you get played by the algorithm instead of partnering with it.

AI literacy doesn't start with tools. It starts with cognition.

My core belief:

True AI fluency = the ability to frame problems, reason with systems, validate information, and collaborate with agents intentionally.

You're not here to become dependent on AI.

You're here to become so literate, so aware, so grounded that you can partner with AI without losing your agency.

That's the heart of this newsletter.

That's the work.

Becoming AI fluent isn't about keeping up with the industry.

It's about keeping up with yourself.

Slowing down to think, reason, and reflect before prompting is a form of self-mastery. Every AI conversation is a mirror, showing you how clearly (or vaguely) you think.

When your prompts are scattered, your thinking is scattered. When your prompts are precise, you've done the cognitive work first.

Your clarity is the most advanced tool you'll ever own.

The models will keep getting smarter. The interfaces will keep getting sleeker. The hype will keep getting louder.

But none of it matters if you haven't developed the mental architecture to engage intentionally.

This is what I mean by thinking before you prompt.

Welcome to the model wars era … here’s the tea 🍵

The Frontier Model Drop

Three major releases landed within days of each other: Google's Gemini 3, Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.5, and OpenAI's GPT-5.1. Each company is positioning their model as the cognitive backbone of the future. Claude is looking like the MVP though.GPT-5.1 introduced tone presets and adaptive thinking, and Gemini 3 is embedding itself directly into Google Search and powering Google Shopping.

The Infrastructure Play

Anthropic announced a $50 billion investment in AI facilities. AMD, Cisco, and HUMAIN formed a three-way joint venture to build "AI-ready" infrastructure stacks globally. Microsoft and Meta are pouring over $70 billion each into AI data centers. This isn't hype it's an arms race for compute.

The Shift From Generative to Agentic

The industry is moving from AI that generates to AI that acts. Gemini Agent can now triage your Gmail like an executive assistant, rebuild your calendar, and book your travel with visible task lists and approval checkpoints. This is the browser becoming your executive assistant, not just your search engine.

I’m plan to demo this and test it out live on YouTube. I’ll drop an invite, so be on the lookout, so you don’t miss out.

The Workforce Wake-Up Call

MIT just dropped the Iceberg Index, a labor simulation that found AI can already perform 11.7% of U.S. work, representing $1.2 trillion in wages. That’s WILD!

This exposure isn't concentrated in coastal tech hubs. It's spread across all 50 states, including rural and Rust Belt regions.

The Literacy Investment

TikTok launched a $2 million AI Literacy Fund to help users recognize and responsibly engage with AI-generated content. First platform to invest directly in public AI education at this scale. Big win for them.

The Policy Signal

Trumpito is at it again. The White House launched the Genesis Mission, a Manhattan Project-scale initiative to build a unified AI platform using federal data. If you know your history, you know why we need to pay attention. (More on this below.)

The comments everywhere are the same: AI is moving from "generate this output" to "complete this workflow." Multi-step, autonomous, goal-driven.

What this means for you: It will be become more normal to use AI Personal-brand tools and services and evolve from "help me write my LinkedIn post" to "manage my entire content calendar, engagement strategy, and audience insights holistically."

The question isn't "what can AI make for me?" anymore.

It's "what can AI do for me, while I think about something else?" Something more high-level.

Adobe and HUMAIN announced a partnership to build Arabic-first generative AI infrastructure, culturally tuned models, localized datasets, region-specific applications.

I can’t wait to see this more in Africa. The disruption could mean LLM trained on African language, culture, and nuance, finally!

What this means for you: One-size-fits-all global models are giving way to culturally nuanced systems. This creates more space and opportunity for consultants, strategists, and thought leaders who can bridge cultural intelligence with AI fluency. That's the power positioning for Black innovators.

Hippocratic AI raised $126 million at a $3.5 billion valuation focused exclusively on healthcare generative agents. Safe. Domain-specialized. Clinically validated.

What this means for you: The market is signaling that trust, safety, and domain expertise matter more than raw generative capability. Being "domain-savvy" not just "AI-capable" is the differentiator..

This week brought two stories tell us why AI literacy isn't optional. It's protective.

MIT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory released a study using a labor simulation tool called the Iceberg Index. It found that AI can already perform the equivalent of 11.7% of U.S. work $1.2 trillion in annual wages, across finance, healthcare, and professional services. Yikes!

Here's the part that should make you lean forward a little: traditional metrics only capture the 2.2% of the exposure concentrated in tech and computing. The Iceberg Index captures the hidden mass of the administrative, cognitive, and professional services work that AI can now handle but hasn't yet displaced.

States like Tennessee, North Carolina, and Utah are already using this tool to prepare workforce strategies. It's not a countdown clock to layoffs. It's an early warning and its going to spread zip code by zip code.

The literacy takeaway: This is why we think with AI, not just about AI. Understanding where capabilities overlap with human skills is how you stay ahead of the game, personally and professionally.

Read the memo Microsoft employees are sending after the tech giant laid off 15,000 plus employees this year

TikTok launched new transparency tools and a global AI literacy fund, investing $2 million in nonprofits and experts to create educational content on recognizing and responsibly using AI-generated media.

They've already labeled over 1.3 billion AI-generated videos. Now they're testing a feature that lets users control how much AI content appears in their feeds.

The literacy takeaway: Platforms are beginning to invest in public AI education. This is what I've been building toward with all of my content and frameworks, helping people develop the discernment and fluency to navigate AI as citizens, not just consumers.

Good to see the industry catching up.

Moley Robotics unveiled the B AiR Kitchen, a robot chef that can prep meals for up to 10 people using recipes developed by Michelin-starred chefs.

Its space-saving design allows it to bring automated cooking to rooms of different sizes, potentially making personal robot chefs accessible to a much broader market than ever before.

My take:

Would I let Moley cook my Thanksgiving? Absolutely not. They don't have big mama arms. They don't know what "a little bit" of seasoning means. They can't taste and adjust.

But cook my Tuesday night dinner when I'm tired and staring at the fridge like it owes me an explanation? Maybe.

This is the real unlock: not replacing humanity and the sacred rituals of food and gathering, but putting that exhausting daily question — "What's for dinner?" in the garbabe where it belongs

If it can give me back that mental bandwidth, we might be onto something.

What you let this bot in your kitchen?

This week's prompt is designed to build something most people skip: metacognition. The ability to think about how you think. When you’re trying to solve a problem or brainstorming with AI, add this as the last sentence of your prompt.

Paste this into your model of choice:

"Before generating any output or answers, identify the mental model I'm should be using to think about this problem and make the best decisions. Name it. Analyze it. Then suggest a more efficient, ethical, or creative mental model I should try and explain why."

Why this matters:

This prompt builds:

This is how you train your mind at the same time you train the model.

The AI becomes your cognitive partner , not just another Google search bar.

Hit reply and let me know how this works for you!

The White House launched the Genesis Mission this week. A Manhattan Project-scale initiative to build the "American Science and Security Platform" using AI foundation models trained on federal scientific data.

What it is:

The Department of Energy is leading a unified AI buildout across all 17 national labs, pooling compute, datasets, and research partnerships to accelerate discovery in energy, materials, biotech, and national security.

Why we should pay attention:

The original Manhattan Project was deeply shaped by the racism of mid-20th-century America. Black workers were segregated into the lowest-paid roles. Black scientists faced limited access to mentorship and advancement. Communities of color were located in areas with disproportionate environmental and health issues from contamination ( think about the lower 9th ward in NOLA good people).

Genesis is being framed as the next great mobilization of American scientific power. But it's launching inside a policy environment that has been hostile to DEI, civil-rights enforcement, and public-interest oversight. Go read Project 2025 on DeepSeek.

The question we should be asking:

Who gets access? Whose data? Whose communities benefit, and who is left out?

AI literacy means understanding not just how these systems work, but who they're built for and whose interests they serve.

Stay woke, friends! Intelligence is a form of resistance and Black Genius is a form of disruption..

If this issue hit different for you, forward it to one person who needs to level up their AI literacy.

Next week: "The Four Levels of AI Literacy — From Awareness to Agency."

Let's build the future with intention.

— Jeneba Wint

HIGH TECH TEA Where creative, aesthetic, and cultural intelligence meets responsible Black innovation.