Shaquille O’Neal needs a friend! A tutor, perhaps. The Big Aristotle never stops surprising people with his wish to learn more. Despite being a doctorate holder, O’Neal has recently joined the school again to gain expertise in another field. This time, he is studying sports psychology. However, the 4x NBA champ is struggling with one issue. O’Neal doesn’t have a great vocabulary, and he could use some help with that.

During the latest episode of The Big Podcast, O’Neal shared his troubles with the listeners. “School is killing me, by the way. You know why? It’s bad cuz I can’t write white..like I don’t have a big vocabulary,” O’Neal said. When the host, Adam Lefkoe, asked the basketball legend to use a thesaurus, which is a synonyms dictionary, O’Neal misunderstood and thought he was being suggested to use an AI tool.

The 4x NBA champ quickly refused to use help from any AI tools. “I don’t want to cheat. I know where you’re going; I don’t want to use chat GPT,” he emphatically stated. This is because he doesn’t want to cheat and prefers to work hard to get a degree. The Big Aristotle appeared strictly against any use of AI. However, he was among the group that promoted the use of technology. Don’t believe us?

The 52-year-old was one of the first few people who invested in Google. That was ages back when Google wasn’t even known to many people. Even now, he is involved in the AI field. He has previously invested in the startup company Edsoma. This is an AI-powered reading, education, and communication platform for kids. O’Neal had invested nearly $2.5 million in the company.

It appears that he believes in people more than AI. Back in school, when he needed help, O’Neal asked one of his classmates to help him.

Shaquille O’Neal took tutoring help from his friend

The O’Neals are very focused on education. The Big Aristotle’s parents, Lucille O’Neal and Phillip Harrison were very strict about Shaquille O’Neal‘s education, just as much as they were with his sports career. As a result, he had to excel in both.

He recounted an incident that occurred right before his state tournament. He had scored 68 in one of his subjects and needed some help. That’s when he came across a guy who was being bullied by others. Out of kindness, he decided to help the kid. He doesn’t even remember the kid’s name. Later, when the kid came to thank him, he offered to help O’Neal with his studies.

“A geek saved my life. [I was] a junior in high school, right before the state tournament. I got a 68 [on one of my exams]. I got one test left. Everybody’s bullying this guy. He was cool. … We called him McDougal. I wish, I wish I could remember his name,” O’Neal recalled.

The Los Angeles Lakers legend added, “I was like, ‘Are you gonna tutor me?’ So every day after school, he tutored me. … He helped me out and that’s when I realized nerds and geeks are very cool people.”

We often see how kind O’Neal is without expecting anything in return. However, he did receive major help in this instance. He already holds four degrees, and this latest one will mark his fifth. There’s indeed no end to learning, and O’Neal knows it better than anyone else.