That sounds like a horrible way of learning Emacs, but fair enough. I don't think you need to know elisp as a prerequisite but personally I learnt enough of it to be able to get by without Customize.

You might want to read Zed's EULA.

Well, I'm sorry for not employing a Hackernews-approved data-driven, spaced-repetition learning technique utilizing Pomodoro, Zettelkasten, and balanced gut bacteria to optimize the time to proficiency. I was frickin' 18 when I discovered Emacs (and Linux), it was 1995, and most of us were just figuring this crap out as we went.

I do not use Zed's online services, only the editor itself which is GPLv3. If I need AI I wire in a third-party ACP provider, which is easy enough to configure.