Hit the desk this week and staffed on live deal. Feeling completely lost -- how to add value as AN1?

Just started as AN1 at a mid-BB and got staffed onto a live M&A process almost immediately.

Tbh I have no idea what's going on 80% of the time and feel like most of the questions I'd have are too stupid to bring up to my senior analyst and associate, both of whom are already stretched thin. 

As an SA, I spent most of my time formatting slides and building charts/some basic Excel supporting schedules. But since everyone's using AI tools to handle most of these tasks (and more efficiently than I could), it's a bit more unclear what my "value-add" is supposed to be.

For those who have been through this:

• How lost were you during your first few weeks/months?
• How do you 'learn' a live deal when everyone's too busy to explain the context to you + how do you actually 'learn' how a model works?
• If you could start over, what would you focus on during the first 90 days? 

Would appreciate any advice.