Remember when ChatGPT first came out and it felt revolutionary? Well, that was just the beginning. Things are moving so fast in the AI world that by the time you figure out one tool, three new ones have launched. That's exactly why I brought Charlie Guo on the show—he's an AI engineer who actually understands this stuff and can explain it without making your head spin.

We talked about what's actually happening behind the scenes with AI right now, why most "AI agents" aren't really what they claim to be, and Charlie's brilliant system for turning your random thoughts into polished blog posts. If you're feeling overwhelmed trying to keep up with AI while juggling your business and family, this episode will help you cut through the hype and focus on what can actually save you time.

Feeling overwhelmed in your business? Take the Business Overwhelm Diagnostic.

Top Takeaways

• AI got way better at thinking things through, which is likely why we’ve seen an explosion in tools and use. They are much better at “reasoning” now.
• Most "AI agents" are just fancy automation tools that follow scripts you set up, not true assistants that can figure things out on their own and take action without your constant guidance.
• AI is finally starting to connect to your actual apps (like your email, calendar, and project management tools), which means we're getting closer to having a real digital assistant that can do stuff for you.
• You can turn car ride rambling into first drafts by recording voice memos of your ideas, then having AI organize them into actual articles—no more staring at blank screens.
• Let AI handle the grunt work, but keep the good stuff for yourself—use it for research and organizing, but don't let it write your insights or replace your personal voice that connects with people.
• Test AI with your own tasks every few months to see what it can actually do for your specific business instead of getting caught up in all the marketing hype about what it might do someday.

Show Notes

• The State of AI Engineering
• Tutorial: How to streamline your writing process with Whisper and GPT-4
• Dealing with AI Fatigue

I’m wrestling with whether I’m becoming too dependent on AI for critical thinking, especially after it helped me create an entire quiz for my business.

While I don’t use it for actual writing, I’ve noticed I’m defaulting to AI for brainstorming, research, and problem-solving more quickly than I used to. I’m exploring the line between helpful automation and potentially weakening my own thinking muscles.

What do you think? Send feedback to https://streamlinedfeedback.com

This episode description was written by Claude AI.

This was also published on my Audio Notes only feed, Joe’s Audio Notes. Let me know if you want to see more episodes like this.

Remember when coding meant years of computer science classes and debugging late into the night? Well, things have changed. I recently sat down with Susan Bowles, founder and fellow solopreneur, to dive into the world of "vibe coding" — essentially describing what you want to AI and having it write all the code for you.

While I had a nearly flawless experience with ChatGPT writing 2,000 lines of WordPress code for an underscoped client project, Susan's journey with Google Scripts was more of a write-test-fail-repeat cycle. We explored how this technology is reshaping not just how we build things, but potentially eliminating entry-level programming positions while creating new challenges around security and best practices.

The conversation took an interesting turn when I shared my recent Claude horror story — what started as a simple quiz creation turned into building an entire WordPress plugin, only to realize I should have just used Gravity Forms from the beginning. Sometimes the smartest tool isn't the shiniest one.

Special thanks to Kit for letting us use their studios! Learn more about them here

Want my AI Swipe file? Go here: https://streamlined.fm/automation

Top Takeaways

• Vibe coding works best when you already understand the fundamentals — AI is great at writing code, but terrible at making decisions about what that code should actually do
• Security remains a major blind spot — AI will happily tell you to put API keys in plain text unless you know enough to question it
• The technology excels at helping you execute cool ideas quickly and get to beta testing faster, but shouldn't be the foundation of a fundable business

Show Notes

• Part 2 of this conversation on "Calm is the New KPI"
• My previous episode: "I Vibe Coded a Client Project"
• Cortex podcast
• Austin Church
• ChatGPT
• Claude
• Lovable
• Zapier
• Make.com
• ConvertKit (now Kit)
• streamlinedfeedback.com

Disclaimer: Claude pretty much wrote this whole description based on the transcript.