Kia ora {{ First name | friend }},
In my last email, I was vibe coding from a plane. This time I’m vibe coding from a train, bound for Lisbon, Portugal.
Prepping for tomorrow’s call and getting up to speed with other mahi (work).
People can get wigged out by buzz words and AI in general. This week’s edition focuses on simplifying some meta AI concepts into tangible outcomes - as the title states, it’s not as hard as you think.
PS, the next community call is Tues 2 June, 7PM NZT (11 hours from the time of sending this email).
We’ll be going over
Moving from AI advice to AI action
The real opportunity for AI in 2026
1:1 hot seat building where I’ll support people to set up workflows in realtime.
Thanks for being here.
What’s the vibe?
Vibe coding is a term thrown around a lot these days. It’s a term for AI coding.
The “vibe” part in my understanding is using AI to help you do the coding. So you can vibe out while AI does the heavy lifting.
When I talk about this project, Build with Billy, this is specifically what I mean.
To build in this way, there’s a bit of a leap of faith you have to take, to move from “chat” work to “coding” work, which is where the real leverage lies. Claude Code and OpenAI Codex are tools that allow you this leverage.
The “coding” word is actually a misnomer. You don’t write any code. Literally I haven’t even written a single line of html since I started this journey. AI does all of that. You just tell it (very clearly) what you want, and watch it write the code for you.
This requires no technical knowledge whatsoever to get started.
So vibe coding is not really coding at all. But it is a vibe.
(PS: Vibe marketing is another term that gets used, basically to describe AI agent workflows in the context of marketing outcomes (research, outreach, social scheduling, content creation, etc. I tend to lump them together as coding is more broad - build websites, databases, connect apps, run operations - and already contains all of the possible vibe marketing functions)
How an AI brain becomes an AI “body”
I’ve been harping on about this AI brain. I want to clarify here what this is actually about, just to make it really simple.
The main drawcard with the brain has been “give your AI a permanent memory”.
Why should you care about that? It’s a bit abstract.
Well, memory is important because AI inherently has had a sense of amnesia. Recently things have gotten better with Claude introducing native memory inside chats etc.
But when you’re vibe coding (see above), you are actually working in your own custom workspace. A folder on your desktop, rather than inside Claude.
When you get started working in this way, the current chat you are in will remember what you said 20 mins ago (ish) - but consider this
What if you built a website 3 weeks ago and want to change the copy on a single paragraph on a certain page?
What if your thinking and strategy on a project was “forgotten” by AI when you come to work on it tomorrow?
What if you just want to pick up a project where you left off, and not have to re-explain yourself again and again?
This is where the brain comes in. Without it, your AI has no way learning/growing/self-reflecting over time.
Memory alone is useful for sure. But when you connect memory to action, that’s when the wildfire kicks off.
From intelligence to action
Think about a city or town you know well. You walk the streets with confidence, find the right store, buy the thing, go see that person, drop this thing off, whatever. It’s second nature. Your memory is the internal map of the streets. It’s in your mind.
But your actions (buying, visiting, dropping off the thing) are separate skills. They require your body and your senses.
The AI brain connected to your tools is like giving your brain a body. It can apply its memory and do things for you.
These things could be
Building websites based on your preferences, context, branding, research, audience feedback
Giving high-level business strategy advice, writing a plan, then actioning that plan.
Building workflow automations to generate social content and post it on repeat
Run research overnight and give you a morning report to wake up to
Set scheduled reminders
Build things in apps (launch Shopify products, make designs in Canva, build spreadsheets in Google Sheets, send invoices in Xero)
The list goes on… Literally the limit is your own imagination. I have not been able to hit a ceiling on this thing.
Let me say that again for those in the back:
There is not a single system I have not been able to build with this way of working.
(The only thing that gets in the way is when an app doesn’t have an API or MCP server. Needless to say, I have quickly been decommissioning these apps from my subscriptions)
When I talk about AI being mindblowing, this is what I mean.
The train has left the station, and it’s getting faster every day. The time is now to start working in this way.
You can do three things right now to get on the vibe.
Know that it is totally easy and possible for you to vibe code
Install and set up your own brain
Connect your tools and dream what is possible
You can get started with my brain Starter Kit here, or the minimal free version is available free on GitHub here.
Some musings
Quantum computing with AI will be weird. We’ve all had that knowing that our phones are listening to us 24/7, when you say/hear something (or sometimes even think it…?) then it shows up first on your social feed. This is nothing compared to where quantum computing is going. I heard this could a million times more efficient than what AI currently is now. A MILLION TIMES. How to even comprehend that? Idk. This thread here helped me begin to even conceptualise what that might be like. Sounds like we’re starting another version of the Matrix.
Leverage the algo - If you want to use the above algorithmic social surveillance to your advantage, go follow a bunch of AI 20-somethings in Bali who are shilling tools every day. It’s actually quite useful to just have a flood of AI tips on your social feed. A lot of noise but a lot of gold too.
Use ChatGPT images to edit your images quickly - I was trying to make the “me just trying to vibe” meme above and couldn’t find the original image without text. So I found the one with text on and sent it to ChatGPT, voila. See below.
Claude Opus 4.8 dropped recently and people are already making wild stuff - 2d games, macOS replica, explainer videos and so much more. Check it out.
Cookiy AI is the world’s first agentic AI user researcher. Try for free here.
Everyone feels behind, even the people at the top of this game, everyone is like “wtf is going on” all at once. I definitely feel behind in a lot of areas in regard to AI. So give yourself a break. Do what you can, and also move with haste. :)
{{ First name | friend }}, thanks for sticking around for another one.
Don’t forget to touch grass :)
Billy