Hey Reader - Simon here 👋

AI app building tools suck, right?

That was my assumption until a couple of weeks ago.

But things are changing so fast in software dev right now that opinions from three months ago already feel outdated.

So with (still) my old mindset, I approached a new tool.

🎥 New Video: This AI Builds Full Apps… Should You Use It?

This week I tested Orchids, an AI-powered tool that takes a different approach.

Instead of forcing you into a new stack or subscription, it lets you use the AI models you already have access to - basically bring your own keys (BYOK).

So the question was:

In my new video I explore:

• the actual app Orchids built for me
• where the AI completely breaks down
• whether tools like this belong in a real dev workflow

👉 Watch the full video​

💭 A few thoughts this week

• The fastest developers I know today are the ones who design systems AI can execute on
• Writing code is slowly becoming less of a bottleneck than knowing what to build
• The window in which you can/will do your job without AI is slowly closing

I think we’re moving toward a world where developers spend less time typing code and more time orchestrating system, and observing/reviewing outputs

Many developers already feel the pain of this, of not having the same "feeling" for the code they create. But it's inevitable, and will slowly become the reality for all software engineers imho.

🛠 What I’m building

This week I'm mostly working on:

• Fixing CPU usage and heating in my game Tiny Harvest​
• Experimenting with different IDEs / AI models and their output
• planning some upcoming videos around building real apps with AI

That’s it for this week - back to building.

If you’re experimenting with AI builders as well, I’m curious what tools you’re testing right now.

See you next week,
Simon