Embarrassing AI #43: My workflow isn't an AI agent (yet)

Things built: 19 People watching: 19 Cashflow:-$152

🤖 another super genius joins our group. Welcome friend! 🤖

I built an AI powered workflow, not an agent.

Or maybe someone would call it an agent, because it has an AI brain. I don’t know. Because I’m triggering it, and I decide what to do with the result, I still feel like it’s not what I imagine an AI agent to be. An independent entity that makes decisions within the framework I define.

It’s still cool even if it isn’t v1 of our robotic overlords.

When I asked Gemini a while ago how to improve my newsletter, it blabbed on and on about the importance of Headers, Sub headers, preview text and meta text so that the internet can better understand what my newsletter is about.

I really liked that idea.

What I didn’t like is having to come up with new and creative ways to do that every day.

Unlike writing the newsletter itself, which is something I look forward on the daily, all of the rest of the operations around it quickly just turn into a boring chore.

Which is part of the whole point of learning ways to use AI to do the grunt work.

By describing what I wanted to do in the same chat where I had asked advice about improving my newsletter, I got an answer that was already in context when I asked it to write a prompt for the AI part of the automation.

All of the rest was a little bit of mapping fields and getting APIs so that the n8n workflow could interact with the world.

Let’s see what it decides to create when it reads about how I put it together.

Here’s a short loom of the workflow in action.

Tools I am using to fake being an expert.

1. Beehiiv (The Platform)

"I tried other platforms, but Beehiiv is the only one that makes growth feel like a game. It’s what runs this newsletter. The Deal: You get a free trial + 20% off (I get a commission to keep the lights on)."

2. Wispr Flow (The Time Saver)

"I hate typing. This tool turns my rambling voice notes into perfect text. It’s the only way I can write this much every day. The Deal: We both get a free month if you try it."

3. Emergent (The Coding Cheat)

"I am not a coder. Emergent is my 'vibe coding' partner that writes the messy parts for me. Essential if you want to build apps without a CS degree."

Last Word.

The game changer is that for just about any tool, you can now use AI as a personal tutor. It’s a little bit like downloading instructions for flying a helicopter in the matrix.

Making daily progress,

P.S. Did I do something totally backwards today? Or do you have a better prompt for this? Hit reply and tell me. I’m here to learn just as much as you are. (I read every single email).