Digital DIY: how AI lets people do their own thing

From personalized Strava recaps to your own landline communication. Do we live in the age of ultimate DIY?

One morning, I opened a link from a colleague to a blog post titled “Turning Strava data and gym photos into a training recap with my coding agent.”

The blog post described how a sports enthusiast used Claude to code his Strava to basically get recaps on steroids.

“A bit much, no?” my colleague asked, referring to the whole coding effort to get personalized workout recaps.

While all of this would make sense for a professional athlete or trainer, it made me think about how much easier it has suddenly become to meet your needs in a digital setting.

Using AI for almost anything shouldn’t be a surprise. Especially considering that our eyes have gotten so much better at spotting AI in images, articles, songs, and more.

While we might be prone to linking AI to some rather sinister examples, I set out to find examples that would convince me it isn’t all that bad and can help you with your personal projects when needed.

Making your own website, even if it's fake

I remember when blogging first became a thing. The good news was that for an average writer like me, at 13 or 14 years old, a template on Wix or WordPress was enough to get me going.

But with time, maintaining a website became something that needed knowledge and skill.

It still does, but at the same time, receiving guidance from AI can be a major help.

“This project would have been inconceivable for me a few years ago, because I don't have the bandwidth or the artistic ability to produce almost 2,000 products' worth of assets by hand,” said Jack Yang, the creator of FakeHaul, to Cybernews.

FakeHaul is a dopamine site that lets users experience the benefits of shopping without spending any money.

While such sites are becoming a popular way to hit that quick dopamine rush without spending a dollar, they also raise questions about their “innocence.”

Some experts say that, in addition to the possibility that these sites will have the opposite effect and make users spend even more, they also collect data, such as browsing habits, fake orders, and simulated spending amounts, which can be sold to real companies.

Because of this, Yang, who is actually a software engineer at Microsoft Teams AI, revealed that “FakeHaul collects nothing. No accounts, no email, no IP tracking, no monetization of any kind. Your cart lives in your browser and nowhere else.”

The creator shared that this decision “costs” him the ability to measure whether people return to the site, but he would rather forgo this information than track users.

FakeHaul was born out of Yang's desire to help a close one who struggles with impulse shopping by creating a website with well-known designer brands such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci.

However, he soon realized he couldn’t show it to a wider audience without facing legal problems.

“I think AI genuinely lowers the barrier for passion projects, and the effect I care about most is on monetization. Without AI, this would have taken me months, and at that point, you start needing the project to pay for itself to justify the time,” explained Yang.

Nevertheless, the creator noted that one thing that AI couldn’t help him with was the experience, leaving him to come up with things like receipts, flash deals, sharing cards, and unboxing.

When it comes to the overall experience with FakeHaul, the developer revealed that “in this case, I like that AI helped me build something that might do some good.”

Creating a cheaper alternative

Despite the yearly release of new hardware, vintage tech seems to always make its way back.

With extensive discussions about the impact of social media, especially on kids, a new, yet familiar, alternative to smartphones has emerged – the landline phone.

One of the companies that started selling these phones was Tin Can, which released its product a year ago and has already sold hundreds of thousands of units.

A $100 device prompted 2 other parents, Bob Liu and Christophe Poirrier, to develop a cheaper alternative to Tin Can for their kids.

“We never planned to launch anything beyond our own circle,” Poirrier said, explaining how Ring Ring Club started to Cybernews.

Nevertheless, the project that the two dads started has now evolved into a whole business.

Despite the project's growth, Poirrier revealed that they created it while still working their full-time jobs.

“We are just fortunate that the technology has evolved so much in just the last 2 years that we can do this as an evening project at a much lower cost,” he said.

The man offered insights into the business, noting that AI-driven automation helped them speed up their website processes.

“Like a team of 6 would have had to do this for 18 months, just a few years ago,” shared Poirrier. Now they were able to do the same work during the evenings.

The co-founder shared that while they rely on AI for automation in provisioning and the operational side of the business, they don’t use it for customer communication.

One of the main factors that made this project successful was that the creators enabled the sale of the same service at a lower price.

Poirrier revealed that while the company offers users the opportunity to buy the WiFi handset, it focuses on selling them “the bridge,” or an adapter that can be used with the phone they already have at home. This way, they can introduce landline communication to more users, especially those who have kids.