Curtis Augspurger (Linkedin) is on a mission to preserve digital legacies. Over the past several months, he’s been playing with AI coding tools and building conversational AI apps, such as:

• taking a photo of artwork and conversing with the artist

• hosting a roundtable of luminaries (Einstein & Hawking)

You can try out his apps here. Password: byondthecanvas

In this conversation, he talks about the many ups-and-downs of coding with AI, shares his product demos, and discusses his vision for digital legacy in the age of AI:

Curtis has a Master of Architecture from Columbia University, and started his Hollywood career working on Batman Forever! Most recently, he served as VP Production Management at Creative Design Services at The Sphere in Las Vegas.

AI Coding Tools

Curtis started with Anthropic Claude, copy/pasting Claude’s code suggestions into Atom.

He also tried Replit but got stuck with it. In November, he tried Lovable after watching one of my Tiktok videos, and he was able to build a fully functional version of his app in just a few days!

Overall, he restarted his project from scratch over 10+ times!

When he demo’d his current app in Lovable, it had 900+ edits in that single project.

In short, don’t give up too early 😊 

AI Coding Tips & Tricks

If you want to use AI to build apps, similar to Curtis, here are some tips and tricks:

1. Setup github version control early on, so that you can easily revert back to an earlier version if AI messes up.

2. Implement new features incrementally. Break down complex tasks into smaller, manageable steps. Use a bullet point or numbered list to delineate each task.

3. If AI gets stuck, create a test page and break down the feature into all the steps required. Then, have AI implement one step at a time in order to identify where it’s getting stuck. Your goal is to isolate the root problem.

4. Try different AI tools. The whole space is rapidly evolving, with new tools emerging, and older tools getting substantial improvements. Right now, Lovable.dev is the #1 AI Coding tool I recommend for non-technical folks who want to build a web app, BUT this could change next week or next month, if I find something better.

5. Attach images to your prompts to provide visual references. For example, take a screenshot of an app layout or feature you like, then attach the screenshot along with your prompt. Tell AI to reference the screenshot or use it as inspiration.

Need More Help? 👋 

1/ If you want to learn how to grow on social media and make $20K/month through coaching, consulting, speaking, selling apps, or digital products… check out Blotato.com 

2/ Free AI courses & playbooks here.

3/ 1:1 meeting?

I don’t do calls, coaching, consulting, partnerships, or collaborations. For blotato users, I host Weekly Office Hours where you can ask me anything. Come hang w/ me 🥳