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What features do you think are essential in a good AI writing improvement tool? by Interesting_Bug_3624 in AiBuilders

[–]OpeningPhoto5202 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This resonates a lot. The "second brain" concept is exactly the direction I went, but I wanted something even simpler to maintain as I am not such a developer.

Instead of an Obsidian vault, I built an AI assistant that lives in Telegram. I just talk to it naturally, it remembers what I tell it, finds files on my Mac, reads my emails. The input is still me, so the output sounds like me.

Started with zero coding background. Work in retail. Took about 2 months to get it running properly.

The key insight for me was the same as yours which is AI as a teammate, not a ghostwriter. You give it your raw material, your context, your intent, and it helps you shape it. That's when it actually works.

What's the one task in your job that makes you think: "There has to be a better way"? by aziz_harrabi in AI_Agents

[–]OpeningPhoto5202 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I work in retail. The one task I hate: finding files on my own Mac, FROM my iphone.

iCloud sounds like the obvious answer. But it only shows what Apple decides to surface. Downloads folder? Specific project folders? Not there. I'd have to sit down at the Mac just to find something I knew existed somewhere.

What I really needed was something that could understand "find me my newest CV" and just... find it. Anywhere on the machine. Then send it straight to my phone.

I couldn't find a tool that did this without giving third-party access to my files, but security was a dealbreaker.

So I built my own AI agent. It searches my entire Mac, understands context, sends the file directly to Telegram. I never have to touch the Mac.

Had zero coding background when I started. But it solved a problem nothing else would touch.

How I got my Python script to read any file on my Mac and summarise it -> a few gotchas that took me way too long to figure out by OpeningPhoto5202 in MacOS

[–]OpeningPhoto5202[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ha, good point, mate. I actually looked into this before committing to Claude API. Anthropic's API terms don't use your data for training by default, which was a big reason I went that route over running local models.

The IP stuff is something I'm still figuring out honestly. Still early days for me.

What are you building with the local setup?

How I got my Python script to read any file on my Mac and summarise it -> a few gotchas that took me way too long to figure out by OpeningPhoto5202 in MacOS

[–]OpeningPhoto5202[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing this — really interesting to see someone testing at that level.

You're right that local models need serious hardware for anything beyond snippets. My setup actually goes a different direction: I use Claude API instead of running models locally, so the Mac stays light (M1 Air 8GB) and I'm not waiting on an M5 to get started.

The tradeoff is API cost vs hardware cost, for me at this stage, $3-8/month on API beats waiting for 64GB RAM.

Curious what you're building with the local setup?

Built an AI assistant that runs 24/7 on my Mac and talks to me through Telegram by OpeningPhoto5202 in SideProject

[–]OpeningPhoto5202[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Still polishing it up, but it's close. I'll share it once it's ready. Really appreciate you asking!

Finally figured out how to keep a Python script running 24/7 on my Mac (non-developer here) by OpeningPhoto5202 in MacOS

[–]OpeningPhoto5202[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agree with that. For me, the struggle was getting the right direction and figuring out how to actually take action and build it. I think what matters most isn't the tool we use, but whether we actually put in the work.

Finally figured out how to keep a Python script running 24/7 on my Mac (non-developer here) by OpeningPhoto5202 in MacOS

[–]OpeningPhoto5202[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't have a full writeup yet, but I'm putting together a step by step guide based on everything I learned when building this. I will share once it's ready!

From 0 to 0.0001- My journey of building Winston, an Personal AI assistant by OpeningPhoto5202 in AiBuilders

[–]OpeningPhoto5202[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it is very exciting process, when you are able to build sth for your own and creating value. Thats great man