DailyWorks

The Machine That Worked Perfectly

Sun, 20 Sep 2026 19:00:00 +0100

This week: the day I switched off a content machine that had been running perfectly for nine months. Eight hundred and fifteen posts across four platforms, seventy-nine thousand views, twenty followers and no book sales, and what the shape of those numbers actually turned out to mean. Including a correction to my own headline figure, which was wrong. Plus TabletMinder's onboarding rebuild and the 6,015 line file that is the real reason it keeps not happening. The book's chapter seven, "It Has No Idea What You Want", which turns out to be about content machines as much as it is about prompts. And three bits of AI news, one of which I have been trying to verify since July. This is the first episode I have recorded myself, on camera, rather than narrating with a cloned voice. The reason why is the whole of the build log. Chapters: 00:00 Theme 00:11 Cold open 01:35 Welcome 02:02 Build Log, the machine that worked perfectly, and TabletMinder's 6,015 line file 09:46 The Bookshelf, chapter seven, It Has No Idea What You Want 12:29 AI News (verified) 16:55 The week's thread 18:23 Close The numbers in this episode, since I would rather you could check them: 815 posts over nine months across TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. TikTok 263 posts, 65,523 views, 96 engagements, 2 followers. Facebook 53 posts, 5,727 views. Instagram 56 posts, 1,740 views, 16 followers. YouTube 443 posts, 6,046 views, 101 subscribers and flat. TikTok median 221 views per video, maximum 737 across 263 videos, top ten between 718 and 737. YouTube: 452 videos, 101 subscribers, 6,184 lifetime views, of which essentially all are short clips. The four full podcast episodes have 8 views between them (EP1 4, EP2 1, EP3 2, EP4 1), audited 2026-09-13. Average 249 views per post against a benchmark of roughly 350 for accounts of this size. Engagement rate corrected from "30x below par" to approximately 12x below par, after accounting for a 2.4x undercount of likes in the analytics source. Amazon Attribution: 10 clicks, 0 purchases, year to date. Book, Understanding AI: The Word Calculator and How to Use It Well, by Peter Hunter: https://books2read.com/u/31zr9r Featured app, TabletMinder, all 50,000+ NHS medicines built in: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/tabletminder/id6757861874 Utter List, the to-do list that listens: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/utter-list/id6761653207 JabBuddy: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/jabbuddy/id6754968831 AI news sources, so you can check them yourself: GPT-6 Astra system card (OpenAI, 3 September 2026): https://deploymentsafety.openai.com/gpt-6-astra Astra launch coverage: https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/03/openai-launches-astra-its-powerful-and-controversial-new-model/ Meta Muse Spark pricing, standard and contributor tiers: https://developer.meta.com/ai/models/muse-spark/ Coverage of the Meta contributor tier: https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/03/meta-is-paying-to-peek-at-how-you-use-their-latest-ai-model/ GPT-5.6 Sol model documentation (OpenAI): https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/models/gpt-5.6-sol

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The Number I Didn't Check

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0100

This week: how I actually checked the AI-built website from last episode, which turned out to be Claude checking Claude. The builder was running on Claude, and the checking was done in a second window with Claude Code reading the real live pages, and it caught a default favicon still sitting in the browser tab, brand colours quietly drifted off the official pack, a stray colour code on a button glow, and the literal words "Body paragraph placeholder" dressed up as finished copy. Same model, two windows, and the checker earns its keep because it looks at the finished page rather than the plan. Plus the book's first royalty payment, £218.08 across 73 copies, why it took three months to arrive, and the rather less flattering story of an ad campaign I set up in June, wrote myself a plan to review, and then ignored for 88 days. And two bits of AI news, both about prices going down. This week's sponsor: Waystation (waystationltd.com), a career and organisation alignment consultancy for Project and Product roles, "In it together." Full disclosure, again: Waystation are the sponsor because I built their website, which is also the subject of today's build log. It is a friendly, mutual arrangement, not a cash deal, and it is disclosed here and spoken on air. Chapters: 00:00 Cold open, the number I never checked 01:05 Intro 01:50 Build Log, one AI building and a second one checking 07:40 The Bookshelf, the first royalty cheque and the campaign I forgot 11:40 AI News (verified) 15:40 Outro AI-voice disclosure: Narrated with an AI-generated clone of Peter's own voice. Written and edited by a human. The AI-news segment is fact-checked against multiple independent sources before airing. The numbers in this episode, since I would rather you could check them: 73 copies sold between the June launch and the end of August, £218.08 in the first royalty payment, which is about £2.99 a copy across the Kindle, paperback and hardback mix. The ad campaign was set to £5 a day and could have spent about £440 over its 88 days. It spent £6.67, and only two of the 73 sales can be traced to it. Where the other 71 came from, I genuinely do not yet know, and that is the next job. Book, Understanding AI: The Word Calculator and How to Use It Well, by Peter Hunter: https://books2read.com/u/31zr9r Featured app, Utter List, the to-do list that listens: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/utter-list/id6761653207 TabletMinder, all 50,000+ NHS medicines built in: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/tabletminder/id6757861874 JabBuddy: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/jabbuddy/id6754968831 This week's sponsor, Waystation: https://waystationltd.com Waystation Limited, a career and organisation alignment consultancy for Project and Product roles (Business Analysis, Product Management, Project Management), helping candidates and employers get the fit right. "In it together." Pull up a chair for a free 15 minute chat: https://waystationltd.com Waystation Limited, company number 15024827, registered office 124 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX. AI news sources, so you can check them yourself: Claude Sonnet 5 pricing made permanent: https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-sonnet-5 Launch coverage of Claude Sonnet 5: https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/30/anthropic-launches-claude-sonnet-5-as-a-cheaper-way-to-run-agents/ GPT-5.6 Sol pricing: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/models/gpt-5.6-sol GPT-5.6 announcement: https://openai.com/index/gpt-5-6/

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The Website That Looked Finished

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 14:00:00 +0100

This week: I let an AI website builder put up a whole site for a friend's business, and then did the unglamorous half of the job, going back to fetch the real live output and check it, where I found the tool's own logo still in the browser tab, brand colours quietly drifted off the official pack, a stray wrong colour the find-replace missed, and the literal words "Body paragraph placeholder" dressed up as finished copy. None of it broken. All of it just looked done. Plus a short beat on rebuilding TabletMinder's onboarding, one idea from the book on the most useful question I know ("what does good look like?"), and the week's AI news, checked before it's aired. This week's sponsor: Waystation (waystationltd.com), a career and organisation alignment consultancy for Project and Product roles, "In it together." Full disclosure: Waystation are the sponsor because I built their website, so this is a friendly, mutual arrangement, not a cash deal, and it is disclosed here and spoken on air. Chapters: 00:00 Cold open 01:04 Intro 02:04 Build Log, the AI-built website (and a TabletMinder beat) 08:33 The Bookshelf, "Go Back. It Gets Better." 11:53 AI News (verified) 15:48 Outro AI-voice disclosure: Narrated with an AI-generated clone of Peter's own voice. Written and edited by a human. The AI-news segment is fact-checked against primary sources before airing. Featured app, TabletMinder, all 50,000+ NHS medicines built in: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/tabletminder/id6757861874 Utter List, the to-do list that listens: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/utter-list/id6761653207 Book, Understanding AI: The Word Calculator and How to Use It Well (Peter Hunter): https://books2read.com/u/31zr9r The tools, since I did not name them on air: the site was built in bolt.new, which is an AI website builder that itself runs on Claude, and the checking was done in a second window entirely, with Claude Code fetching the real live pages as they went up and reading back what was actually there, which is how the leftover favicon, the drifted brand colours and the placeholder copy were caught. So it was Claude in the kitchen doing the cooking and Claude at the pass checking the plates, and the reason the second one earns its keep is that it looks at the finished dish rather than the recipe. This week's sponsor, Waystation: https://waystationltd.com Waystation Limited, a career and organisation alignment consultancy for Project and Product roles (Business Analysis, Product Management, Project Management), helping candidates and employers get the fit right. "In it together." Pull up a chair for a free 15 minute chat: https://waystationltd.com Email: info@waystationltd.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/waystationltd/ Waystation Limited, company number 15024827. Registered office: 124 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX. AI-news sources: Anthropic, Claude Opus 5 (released 2026-07-24; claude-opus-5; $5/M input, $25/M output): https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-opus-5 OpenAI, API deprecations, Assistants API shutdown 2026-08-26 (migrate to the Responses API + Conversations API): https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/deprecations (Held, not aired as a full story) OpenAI GPT-5.6 "Sol": announcement pages still HTTP 403; family/flagship confirmed only via OpenAI's preview system card (no speed figure): https://deploymentsafety.openai.com/gpt-5-6-preview

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The Green Tick That Lied

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 14:00:00 +0100

This week, the verdict on the expensive AI I switched off: the free engine wins, though not for the reason I hoped. A machine of mine that reported success every night for a week while doing nothing at all, and what it taught me about trusting a green tick. One idea from the book on the confident fool that can never say "I don't know." Plus the week's AI news, checked before it's aired. Chapters: 00:00 Cold open 00:57 Intro 01:50 Build Log, the verdict + the silent robot 04:54 The Bookshelf, The Confident Fool 07:29 AI News (verified) 11:08 Outro AI-voice disclosure: Narrated with an AI-generated clone of Peter's own voice. Written and edited by a human. The AI-news segment is fact-checked against primary sources before airing. Featured app, Utter List: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/utter-list/id6761653207 TabletMinder, all 50,000+ NHS medicines built in: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/tabletminder/id6757861874 Book, Understanding AI: The Word Calculator and How to Use It Well (Peter Hunter): https://books2read.com/u/31zr9r AI-news sources: Anthropic Developer Platform, expiring API keys (2026-07-08) + Admin API beta (2026-07-14): https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/release-notes/api Claude Code changelog, auto-background long MCP calls (2026-07-17) + Auto mode on Bedrock/Vertex/Foundry (2026-07-11): https://code.claude.com/docs/en/changelog (Held, not aired) OpenAI GPT-5.6 "Sol", primary source still could not be verified (HTTP 403): https://openai.com/index/previewing-gpt-5-6-sol/ Narrated with an AI-generated clone of Peter's own voice. Written and edited by a human. The AI-news segment is fact-checked against multiple independent sources before airing.

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The AI I Switched Off

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0100

This week I switched off an artificial intelligence. An expensive one, about a hundred pounds a month, and the app it was meant to be promoting may be doing better without it. A build log from Utter List, one idea from the book, and the week's AI news that actually matters, checked before it's aired. Chapters: 00:00 Cold open 00:53 Intro 01:31 Build Log, Utter List 05:09 The Bookshelf 07:28 AI News (verified) 10:43 Outro AI-voice disclosure: Narrated with an AI-generated clone of Peter's own voice. Written and edited by a human. The AI-news segment is fact-checked against multiple independent sources before airing. Featured app, Utter List: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/utter-list/id6761653207 Book, Understanding AI: The Word Calculator and How to Use It Well (Peter Hunter): https://books2read.com/u/31zr9r AI-news sources: Claude Sonnet 5, Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-sonnet-5 Microsoft Foundry hosted agents, Microsoft: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/foundry/hosted-agents-build26/ (Held, not aired) OpenAI GPT-5.6 Sol, primary source could not be verified: https://openai.com/index/previewing-gpt-5-6-sol/

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