The Problem
Every week, there's a new AI tool promising to "10x your productivity" or "revolutionize coding forever." The marketing is slick. The demos are impressive. But when you actually try to use these tools in production, reality hits different.
You know the drill:
- 1. The "free" tier runs out after 3 API calls
- 2. The integration breaks your CI/CD pipeline
- 3. The output needs more fixing than writing from scratch
- 4. The pricing page requires a calculator and a finance degree
The Solution
Compiled AI cuts through the BS. Every Thursday, we take one AI tool or technique and put it through its paces with real code, real benchmarks, and real production scenarios.
First, Who The Hell Am I?
I'm Michael Antczak. I've been building with AI tools since GPT-3, to a various degree of success, and I've wasted hundreds if not thousands of dollars on tools that overpromised and underdelivered.
For the past year, I've been that guy sending AI links to friends at 2am—"did you see this disaster?" or "finally, something that actually works!" My WhatsApp groups were turning into AI news feeds. My Slack DMs were full of tool recommendations and warnings.
Then I realised: I'm already doing the research. I'm already testing. I'm already writing the reviews. Why not share this with more developers who are fighting the same battles?
Compiled AI is what emerged—my weekly (hopefully!) reality check for developers who ship. All those links I was sending to friends, but organised, tested, and with actual code you can use.
What You'll Get
📦 THIS WEEK'S BUILD
Not theory - actual code you can run. This week might be setting up local LLMs, next week could be automating PR reviews. Always practical, always tested.
⚡ QUICK COMMITS
The AI space moves fast. We track what shipped this week, what broke, and what's coming. Think of it as your changelog for the AI developer ecosystem.
🚦 MARKET SIGNALS
What the money and industry are telling us. Funding rounds, acquisitions, pricing changes - but only the stuff that affects what you build and how you build it.
🏗️ ONE THING TO TRY
A single, actionable tip you can implement in under 5 minutes. Config tweaks, prompt templates, workflow optimisations - small changes with real impact.
☑️ REALITY CHECKS
The part nobody talks about: actual costs, real limitations, production gotchas. We'll tell you when that "$20/month" tool actually costs $200 at scale, or when the "instant setup" takes 3 days of debugging.
📄 PAPERS WORTH READING
Interesting research paper - sometimes immediately practical, sometimes just fascinating. We'll highlight the key insight and why it matters, even if it's just something to keep an eye on for the future.
📚 DEPENDENCIES
Resources that actually help: the specific book chapter that matters, the YouTube timestamp worth watching, the GitHub repo that's actually maintained.
Simple. Direct. No fluff.
Why Now?
AI tools for developers are at an inflection point. They're good enough to be useful, but not mature enough to trust blindly. You need someone to test them first, document the gotchas, and show you what's worth your time.
That's where we come in.
The Commitment
- Every Thursday: Consistent schedule, no exceptions
- Always free: The main newsletter will never be paywalled
- Developer-first: Written by developers, for developers
- Independently funded: No vendor influence on our reviews
Let's Build
The AI revolution isn't coming - it's here. But it's messy, fragmented, and full of traps. Let's navigate it together, one tested implementation at a time.
Welcome to Compiled AI. Let's see what actually works.
Next week: Looking at Warp Terminal, stay tuned!