The Brief: The essential setup for building web apps with AI
By Aarron Walter
If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines, unsure how to start building software, held back by a limited understanding of how to set up the technical infrastructure for the app you want to make, it’s time to dive in. Knowing how to build working software with the help of AI is now expected in a growing number of roles.
The technical hurdles can feel daunting, but you don’t need a deep understanding of software architecture. Basic literacy is enough to help you understand the elements of building and maintaining an app with an AI collaborator, and it will widen your sense of what you can build.
Jenny Blackburn, who leads UX for Gemini at Google, said something on our show that stuck with us:
“In a lot of ways, the model is the material that we are designing with. And the more you understand the material, the more you can innovate with it.”
Jenny Blackburn, VP of UX, Google Gemini
Design’s medium is changing. We still work in tools like Figma, Photoshop, and Illustrator, but AI extends our workflow into working code, where an idea becomes something people can use.
This guide will help you get your bearings, set up a project, and ship a working product.
