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The six simple machines

Every AI product is a few of six simple machines bolted together. Here are fifty-odd products you already know, sorted by the machine you're actually paying for, with the thing that makes each one work and the way each one goes wrong. If the framework is any good, you should be able to sort them yourself.

Fair warning: this build was itself vibe coded with AI. Under its own framework that makes it a Maker writing the code and a Sorter classifying the products, with no verification step on either, so treat every sorting as an opinion you're free to overrule.

The argument behind it is in the article.

Scribe

Something that happened, in. A faithful version of it, out.

Sorter

One case, in. One judgement about it, out.

Reader

More than anyone will read, in. One answer, out.

Maker

A brief, in. Something new, out. Then it stops.

Solver

Many things and the rules, in. One arrangement, out.

Controller

A running feed and a goal, in. Actions, out.

Showing 80 of 80. Click any row for what makes it work and how it goes wrong.

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