🧭 THIS WEEK AT AI SECOND ACT
Howdy, Something's changing around here.
Next week, I'm revealing a new name for this newsletter. Same me, same mission — but a sharper focus on what actually matters. Actually, the domain will change, and the email address this is coming from. Hope that’s ok!
In response to the massive response I got on the survey! Thanks, Dad! 🤣 . You can still fill out the survey here!:
What best describes what you want to know/learn?
More on that in a moment.
If you’re enjoying this newsletter, please share it! Forward this to a friend/colleague and have them subscribe at aisecondact.com/subscribe. Thanks!
👉 You can also just hit "Reply" and let me know what you want more (or less) of, or use the poll to give feedback.
My goal is to make this as valuable and practical as possible as we navigate the new AI era. 🚀
🧰 AI NEWS + LEARNING
Here are a few things I found recently:
🗺️ FEATURED INSIGHT
Why I'm Rebranding (And What It Says About Where AI Is Heading)
When I started this newsletter, "AI Second Act" made sense. Mid-career professionals are figuring out how AI fits into their next chapter.
But here's what I've learned after 8 months of building in public: the real opportunity isn't philosophical. It's operational.
The three things that actually move the needle:
Operations — Using AI to run your work better, not just think about it
Program Delivery — Shipping real outcomes, not pilot projects
Vibe Coding — Building functional tools without a CS degree
That last one deserves unpacking.
The Vibe Coding Revolution (And Why It Matters for Non-Developers)
"Vibe coding" started as a meme. Andrej Karpathy tweeted about it in early 2024 — the idea that you could describe what you want, let AI write the code, and just... see if it works.
Two years later, it's not a joke. It's a legitimate way to build software.
Where we are now (February 2026):
Claude Code, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot have matured dramatically
Non-developers are shipping real internal tools
The gap between "idea" and "working prototype" collapsed from weeks to hours
Where this is heading:
AI agents that don't just write code but debug, test, and deploy it
"Prompt-to-product" is becoming standard for internal business tools
The line between "technical" and "non-technical" roles is blurring permanently
I'm not speculating. I'm living it.
My Claude Code Journey: The Numbers
've been using Claude Code almost daily for building tools, automating workflows, and learning what's actually possible.
Claude Code Stats (Dec 19 - Feb 4)
47 days of AI-assisted development:
898 coding sessions
7,000+ prompts to Claude
45,000+ tool calls executed
1,926 commits shipped
Built & maintained:
385,000 lines of production code
16 active repositories
5 major projects (vibebuildlab, postrail, qa-architect, keyflash, vibelab-claude-setup)
Top projects by commits:
vibebuildlab: 344
qa-architect: 339
vibelab-claude-setup: 252
keyflash: 219
postrail: 203
The point isn't that I've become a developer. I haven't.
The point is that the barrier between "I wish I had a tool that did X" and "I built a tool that does X" is now just... persistence and prompting.
That's the world this newsletter is evolving to serve.
Next week: The new name drops. It'll make the focus crystal clear.
👋 UNTIL NEXT TIME
Hit reply and tell me: What's one internal tool you wish existed for your job?
Not a product you'd buy. Something custom. Something that would make your specific workflow 10x better.
I read every reply — and you might see your idea in a future build.
Weekly AI strategies for operating executives
— Brett
👉 Hit “Reply” and share your experience — I read every one!
Picture by xxx on Unsplash.