Krista Fabregas never saw herself as a coder. But when she built an AI-powered content automation pipeline to publish an article that outranked Forbes in Google search results—driving visitors to her site instead of the media giant’s— she knew she was onto something.
“That article was fully AI-generated from the start,” she admitted. “I just entered a keyword and sent it to my automation tool.”
A longtime content strategist, e-commerce consultant, and fiction writer, Krista joins a new wave of users building software and automations with artificial intelligence. Many have no programming skills and once felt intimidated by AI tools like ChatGPT, Zapier, and Notion AI.
AI is also at the heart of Robert Lavigne’s work. A seasoned developer with over 40 years of experience, Robert now utilizes AI to simulate a full-stack team of developers, building prototypes and automations in minutes rather than months.
“I have what I call my ‘team of AI assistants,’” he said. “They’re role-specific, and I interact with them the way I would with a dev team. Except they cost me maybe $30 a month in subscriptions instead of $3 million in salaries.”
From chatbots to full-stack
Rather than being something out of a sci-fi movie, most AI tools used today are inexpensive and widely accessible. Platforms such as ChatGPT, Zapier, Notion AI, and Airtable enable nearly anyone to create workflows, websites, automations, and more—without needing to learn a single line of code.
Having watched the evolution of these tools from Lotus Notes to WordPress to GPT-4, Robert sees these AI assistants as collaborators that can reason, iterate, and even self-correct.
“These things can be orchestrating a full-stack deployment,” he said. “Generating code, error handling, API calls, and documentation, all in one go.”
Krista sees it slightly differently. She bases her automations on natural language by providing ChatGPT with clear prompts, utilizing Airtable to structure her ideas, and leveraging Zapier to transfer data between tools.
“Don’t think of it as building software,” she suggests. “Just tell the AI the problem you want to solve or the idea you have. You don’t need to code.”
Using AI like a full-stack dev team
Robert Lavigne’s career began with punch cards, tape drives, and bulky mainframes. Today, he uses ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and custom AI workflows to build, test, and deploy ideas at lightning speed—without adding developers to his payroll.
“I’ve built and deployed full-stack systems by lunchtime that would’ve taken weeks in the old world,” Robert shared.
Robert’s secret is that he utilizes these tools not as passive assistants, but as a team whose members each have a specific role. Instead of managing engineers, he feeds the same problem to different models, compares results, and refines outputs.
However, there is a caveat: Robert believes that treating AI as a black box is a mistake, especially when utilizing AI tools in sensitive industries.
“The danger in no-code environments is that people deploy things without understanding what they’ve built,” he warned. “That’s fine if it’s a basic landing page. But if you’re handling payments, health data, proprietary systems—you better know what’s under the hood. Otherwise, you’re sitting on a legal and operational liability.”
That mindset makes Robert’s perspective invaluable. Like other developers, he’s learning to work like an orchestra conductor, directing an array of intelligent instruments to bring ideas to life.
“I’m not just prompting,” he explained. “I’m building systems and letting the models validate and refine each other.”
Building a content machine without code
Krista Fabregas would never call herself a developer; she prefers the term “logistics user” instead. But the systems she’s built would rival the output of a small tech team.
Krista once found herself needing to produce a surge of articles on tight deadlines. “They asked me to deliver 30 original articles in a week—with no freelancers,” she recalled of a former employer.
Instead of panicking, she used off-the-shelf tools—ChatGPT, Zapier, Airtable, and WordPress—to construct a full-stack content pipeline without writing a single line of code.
“Suddenly, I could use natural language to train tools to generate outputs,” she explained. “It’s like training a junior employee. Be specific with examples, set constraints, and the results are shockingly good.”
Krista’s approach is a textbook example of vibe coding—shaping outputs through tone, structure, and clear intention. Instead of writing code, she crafts prompts and workflows that “feel right,” using natural language to guide the behavior of her tools.
Her journey didn’t stop with long-form articles. She leveraged AI to build a custom WordPress plugin, a content machine that outlined plot points for her fiction writing, and even started prototyping an AI-powered “Choose Your Own Adventure” reader app.
Krista still thinks of herself as decidedly non-technical. What makes her different isn’t coding—it’s curiosity and command of language.
AI as a playground for creativity and invention
Though each comes from a different technical background, Robert and Krista have both experienced the ability of AI tools to spark and unlock creativity.
Robert dove back into development after years away once he discovered AI could not only handle repetitive code generation but also debug and explain itself. He’s focused on “agentic systems,” which are AI models that can solve problems and decide how to solve them.
“The model can plan its own steps,” he said.” Instead of just answering your prompt, it says, ‘Here are the next 10 things I should do,’ then executes them in sequence. It’s self-directed problem-solving.”
Krista’s creative awakening is similar. She doesn’t wait for a dev team to greenlight her ideas—she builds the scaffolding herself and asks ChatGPT to troubleshoot, tweak, or walk her through the fix if something breaks.
“It’s been fun seeing what I can create,” she said. “I’ve trained my custom GPTs to match my style and tone.”
The rise of the AI-powered creator
Building software once required formal training, deep technical knowledge, and often a team of developers. People like Robert Lavigne and Krista Fabregas are proof that these barriers no longer exist.
While their experience and methods differ, their results speak volumes. They’re launching projects, solving problems, and publishing work at a pace that once required entire departments.
“I’ve worked with enough developers to know they can usually build what you ask for,” Krista said. “What surprised me is how easily I could do it without them. AI helped me build workflows that used to cost tens of thousands to develop.”
These new creators aren’t just coders. They’re people who can speak clearly, think structurally, and aren’t afraid to iterate.
“AI gives us the tools to understand what we’re doing,” Robert said. “But only if we slow down and ask it to teach us.”
