🗞 What's New: AI vs no-code w/ $185k at stake. Who won?

I hope you're feeling extra competitive this weekend 😤

• A $185k betting pool formed to see who could ship a better app in 45 minutes: a marketing dropout using AI coding tools, or a famous designer with 10+ years of experience.
• Meta vs OpenAI: Zuck's plan to launch a new AI app in Q2 of this year is adding even more heat to the arms race of intelligence.
• This AI-powered photo editing app does $4M+/mo. Here's a playbook for how you can build something similar.

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When a 19-year-old marketing dropout declared "Webflow is dead" on Twitter, he didn't expect to find himself in a high-stakes design showdown against a million-dollar agency owner.

But that's exactly what happened when Henrik Westerlund's wild callout provoked Brett Williams from DesignJoy to issue a challenge: build a website in front of a livestreamed audience — human vs. AI.

With 35,000 viewers watching and $185,000 in bets riding on the outcome, this wasn't just entertainment — it was a real-time referendum on whether AI tools are ready to replace skilled designers.

Read the full article →

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Meta is reportedly developing a standalone AI mobile app that will go head-to-head with ChatGPT, and Sam Altman isn't taking the news lying down.

After CNBC broke the story about Meta’s Q2 plans for an AI app featuring all the industry leaders’ capabilities, Altman fired back on Twitter: "lol if facebook tries to come at us and we just uno reverse them it would be so funny."

Here's a breakdown of this showdown, including a few underreported details that give Meta a massive competitive advantage.

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Do you feel seen? Or do you feel… exposed? 🤔

—@channingallen

Photoroom rocketed to $50M in ARR in just three years by mastering one simple feature: AI-powered background removal.

Founders Matthieu Rouif and Eliot Andres began by paying strangers at McDonald's for feedback — until they got banned. Now, with over 200M downloads, the app is helping millions of small businesses thrive.

Here's a step-by-step playbook of how Photoroom scaled from MVP to market leader — with tips on how you can do the same:

Read the full report →

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Special thanks to Yushavel Calderon for the graphic design, and to Michal Kankowski and James Fleischmann for contributing posts.

—Channing