logo
episode-header-image
May 2023
56m 56s

Episode 148 - AI Voodoo With Vodo Drive

Mark and Allen
About this episode

SO MUCH packed into this episode!

Recently, Allen participated in a hackathon sponsored by VoiceFlow, and he used the opportunity to explore ways that LLMs could be used to build on his work talking with spreadsheets in Vodo Drive (see episode 116). He and Mark explore how he did it - from the prompts that were required to integration with VoiceFlow and Google App Script, to how tools like LangChain will help build similar things. We also explore what lessons are learned, how our experience in #VoiceFirst design helps us build good #ConversationalAI tools, how other APIs can (and should!) work alongside AI, and what "fuzzy" roles AI can fill in the modern app experience.


Resources:

* Vodo Drive: https://vodo-drive.com/

* PromptHacks Hackathon: https://prompthacks.devpost.com/

* Vodo AI submission for PromptHacks: https://devpost.com/software/vodo-ai

* VoiceFlow: https://www.voiceflow.com/

* Google Apps Script: https://www.google.com/script/start/

* LangChain: https://github.com/hwchase17/langchain and https://github.com/hwchase17/langchainjs


Up next
Jan 20
Episode 264 - AI, Context, and the "No-UI" Future
Allen Firstenberg welcomes back guest host Mike Wolfson, an Android Google Developer Expert, to discuss the shifting landscape of User Experience (UX) in the age of Artificial Intelligence. As we move toward autonomous agents and multimodal interactions—incorporating voice, hapti ... Show More
24m 41s
Jan 16
Episode 263 - Exploring the Parlant Agent Framework
In this episode, Mark introduces Allen to Parlant, an open-source framework for building agentic AI. They explore how Parlant differs from other frameworks like LangChain and LangGraph by using concepts like "journeys" for flexible conversation flows and "guidelines" for conditio ... Show More
37m 2s
Jan 2
Epsiode 262 - 2025 Wrap-Up: The Great Agent Takeover & 2026 Vibe Check
Happy New Year! Allen and Mark kick off 2026 by looking back at the whirlwind of AI developments in 2025. From the explosion of agentic frameworks like LangGraph, Google's Agent Development Kit, and the Microsoft Agent Framework to the emergence of protocols like MCP and A2A, it ... Show More
28m 14s
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2024
Making Sense of Agentic AI | ThoughtWorks Birgitta Boeckeler
<p>There’s AI agents. There’s AI tooling. Do either drive business impact or are they just more things your dev team is supposed to stay on top of?<br/><br/>Birgitta Boeckeler, Global Lead for AI Assisted Software Delivery at ThoughtWorks, joins the show to discuss the practical ... Show More
47m 40s
Aug 2025
Live DEMO: We Build 3 AI Apps (In Under An Hour!)
In this hands-on episode, Corey and Grant attempt to build three different AI apps in one hour using Google AI Studio - with zero coding experience required. They create an Inbox Zero email organizer, a meme generator that roasts their photos, and a spontaneous adventure planner ... Show More
1h 27m
Jan 2025
#132: OpenAI’s Operator, Stargate, The AI Literacy Project, Trump AI Executive Order, Perplexity Assistant & Zapier Agents
Join Mike and Paul as they navigate through a week in tech that's too big for just one episode. They unpack Project Stargate, OpenAI's Operators program, and explore SmarterX's ambitious push to democratize AI education. Plus, Trump’s actions on AI in his first week in office, Pe ... Show More
1h 23m
Sep 2024
AI is more than GenAI
GenAI is often what people think of when someone mentions AI. However, AI is much more. In this episode, Daniel breaks down a history of developments in data science, machine learning, AI, and GenAI in this episode to give listeners a better mental model. Don’t miss this one if y ... Show More
40m 3s
Aug 2023
AI Superpowers for Frontend Developers, with Vercel Founder/CEO Guillermo Rauch
Everything digital is increasingly intermediated through web user experiences, and now AI development can be frontend-first, too. Just ask Guillermo Rauch, the founder and CEO of Vercel, the company behind Next.js. In this episode of No Priors, hosts Sarah Guo and Elad Gil speak ... Show More
38m 13s
Sep 2025
The AI Office Tools That Actually Work
Not all AI office tools live up to the hype. Today we dig into new surveys, enterprise spending data, and an a16z analysis to uncover which AI tools actually perform in real-world workflows. From slides and spreadsheets to email, research, and meeting notes—we break down the tool ... Show More
26m 12s
Feb 2025
47. Designing AI Experiences: What to Consider (feat. Caleb Sponheim PhD, NN/g)
As AI continues to evolve, designers are increasingly finding themselves tasked with creating AI-powered experiences—often without prior experience in the space. In this episode, NN/g UX Specialist Caleb Sponheim discusses the current state of AI tools, what’s working (and what’s ... Show More
39m 39s
Sep 2025
#521: Red Teaming LLMs and GenAI with PyRIT
English is now an API. Our apps read untrusted text; they follow instructions hidden in plain sight, and sometimes they turn that text into action. If you connect a model to tools or let it read documents from the wild, you have created a brand new attack surface. In this episode ... Show More
1h 2m
Apr 2025
Introducing How I AI
<p>How I AI, hosted by Claire Vo, is for anyone struggling to keep up with the latest AI advancements, and wondering how to actually use these magical new tools to improve the quality and efficiency of their work. In each episode, guests will demonstrate a specific, practical, an ... Show More
2m 3s