Tristen O'Brien has built over 150 AI agents, including an AI family assistant.Sarah Lutomski/Sarah Lu PhotographyTristen O'Brien is a working dad who built over 150 AI agents to manage his life and get back time.O'Brien's family has mixed opinions on AI, but they all use the AI family bot he built.He built an AI video game to help manage his agents and reduce digital overload.This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tristen O'Brien, a 44-year-old AI educator and content creator who works in cybersecurity based in Indiana. His words have been edited for length and clarity.For a long time, I've felt like I can only focus on three things at a time without everything falling apart: family, work, and school. If I tried to add something else, one of those three things would fail.I've been in the tech industry for over 20 years, and I'm working toward my doctorate in AI. I'm also a YouTuber. I spent years learning the programming language Python because I wanted to create a world where I could automate parts of my life, giving me more time for hobbies and other things.Then ChatGPT came out, and I realized I had wasted about five years doing that.Since learning how to build AI agents, I've built over 150 of them to help me run my life. I'm now down to using around 70.I've always wanted to automate parts of my lifeThere's a book about automating the boring parts of your life with the programming language Python. Years ago, I found this book and decided to learn it. Then, when ChatGPT came out, I quickly got into it.I'm not a developer; I do this by vibe coding. I first used ChatGPT to make funny songs and things like that. My interest kept growing, and I kept doing more with it. I've switched to Claude as my main model now, but I still use ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini.Two years ago, I went to an AI conference where I learned about AI agents. I remember being so excited about what I had learned that I told myself that as soon as I got home, I was finally going to automate my life with AI.I use a specific prompting technique to build my agentsThe very first agent that I built after the conference was a Chipotle burrito agent that could order my burrito for me. I love Chipotle, and it was silly, but that agent helped me see the power of AI.When I build agents, I'm never just like, "OK, Claude, this is what I want you to do, do the whole thing." Claude has a command called "/goal" that keeps the agent going until it gets the goal right. I think it's helpful, but I've learned to be very clear, or it will mess up.I do what I call my BIP process: Braindump, interview, prompt. I brain-dump everything, explaining what I want it to do, then I have Claude ask me questions about anything unclear or that it thinks I didn't ask. Then it gives me this crazy long prompt. So I might've started with a 15-word prompt, but now I have a 500-word prompt on everything that I want the agent to do.I've built over 100 agents and stopped using some of themIn total, I've built five research and education agents, four research and news agents, one agent that builds new products, 18 financial agents, 27 home and family agents, 26 inbox and communication agents, 42 agents for my YouTube channel, and another 27 agents for publicity and outreach.Not all of those agents run at once. For example, I only have 12 active home and family agents: Four run every day for reminders about birthdays, softball, the dog, and school paperwork. Four run weekly for groceries, meal planning, a Sunday family brief, and a weekly check-in coach. One runs monthly for house maintenance reminders, and three run only when something comes up, like travel, packing, or gift ideas.I also had an agent who looked at a Google Sheet with all of my friends' and family's birthdays. If it were two weeks before their birthday, the agent would go to a webpage for a service that would send them a birthday card with what looks like my handwriting, then postmark it from my address. But I stopped using that one because it didn't feel personal enough.AI is more powerful once you learn how to use plug-insI have a wife and two kids. I think my daughter likes AI a lot, too, because we talk about it a lot, and my wife sometimes gets into it. But my son is an artist, so he's not as big a fan, and I agree that there's definitely a line with creative work and industries.However, one of my favorite agents I've built is our family AI bot, which we all use.I used the texting service Twilio with a Claude plug-in to create an AI agent that is a custom chatbot and assistant for our family. It pings us, and we're able to vote on things like what we want for dinner that week, or see our calendars side by side. This agent helps us organize our lives and stay on the same page.AI gets really powerful when you start using connectors. My Claude agents wouldn't be as powerful if it couldn't connect to my Gmail, my calendar, or Twilio. So, from a technical standpoint, I'd suggest learning how to
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