<![CDATA[Brian Decoded]]>https://read.briandecoded.comhttps://read.briandecoded.com/img/substack.pngBrian Decodedhttps://read.briandecoded.comSubstackSat, 31 Oct 2026 00:52:27 GMT<![CDATA[Your AI agent has a boss (It isn't you)]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/your-ai-agent-has-a-boss-it-isnthttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/your-ai-agent-has-a-boss-it-isntSun, 18 Oct 2026 00:06:27 GMT
Grok Bot vs OpenAI Dots vs Hermes video thumbnail

You pay for an AI agent. You give it the job. You give it access. And you're still the one sitting there clicking "continue."

I spent last week pulling Grok Bot, OpenAI Dots and Hermes apart on the one question every review skips: who is actually the boss of the agent you're paying for? The answer is on YouTube now, and I think it's the best video I've made.

Think about the last task you did by hand because briefing the agent felt like more work than the task. You answered a question it already knew. Then you hit a usage cap halfway through and spent the rest of the hour babysitting half a draft. The subscription didn't cost you money that day. It cost you the afternoon.

That's the real price of doing things manually: you are the feedback loop. Every check and every "yes, go ahead" runs through your head. An agent earns its keep the moment that loop collapses and you go from checking every step to checking the result. The video shows where each of the three lets you collapse it, and where they quietly keep you in the chair.

Some of what's in there:

  • The Friday-afternoon test that shows in one job whether an agent saves you time or just relocates the work

  • Why Dots sitting in your Slack channel doesn't mean your teammates can give it work

  • The one switch Grok Bot gives you that the others don't, and the two it never will

  • How I give a Hermes agent a name, a memory and a Slack identity, and what that name actually authorizes

  • Who actually resets the usage meter, and why a bigger plan can't fix a missing integration

One more thing. This video was researched and scripted by agents, narrated by my ElevenLabs voice clone and fronted by my HeyGen avatar. The setup I'm comparing is the setup that made it. That's the Agentic Entrepreneur skill in practice, and the people who learn it this year will be very hard to catch.

My verdict is one line long. It's at 15:43, and I'm not spoiling it here.

Watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXkvT5szC9k

Then tell me in the comments which job you'd love to stop babysitting.

]]><![CDATA[I left the desk. (The work kept going)]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/i-left-the-desk-the-work-kept-goinghttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/i-left-the-desk-the-work-kept-goingFri, 16 Oct 2026 01:45:44 GMTMy dad spent his working days hunched over a computer. I grew up thinking that was what work looked like.

Then I built a business and did the same thing.

Even paying for AI didn’t get me out of the chair. I typed. It answered. I typed again. The work stopped whenever I walked away.

These days, I can open a voice chat on my phone and give an agent a job while I’m out walking. Back home, a Mac mini runs the agents that help me research, build, and deliver client work. I come back to something I can check.

I made a video showing the whole setup: the machine, the voice connection, the lead feed, and the three subscriptions behind most of the agent work. About $600 a month before tax, as shown in the video.

I also show what still breaks. Agents get stuck. Usage limits interrupt jobs. And something that looks finished can still need a human who knows what to check.

You can start with one agent and one useful job. Give it the context, let it work, and check what comes back.

Start there. Then take the walk.

Watch the full video and see the setup →

]]><![CDATA[Fastest AI Workflow (Without Sacrificing Intelligence)]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/fastest-ai-workflow-without-sacrificinghttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/fastest-ai-workflow-without-sacrificingFri, 25 Sep 2026 21:07:34 GMTHow I route three models through one harness and get a 25x latency gap to work for me.

I was paying $500 a month for AI and still hitting usage limits. After Sol 6, Opus 5.5, and Grok 4.7 landed, my setup got simpler: two 20x subscriptions now cover the heavy work.

This benchmark shows a 25x spread before the first token appears. Grok 4.7 High starts in 0…

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]]><![CDATA[Work Died. AI Killed It. What's Your Purpose Now?]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/work-died-ai-killed-it-whats-yourhttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/work-died-ai-killed-it-whats-yourWed, 23 Sep 2026 21:21:49 GMT

I recorded the raw, uncut version of this as a video on Tuesday night. Watch it on YouTube.

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]]><![CDATA[China Can Build the Data Centres. America Will Still Own the Outcome.]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/china-can-build-the-data-centreshttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/china-can-build-the-data-centresSun, 20 Sep 2026 18:30:28 GMTTrump told reporters this month, “whoever wins AI wins.”

He’s right that it matters. He’s probably wrong about what winning looks like.

The scoreboard everyone watches shows model releases and benchmark scores. The one underneath it is measured in gigawatts. Here’s the number that should stop you cold.

The US has more data centre capacity than the next fou…

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]]><![CDATA[How to Stop Being the Human Copy-Paste API for Your AI (Do This Instead)]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/how-to-stop-being-the-human-copyhttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/how-to-stop-being-the-human-copyWed, 09 Sep 2026 22:22:06 GMTThe real advantage isn’t having more AI tools. It’s having one place where your thoughts can become finished work.

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]]><![CDATA[AI Destroyed My Sleep Schedule (My Oura Ring Is NOT Happy)]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/ai-destroyed-my-sleep-schedule-myhttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/ai-destroyed-my-sleep-schedule-myMon, 07 Sep 2026 08:00:08 GMTAI completely destroyed my sleep.

Fable comes out, and I want to meet my weekly limits. Astra drops, and I burn through my weekly subscription in a couple of hours.

There’s always one more idea to test, one more agent to run, one more thing that didn’t exist this morning but could be working tonight.

Everything becomes a copy of a copy… (like in Fight Club)

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]]><![CDATA[The 20,000-Step Workday]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/the-20000-step-workdayhttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/the-20000-step-workdayTue, 25 Aug 2026 00:03:41 GMT

Your back starts talking to you around 12PM, just as you go for lunch…

Not loudly. Just a tightness low in the spine, the kind you stretch out and forget about, until hour six, when it’s not asking anymore.

If that’s familiar, you’re not imagining it and you’re not out of shape. Office workers in the U.S. report low back pain at a rate of roughly 25.7%. A…

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]]><![CDATA[I Paused the Cohort to Chase a Whale. It Changed What I’m Teaching.]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/i-paused-the-cohort-to-chase-a-whalehttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/i-paused-the-cohort-to-chase-a-whaleSun, 23 Aug 2026 14:03:02 GMTThree weeks ago I paused enrollment for the Agentic Business Sprint. If you’re on this list because you’re already in the cohort, or you’ve been circling it waiting for the right moment, you deserve the real version of why. Not the vague “stepping back to focus on other priorities” line people use when they don’t want to explain themselves.

Here’s what h…

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]]><![CDATA[Read this Before you make your next hire (to build a 100x business)]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/read-this-before-you-make-your-nexthttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/read-this-before-you-make-your-nextMon, 27 Jul 2026 22:31:15 GMTStrategies we deployed to go down from 25 to 12 hires (without sacrificing work quality)

Few days ago I talked to my dad, and he asked me:

“How do you make AI do the work for you?”

My family and friends know that I spend too much time on AI as it is. And that I’ve been making it do things. Spent to much time on it, that it is an integral part of my muscle …

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]]><![CDATA[Sign Your Name In Big Fat Letters]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/sign-your-name-in-big-fat-lettershttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/sign-your-name-in-big-fat-lettersSat, 04 Jul 2026 23:34:31 GMTJohn Hancock was 39 years old when he signed the Declaration of Independence.

Young enough to have something to lose. Old enough to know exactly what he was risking.

If the revolution failed, that signature was a death sentence. Every man in the room knew the punishment for treason.

Hancock signed first anyway. Before anyone else committed. And he wrote hi…

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]]><![CDATA[The Real Intelligence Advantage: Why Hitting Publish Beats Being Perfect]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/the-real-intelligence-advantage-whyhttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/the-real-intelligence-advantage-whyWed, 01 Jul 2026 15:48:34 GMTAnalysis paralysis kept me from getting more of my work out into the world for years.

I’d sit on drafts. Rewrite hooks. Second-guess ideas before they ever saw daylight.

Even when you don’t know what works or doesn’t work, getting your thoughts out to the internet is significantly better than not doing anything.

The reason why I want to hit publish as much…

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]]><![CDATA[5 Levels of AI Mastery (Which one are you?)]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/5-levels-of-ai-mastery-which-onehttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/5-levels-of-ai-mastery-which-oneWed, 24 Jun 2026 13:04:00 GMTYou can sort every human being alive right now by one thing: their relationship with AI.

The future is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed.

On one end, a permanent underclass locked out of the tools. On the other, a small group with high AI access compounding their advantage every single day. Everyone falls somewhere on that ladder, and there a…

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]]><![CDATA[AI is coming for your job (future proof yourself)]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/ai-is-coming-for-your-job-futurehttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/ai-is-coming-for-your-job-futureMon, 04 May 2026 03:04:12 GMTThis is what happens when intelligence becomes a commodity.

Why you need to get good at getting good.

Learn what is the execution layer.

This is the future:

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]]><![CDATA[How To Use AI Better Than 99% Of The People (become an AI Disruptor)]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/how-to-use-ai-better-than-99-of-thehttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/how-to-use-ai-better-than-99-of-theMon, 13 Apr 2026 17:02:34 GMTAI is forcing hands.

Employees are getting laid off, companies are crumbling, losing sales and market share.

You can choose to be laid off, or you can be the change agent. It takes a little bit of soul searching…

Let me explain.

AI events push us further than the others, and force us to think.

Every once in a while, you need to make a bet.

Now is that time.

Ev…

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]]><![CDATA[The #1 Reason for Layoffs in 2026 (I couldn't believe this)]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/the-1-reason-for-layoffs-in-2026https://read.briandecoded.com/p/the-1-reason-for-layoffs-in-2026Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:16:35 GMTAmerica is accelerating the layoffs. People are nervous.

Many think that economy will crash, but the real reason?

Covered in the latest video.

Enjoy!

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]]><![CDATA[90 Days With Claude Changed Everything I Knew About Work...]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/90-days-with-claude-changed-everythinghttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/90-days-with-claude-changed-everythingSat, 11 Apr 2026 03:38:41 GMT20 years.

That’s how long I’ve been in tech. What started as a hobby turned into a really good business. One that pays well, runs smoothly, and lets me be permanently remote.

Life was comfortable, selling other people’s labor. I could match clients to my team, and business printed.

Now everything is about to change…

Luckily I never stopped learning. Even wh…

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]]><![CDATA[A Harvard Doctor Told Me 'I Want to Be Free Like You']]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/a-harvard-doctor-told-me-i-want-tohttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/a-harvard-doctor-told-me-i-want-toMon, 06 Apr 2026 14:47:29 GMTI was standing in a medical facility, helping my friend, a Harvard trained doctor, to prep a 40k medical fridge for a sale and pick up.

That single fridge costs more than every piece of technology I use to run my company.

He’s shutting down parts of his large medical center to rent it out, start consulting and go remote-first.

And while we were clearing ou…

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]]><![CDATA[63 minutes ago someone called to tell me I was dead]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/63-minutes-ago-someone-called-tohttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/63-minutes-ago-someone-called-toFri, 13 Mar 2026 14:22:16 GMTAnd they wanted everything:

• My Google Workspace account
• My entire digital presence
• My business domain
• My emails

The caller introduced himself as David Odza from Google Support.

Professional voice. Palo Alto phone number. A legitimate Google confirmation email sitting right in my inbox.

Everything checked out.

Except one thing.

I knew it was a scam.

The pi…

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]]><![CDATA[How I Went from 9 to 5 to 50K/Month Freedom (While Moving to a New Country)]]>https://read.briandecoded.com/p/how-i-went-from-9-to-5-to-50kmonthhttps://read.briandecoded.com/p/how-i-went-from-9-to-5-to-50kmonthFri, 30 Jan 2026 12:48:20 GMTLet me address the elephant in the room.

There’s a special kind of anxiety that comes from watching people live the life you only dream about.

Scroll long enough and you’ll feel it. That quiet panic. The fear that everyone figured it out except you.

FOMO on entrepreneurship has become an epidemic.

People are burning out creating content about freedom they d…

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