Be honest. How are you actually using AI right now?
If you’re like most people, you’re probably asking it questions, tweaking some copy, maybe getting it to write a caption or two. And that’s a great start. But what if AI could actually do the work for you? Like, really do it. Read and sort your emails. Schedule your social posts. Rebuild your website. Research every single person in a room before you walk in.
That’s what my husband Joshua Vial has been building in our house for the last few years. And watching him do it has been equal parts inspiring and humbling. Every week I’d see him do something that made my jaw drop and I’d say, Josh, you have to come and tell people about this. So here we finally are.
Josh has spent 25 years as a programmer, co-founded Dev Academy Aotearoa where he helped hundreds of people go from zero to landing their first job in tech, and co-founded FundSorter, an AI platform saving New Zealand charities up to 90% of the time they used to spend chasing grant funding.
These days through Code With JV he runs courses and a newsletter helping real people cut through the noise and actually use AI in their work and lives. He is one of the most forward-thinking people I know. And I finally got him on the podcast.
So if you’ve been meaning to get better at working with AI and want to tap into its potential, this is the episode to teach you how.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why thinking of AI as an “intelligence” is actually getting in your way, and what mental model works better
- The difference between Level 1 AI use (chat windows, copy paste) and Level 2, where AI has actual digital hands and does things for you
- Why AI is really good at producing things that look good but aren’t, and how to protect yourself from that
- How to start systematising your work so AI can genuinely take things off your plate
- How Josh went from 2,000 unread emails across six inboxes to a fully AI managed system for almost nothing
- The social media workflow that took him from barely posting to 130,000 LinkedIn impressions in a week
Key Takeaways:
Most People Are at Level 1. Level 2 Is Where Everything Changes. Chatting with AI in a browser is just the beginning. When you run AI on your own computer and connect it to your actual systems, email, social, website, calendar, it stops giving you advice and starts doing things for you. That is the shift.
AI Sounds Confident. That Does Not Mean It Is Right. AI will never say it’s not sure. It projects certainty even when it’s completely wrong. Its biggest superpower is making things that look good but aren’t. Your job is to tell the difference. Stay skeptical, check your sources, and keep growing your own knowledge in the areas you rely on it most.
Systematise One Small Thing Every Week. AI cannot automate chaos. The more clearly you can describe how you do something, the more easily AI can do it for you. Pick one task. Write down how you do it. Hand it over. Do that consistently and the compounding effect is genuinely remarkable.
Think of It Like Managing a Person, Not Using Software. If AI doesn’t deliver what you wanted, ask yourself whether you set it up to succeed. Give it context. Break tasks down. The more you understand its strengths and quirks, the better it performs.
Key Resources:
Get the AI Level Up course and go from AI-curious to AI-capable at lifepilot.co/levelup (even if you’ve been putting it off because it all feels too technical)
Connect with Josh on LinkedIn, it’s where he’s most active and where you can see the AI content system working in real time
Learn more and explore his newsletter at codewithJV.com
Check out FundSorter if you work in or with the charitable sector in New Zealand
About Joshua Vial:
Joshua Vial is an entrepreneur, programmer, and educator with 25 years in technology. He co-founded Enspiral, the global network behind Better Work Together, and Dev Academy Aotearoa, New Zealand’s leading coding bootcamp, where he helped hundreds of people launch careers in tech. He also co-founded FundSorter, an AI-powered platform helping charities find and apply for grant funding across New Zealand. These days Joshua is focused on AI education through Code With JV, where he runs courses and a weekly newsletter helping people cut through the noise and actually use AI in their work.
His AI Level Up course is a hands-on intensive designed to take you from AI-curious to AI-capable, whether you’re a developer, a team lead, or just someone who wants to stop falling behind. If you’ve been wondering how to make AI work for you rather than feeling overwhelmed by it, this is where to start.
A little reminder: AI isn’t going to replace you. But someone who knows how to use it well might.
You don’t need to be a programmer. You don’t need to understand what’s happening under the hood. You just need to start, one small workflow, one task handed over, one thing that frees up your time and brain space. Do that consistently and watch what compounds.
The people who thrive in the next decade won’t necessarily be the smartest or most experienced. They’ll be the ones who got curious, got started, and kept going. That can absolutely be you.