Building software got 10 times cheaper, but shipping safely didn’t. That's the real issue nobody is talking about. I've built tools for years, and the challenges remain: security, legal liability, compliance, and distribution. I've built over 40 tools including a video editor and a water reminder app. In this episode, I discuss the importance of focusing on security and the pitfalls of distribution in the creator economy. This is for anyone looking to build and ship software data responsibly.

Every one of my tools had a list of AI models hardcoded into it. That was fine until four providers shipped new models in the same month and all of them went stale at once.

This episode: what that actually costs, why updating them one by one fails, the fix that took one file, and the specific problem with software people download rather than visit.

Including the cost nobody sees, which is that a stale model ID means someone pastes a key, gets an error, decides your product is broken, and never tells you.

WHAT I BUILD

digitalDFY — 200+ free browser tools, no account, no email wall

https://digitaldfy.com

elitesystem.ai — AI architecture audits, custom builds, local-first desktop apps

https://elitesystem.ai

survival.bot — weekly newsletter

https://survival.bot

agent-receipts — open-source CLI that audits what AI agents actually did

https://github.com/0xelitesystem/agent-receipts

LISTEN

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0346MF238VwAgLRIrafbIK

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/keeping-it-real-with-salman-ahsan/id6801376559

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/8f450317-95ad-47e9-908b-fc38263fb734/

MORE

All episodes and transcripts: https://salmanahsan.com/podcast/

About: https://salmanahsan.com/about/

I charge for software, not for tokens.

Educational content based on my own experience. Do your own research before acting on anything here.

Most of the anger at AI right now is justified, and I say that as someone who builds AI products.

Job displacement is real. Slop is real. Training on work without consent is real. Data centers consuming water while everyone else is told to conserve it is real. Automated moderation destroying livelihoods with no appeal is real, and I have been on the receiving end of it twice.

But some of the anger is aimed at the wrong target, and the people it hurts most are the ones acting on the wrong version. This episode separates the two.

CHAPTERS

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WHAT I BUILD

digitalDFY — 200+ free browser tools, no account, no email wall

https://digitaldfy.com

elitesystem.ai — AI architecture audits, custom builds, local-first desktop apps

https://elitesystem.ai

survival.bot — weekly newsletter

https://survival.bot

LISTEN

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0346MF238VwAgLRIrafbIK

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/keeping-it-real-with-salman-ahsan/id6801376559

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/8f450317-95ad-47e9-908b-fc38263fb734/

MORE

All episodes and transcripts: https://salmanahsan.com/podcast/

About: https://salmanahsan.com/about/

Educational content based on my own experience. Do your own research before acting on anything here.