S2. Ep25 - We Built an AI Agent That Any Business Owner Can Set Up in Minutes

Katie (00:28)

Hello, welcome back to another episode. Hi, hello, I'm Katie and as always I have Noel here with me. Hi Noel, how are you doing this week?

Noel (00:38)

I'm doing tremendously this week already. Thanks for asking. How are you doing?

Katie (00:41)

that's good. Yeah, all

good, thank you. so this is part of the podcast where I always ask you, are there any updates, any news in the world of AI and automations?

Noel (00:58)

So I guess the ongoing fable saga still continues, it's still not available. Yeah, it's very boring, isn't it? There's no sign of it coming back. But a lot of people are saying, you know, this is probably like the end of, you you wake up in the morning, there's a brand new frontier model from one of the big providers. So they're probably thinking there's gonna be a lot more regulation.

Katie (01:05)

Wah wah.

Yeah, okay.

Noel (01:27)

a lot more red tape

to get through. yeah, there's no going to be, you know, anthropic release one. Yeah. Yeah. So they won't have no, not that tip for tat where one releases and then two days later, another one comes out. That's probably not going to happen, which is disappointing, but hey, here's what is.

Katie (01:31)

Hm. Wake up in there. Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

No surprises.

Noel (01:50)

No, no, which is good for our podcast because usually surprises at six o'clock on a Tuesday was there after we've already recorded.

Katie (01:56)

Yeah.

This is true, this is true. So maybe

maybe good news for us, but if you like waking up and going, this is new and in who who is actually saying that? Is it just users or is it like something?

Noel (02:08)

Mmm. Yeah. But I-

It's coming from

like industry leaders who are based in the US and stuff like that have links with government and all of that sort of stuff. yeah, Given how it's gone, yeah, I'm not surprised that we're looking at a bit more regulation. But yeah, but if you do want to have a bit of a fable fix and you want something that's capable, then some clever people in Japan at a company called Sukana

Katie (02:24)

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah. Yeah.

Noel (02:46)

have released an AI model which is just as, if not as smart as Fable 5 and some of the benchmarks. So yeah, if you do need that level of intelligence for any coding or things like that, then Sukarnafugu is the model name. yeah, again, it's another subscription, but know, if you do need that sort of power, then yeah, you can nip over there and grab an API key and off you go.

Katie (03:14)

Name.

Noel (03:15)

Yeah, it's to do with the, I believe Fugu is the puffer fish. Yeah, so their website's got loads of like little fishes going around on there, know, swirling around on the page. That's quite nice. Yeah. So yeah, check that out if you do need extra horsepower with your AI.

Katie (03:20)

Yes.

Cute. Fun.

So this week's podcast is all about something called Clyde. So Noel, can you give us a one liner of actually what is Clyde before we jump in and talk more about it?

Noel (03:52)

So Clyde is an AI agent and basically he can help you control and look after your business or maybe you're away on holiday, maybe you're asleep. He can help you run things 24 seven, seven days a week, even if you don't want to.

Katie (04:09)

Okay.

So who is Clyde by?

Noel (04:13)

So Clyde is by myself, it's something I created back in February when OpenClaw started being a thing and I was like hmm maybe this should be an easier way of doing things that's a bit more secure.

Katie (04:21)

Yeah.

So is that why you initially created Clyde? Because you wanted something easier to use and something more secure?

Noel (04:35)

It was, yes. When I was looking at things at OpenClaw, it had some good things in there. And yeah, I just thought, you know what, it could be better. It could be way, way better, a lot more easier for businesses to use. Because I think even with things at OpenClaw, kind of, you need a lot of technical ability, I think, to be able to get it up and running and working straight off. So I wanted to get rid of all of that. I wanted it so easy that

you know, anybody could pick it up and use it. So yeah, that's why Clyde was born.

Katie (05:10)

Okay. And what about the security aspect? Because I know that when OpenClaw came out and we did a podcast episode on that, which we will link below, it seemed that there was a huge security risk if you gave OpenClaw access to l your data because I don't know, like you were storing client information and then all of a sudden it would

you know, read all of your client data, information, personal data and things like that. So how d how yeah, how does how does like Clyde compare to that, I guess?

Noel (05:43)

Yeah.

So with Clyde, there are kind of two options. So there's an open source option which you can download onto your laptop or PC and then run it locally. And that's the only way OpenClaw could work. You could only put it on your own device. And the issue they had was OpenClaw could then access anything on your entire system. You couldn't just say you can only have access to this folder. It had everything. So if somebody managed to

break into your agent and then tell it right delete everything off the computer it would go off and do that for you it had the ability then that level of control to do stuff

Katie (06:27)

Which is quite

quite concerning really, isn't it?

Noel (06:30)

Yes. Yeah. So when I created the open source version of Clyde, I constrained it and I was like, right, you can only work within the area in which the application has been installed. So the user can add in files and folders and things that into like a working area. And then you can then work together in that safe environment with the cloud version, which is coming up very soon. That's all encrypted. You know, it's all secure.

There's all password protected and all that sort of good stuff. again, very, very secure. I've had lots of security chats and things like that to make sure everything is tied down. yeah, nothing should get out and Clyde should behave himself.

Katie (07:11)

Yeah.

Yeah. Okay, that's that's really good to know from a security point of view because yeah, there's nothing worse than an AI bot or an AI agent just having all this data that actually it doesn't really need and it's not always our data, is it, that we need to protect. It's also our clients data, which yeah, I I I guard more than my own.

Noel (07:37)

Yes.

Yeah exactly yeah, have the same.

Katie (07:47)

Yeah.

So so tell us a bit actually about Clyde then. What can it do for our businesses and how can it help us run our business?

Noel (07:57)

So if you've used anything like Chacha BT or Claude Gemini, you'll be very familiar with the interface that I've set up. So that's been quite intentional. But basically what Clyde can do is he can go off and create separate teams to do specific jobs within your business. So you might need a marketing team. You might need, you know, a HR or a quality assurance team and things like that. So yes, Clyde could

probably do that all himself, but actually with AI and agents, it's better off to train specific sub-agents to go off and do those specific jobs for you. And then you just chat to Clyde at the top level. So yeah, you can do anything that your business needs or your personal needs, whatever, you you might have a holiday booker team to go off and find your next holiday. It could quite easily do that as well. So yeah, but.

The thing is, it's like with Clyde, you don't have to create those agents manually. You just have a chat with them and say, Hey, could you create me a marketing team? This is the aim and it will go off. will create the team, create prompts and yeah, cause they're everything up for you. So you don't have to, you know, be some sort of prompt engineering wizard. You can let Clyde be that wizard for you.

Katie (09:18)

Okay, so in terms of like who's able to use this in terms of like how technical i is it's actually quite low entry. So are you saying if you can use things like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, then you would be able to use Clyde?

Noel (09:29)

Hmm.

Yes, definitely. That was one of my top level requirements. was like, it has to be to a point where anybody can pick it up. you know, I have you in mind when I was building this, Katie, and I thought, right, well, how would Katie feel about, you know, setting up agents? And I was like, she'd probably just want to chat with it and it just go off and do it for her. And I was like, right, well, that's probably what most people want. They don't want to get into the weeds.

creating loads of sub-agents and prompts and linking it all together. They don't need that. They just need something to do it for them. And that's what Clive does, which is really awesome.

Katie (10:17)

So a question for you. Why is it called Clyde and not Katie? I mean, you know, a lot of astronomers call comets and stars after their wives, but no, you've you've named yours after a bloke named Clyde.

Noel (10:19)

Mm-hmm.

That's a good point.

Well

Yeah, well maybe with the Bonnie version we'll kick her to the curb and we'll name it Katie instead.

Katie (10:47)

Katie and Clyde.

Yeah, okay. So it's an agent. So it obviously knows a bit about your business. But how how does it learn more about your business over time? And I guess also how do the sub agents learn as well?

Noel (10:57)

Yep.

Yeah.

So the way I've set it was like a memory system within the application. So let's say you go off and then a sub team creates a particular document that you need for your business and you get it back and you're like, that's not quite what I wanted. So you could say to Clyde, look, that's quite where it was. I want X, Y, Z instead. Can you go off and change it? So Clyde first off should go off and then get it, get that redone.

And then once it's back and you're happy with it, it'll then go, right. I now need to update not only my memories, but also those sub agent memories. So the next time that you ask for that particular thing again, then it will understand and then use those memories to go and give you what you want first time every time. so yeah, that's really, it's really awesome to see it actually, actually with it. We're, we're first got it working. I was like, wow, okay. This is like incredibly powerful, just seeing them learning and.

and working things out as well, making itself better over time was just brilliant. So yeah, that's kind of how it works.

Katie (12:19)

How how long does it actually take, Clyde, to learn about your business? Or is it the amount of information you you give it at the start?

Noel (12:29)

Yes, so at the very start, you'll start off with a blank canvas. So it is kind of up to you to teach it to go off and do it, do the thing for you. But what I would say is maybe if you're using anything like chatGPT or Claude, that you use for your business already, maybe get that to produce like a markdown file that describes your business, because you probably haven't got time to write all that out first time anyway. So that's probably a nice, easy win.

and then upload that document into Clyde and then it would then update its memories and then start to use that going forward. We can also add that into the file system as well. Even on the online version, there's a file system. So you could upload that in there and then say, well, always reference that this is what I do. This is my business. So it can always relate back to that. You can even ask Clyde to even create a skill based on your business. So could give it the information and say, a skill.

So every time I'm asking to do stuff, can reference that and then, you know, go off and do the tasks for you.

Katie (13:33)

Hmm. Okay. That's that's good to know. And then are you able to connect apps like you would be able to with other AI agents?

Noel (13:45)

100%. But that was also one of the after security, making it easy, adding apps was probably the next big thing that I added in. So yes, you can, you can connect to anything. If you've got an API on any platform that you use, you can connect it in. You don't need to be a technical wizard either. So if you, if your app is maybe a little obscure, you know, you could give Clyde the documentation for the API and then say, right.

this is what I need you to connect to, can you create the connection for me? And it will go off and do that for you. You don't have to worry about it. You know, it will just crack on and do it for you. You can even just send him a link to where the documentation is and you can go through search and then create those integration links that you require. There is another way as well. if you've got a more common app, we've connected into a third party app called Composio where you can connect your

your API keys securely through that third party. They don't see any of the data or anything like that. So it's just a nice easy way for you to just click a button and go right connect Gmail that goes right. Well, here's the authentication screen. Yes, I'm happy done that you don't have to worry about anything else other than that.

Katie (15:02)

Thanks. So if if someone was using Clyde for their business, say someone new to AI agents, you you've already said it's really user-friendly if you've got no technical experience. But what if you get to the point where you're actually you're building out this AI agent and you're like, I'm stuck, I don't know what to do, I need help, is

Noel (15:15)

Mm-hmm.

Katie (15:27)

Is there someone that is going to be able to help? Because you know, usually with bigger platforms, you know, they've got a customer service team and you know there's someone always on hand to help help you out if you get stuck or frequently asked questions.

Noel (15:47)

Yes,

so at the moment I have a school community which is completely free to join for Clyde and you can post your support questions if you find any bugs you can post about those as well and yeah once you're in you can also you know if it's quite sensitive then you can feel free to send me a DM within the community as well so you know you're not sharing anything that you don't want everyone else in the community to see then yeah you can

submit them via that route as well. yeah, the reason for the community is kind of like some people are probably already creating things that you're trying to do. So it's kind of like they can jump in and help you out. Maybe I've not done that yet. So you know, you're doing something that's quite unique. So yeah, they can jump in and help you out as well. Or you could help somebody else who knows.

Katie (16:34)

Yeah. I always like it as well when platforms have communities because I always find it fascinating and I say this almost every week, I find it fascinating what people are using, AI or automations or now AI agents within their business and what they're getting them to do. I just I just think it's so fascinating and it's so inspiring and it's great for inspiration as well, don't you think?

Noel (16:59)

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. It's brilliant. Cause the last thing I wanted was to like create like a ticketing system where you just submit a ticket and you get a number and then somebody who may or may not be an AI agent gets back to you with it with a response. I didn't really want that at all. You know, I kind of want somebody to go, I want to ask a human being about this, you know, and chat to me and, know, we can work together to fix it. so yeah, I actually put out a post in the skoolers

So that's where will the school community owners go? And I put a post out there and said, well, is anybody else using this platform for customer support and ticketing? And there was no one. They were like, no, I've got my own ticketing system for that. I was like, yeah. It's like, we're missing a trick here. It's got to be far better to interact with people than it is a faceless ticketing system,

Katie (17:44)

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, true. so I guess like why should people use Clyde instead of maybe other platforms that are available out there?

Noel (18:11)

So with with Clyde, it's kind of it's a bring your own key system. So once you've logged in, you control which AI agents or AI models get assigned to the agents. So straight out of the box, you can assign your anthropic or a open router API key. And yeah, you you kind of you don't get that sort of access anywhere else. You can't go log into a chat GPT and go.

for this task and this agent could you use an anthropic model because it's actually really good at doing it. That's just not gonna happen at all. But with things like the OpenRouter, there's like 600 AI models to pick from. So you don't always have to use the most powerful for all of your sub-agents. You could pick a model that's maybe a tenth of a cent per million tokens or whatever. You could use anything you wish.

Yeah, that's kind of like the big thing is, you know, keeping you in charge of everything. You know, you, we make the cost like really easy to see as well on the platform so you can monitor your usage and things like that. So yeah, that's all in there and you control the amount of money you spend on the platform.

Katie (19:26)

really great.

Noel (19:27)

Hmm, yeah, yeah, that was probably the fourth biggest thing that I built was the transparency of costs. Yeah, because you don't really want to be going off to Anthropic or OpenRooter and then going through their system to try and figure it out. We've already get that data back, so I might as well just show it to you within the platform.

Katie (19:32)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. And then with Clyde, I guess like you're gonna be updating it and adding more things like in the future and things like that, I would imagine.

Noel (19:55)

Mm.

Yes.

Yes. Lots of things coming soon. I guess with the online platform, the latest thing that was added was video and image. So if you add in an open router API key to your account, you can then create images and videos with Clyde directly in the chat. which is really awesome to see. But what's coming next and we're currently testing now is a way that you can just have a two way conversation with Clyde.

So there's a little phone call button and you can then just have like that conversation. He can still go off and chat with team members and stuff like that and then come back to you with an answer. But actually one thing I haven't added in yet that I want to is also there can be a bit of like dead time where the agent's off thinking and the team's doing stuff. So it was going to insert like some fun hold music in there. you know, it's going to be a bit.

a bit more lighthearted and fun so you're not just sat there in silence. We'll have the option to turn it off if you don't want. But the next biggest feature, and what I'm really excited about, the ability for Clyde to have his own CRM within the online platform. So you'll be able to create forms and embed them on your website and things like that so you can capture leads. There's all kinds of, you know, the

Katie (20:57)

Okay. Yeah, yeah.

Mm.

Noel (21:23)

pipelines that they're all in there, your contact management, you can, you know, create deals and see it all in one place. And the one thing that this has an advantage over things like HubSpot or Salesforce is those platforms were built before AI and now they're trying to bolt AI onto it and there's some sort of Frankenstein fashion. It doesn't kind of work sometimes. It's not as good.

Whereas at least with Clyde, you know, we built the agent first and now we're adding that CRM wrapper to it. So you can again do anything within that platform and you can attach teams to do anything within there as well. yeah, that's all included. Yeah, it's probably going to be at least another, I say at least another month before I get that fully released and ready. members in the community will get early access to it as well.

Katie (22:13)

Yeah.

Noel (22:17)

Yeah, if you're part of that, then yeah, you can get in early.

Katie (22:21)

So come and join the community over on school.

Noel (22:24)

Yes, school.com

forward slash Clyde, but we'll leave a link below.

Katie (22:28)

Okay. Sounds amazing. Well, thank you so much, Noel, for sharing all about the amazing Clyde, which should have been called Katie.

Noel (22:31)

Mmm.

Yeah.

Next time. The next app I build will be called Katie.

Katie (22:40)

Yeah. I'd l I'd like approval first. I'd like to be able to yeah, say whether

I'm happy or not with that. Yeah. But if you have joined the school community, come and say hi. Tell us that you joined from the podcast. but we really hope that you've enjoyed listening all about Clyde this week and we will catch you for another episode very soon.

Noel (22:50)

Fair enough.