Field notes
Where nullfte began
The public experiment where nullfte began.
In March 2026 I launched Built by AI (the newsletter has been called nullfte since October 2026): an experiment with one Mac Mini, a €10,000 budget, and six months to explore whether AI could build and operate a business with me setting the strategy.
My commitment was to document what I spent, where I had to step in, and what failed. The published opening chapters remain available on Substack.
nullfte widens that question to the company itself: how intent becomes decisions, how authority is handed over, and how outcomes are judged.
The original posts are contemporary accounts. Their claims and interpretations are material for examination, not proof that the experiment succeeded. The first six posts, as reported sets out what they record. On 19 October 2026 I published what happened next: Built by AI stopped in April. The agents didn’t.
Sources
Lorant Zambori (2026). Built by AI (Substack series, "The Log"; newsletter renamed nullfte in October 2026). Substack, 25 March to 2 April 2026.
Revision history
- · Initial edition, incorporated into the shared editorial collection.
- · Cites the Built by AI series.
- · Links the ledger of the first six posts.
- · Links my account of what happened after April.
- · Notes that the newsletter was renamed nullfte in October 2026.
- · Rewritten in the first person.