Build Bigger with GPT-6 Astra (here's what to do)
This episode explores practical applications of GPT-6 Astra beyond flashy demos, featuring nine actionable prompts for productivity and business, and demonstrating how Astra enables hardware projects through AI assistance with design, code generation, and supplier sourcing.
Summary
The episode opens with the host and guest Ross Mike rejecting superficial demonstrations of GPT-6 Astra in favor of practical, money-making applications. They establish that Astra is OpenAI's most expensive model but offers exceptional value when accessed via subscription due to subsidization. The discussion covers two main categories of use cases: software optimization and business automation. For software, they recommend running performance audits (citing an example where page speeds improved from 800ms to 20-30ms), security audits for payment systems, and using the model's computer use capabilities for browser automation tasks. The episode then pivots to nine specific prompts designed for productivity and revenue generation: a bill renegotiator that negotiates telecom bills, a service-to-software converter that identifies business processes to automate, a marketplace arbitrage tool that alerts users to underpriced items on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, an operator dashboard that consolidates business metrics, an agent audit tool that identifies automation opportunities before hiring, a browser operator for workflow automation, a QA team for testing apps, a competitor spy for market intelligence, and a viral game builder with lead capture. The core innovation demonstrated is Ross Mike's hardware project: using Astra to design a DIY AI-powered speaker based on a Raspberry Pi. He documents a conversation with Astra where the model provided 3D visualizations in Blender, created a bill of materials ($561 CAD), identified Chinese suppliers, and generated production-ready code via a pull request—completing the journey from idea to prototype in approximately 30 minutes. The guest also mentions using Astra to explore non-obvious hardware projects like running Linux on a PS4. Both speakers emphasize that Astra represents a shift toward 'vibe manufacturing,' democratizing hardware development similar to how no-code platforms democratized web development. The episode concludes with reflection on the exceptional value proposition: Ross Mike calculated he's spent $24,000 in API costs while paying only $200/month in subscription fees, illustrating the massive subsidization currently available.
About this episode
I talk with Ras Mic about GPT-6 Astra. We skip the game demos and the 3D toys, and we focus on use cases to earn money or improve products. I share 9 Astra prompts that I posted publicly, and Greg Brockman reposted. Ras then shows his hardware project: he moved from a speaker idea to a parts list, a Blender layout, and merged code in about 30 minutes. The takeaway is simple: use this model for the ideas that felt too large for you last year. Timestamps 00:00 – Intro 01:53 – Astra Overview 04:14 – 9 Astra Prompts 11:48 – Jarvis Speaker Idea 16:21 – Think Bigger with Astra 18:29 – Vibe Coding to Vibe Manufacturing 21:16 – Closing Thoughts Key Points • Astra costs more per task, and it uses fewer steps, so the value per dollar stays high. • A performance audit moved one of Ras’s apps from 800 ms to 20–30 ms. • A security audit on his live payments app found real risks in production. • Ras went from a speaker idea to a $561 parts order and a merged pull request in about 30 minutes. • Ras’s point: intelligence keeps climbing, and bravery stays flat. Ask for bigger things. • The shift that vibe coding brought to software now reaches physical products. Numbered Section Summaries 1. Why This Review Skips the Demos Ras opens with the reason for this format. The viral Astra clips show games and 3D scenes, and those stay fun to watch. We spend the episode on work that pays: better code, better products, and new businesses. 2. Price, Speed, and Two Audits Astra sits at OpenAI's top price and matches Fable. A Codex subscription covers most of that cost today, and the model finishes tasks in fewer steps. Ras recommends two prompts for any live app: a full performance review, and a security audit. 3. Reference Images and Computer Use Ras gets his best UI results when he gives Astra a reference image, and he used the old Microsoft XP network icon for one design. He also rates the computer-use ability highly. He pointed Codex at the Canada Revenue Agency site, and it found pages that Google search missed. 4. Nine Prompts I Posted I share the prompt list from my post that Greg Brockman reposted. The first three serve solo operators: a bill renegotiator that talks to provider chat support, a service-business teardown that turns an agency workflow into a $500–$5,000 per month software product, and a marketplace watcher that texts me every underpriced listing in my city. 5. Agents for Operations and Growth The next six prompts run a company. A weekly operator dashboard reads my docs, Stripe exports, and calls, then names the three highest-leverage actions. An agent-opportunity audit ranks tasks by human hours saved within 30 days. A browser operator returns an SOP, a nightly QA agent opens my app on a real phone, a competitor agent reports monthly, and a browser game captures leads for the core product. 6. Ras’s AI Speaker Project Was likes the HomePod hardware and wants his own agent inside it. Jailbreaking stayed closed to him, so he asked Astra to design a build. Astra connected to Blender, modeled the speaker, specified a Raspberry Pi build, and set a $350–$450 budget before tax. 7. From Blender Layout to a Merged PR Astra returned Amazon.ca links totaling $561 before tax, and Ras bought the parts. It then rendered the wiring layout in Blender, named Chinese suppliers for the shell, wrote the loader code for his agent repo, and opened a pull request. Ras merged it, and the whole path took about half an hour. 8. Vibe Manufacturing and Subsidized Intelligence I compare this moment to 2024, when Lovable, Bolt, Replit, and v0 turned everyone into a vibe coder. I expect thousands of one-million-dollar-per-year businesses from the physical version of that shift. Ras closes with the economics: his agent counted more than $24,000 of model use in one week against a pair of $200 subscriptions. The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/ FIND ME ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/ FIND MIC ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://x.com/Rasmic Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@rasmic
Key Insights
- Ross Mike used Astra to improve app performance from 800 milliseconds to 20-30 milliseconds through a single optimization request, demonstrating Astra's code review capabilities beyond smaller models.
- Ross Mike argues that running security audits on payment applications with Astra revealed vulnerabilities he would have missed, making this a critical use case for founders with existing users.
- Ross Mike completed a full hardware design project—from concept to CAD visualization, bill of materials, supplier identification, and production code—in approximately 30 minutes using Astra with Blender integration.
- Ross Mike calculated that his actual API usage costs approximately $24,000 per week, but he pays only $200/month through subscription, indicating extreme underpricing and subsidization of Astra access.
- Greg Brockman frames Astra as enabling a 'vibe manufacturing' era comparable to how no-code platforms democratized web development, predicting thousands of million-dollar niche businesses will emerge from hardware accessibility.
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] GPT6 Astra is here and I got good news for you. By the end of this episode, you're going to understand what are the different startup ideas? What are the different use cases? How do you use it to be more productive? How do you use it to save money, to make money? Everything all in here. I'm going to show you how you can use it with hardware to create hardware businesses. And this is an episode not just focused around cool 3D demos. This is for people who want to make money to be more productive with AI and how you can use it specifically with Astra. What are the different prompts? How to think about it?…
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