They built an AI tool that called 20,000 gas stations. Here's their advice for aspiring engineers.

Matt Cortland (left) and John Fleming (right) vibe-coded an app to let users find the cheapest gas prices. Anthony Anaya-Gorman 2026-04-19T08:41:01.233Z Share Copy link Email Facebook WhatsApp X LinkedIn Bluesky Threads lighning bolt icon An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Impact Link Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. A couple — including an AI researcher — recently built a website using Claude Code. They say their bots act as both agents and teachers. And, sometimes, the AI is a little mean. They recommend prompting AI to critique ideas and explain concepts step by step. AI-generated summary Summaries are generated by an AI model trained on Business Insider's articles. AI may make mistakes or provide inaccurate/incomplete information. We're unable to load that answer right now. Please try again. How is AI used in software development? Who are Matt Cortland and John Fleming? How can AI critique be constructive? What is vibe-coding in tech projects? Why showcase tech projects publicly? Matt Cortland's mom would give him an earful whenever he called home. Loading audio narration... "She kept calling us to ask us what we can do about the gas prices in the US," he told Business Insider in early April when prices were just hitting a $4 a gallon average. "She'd say, 'It's just ridiculous.'"So Cortland and his husband, John Fleming — a postdoctoral researcher focused on AI systems at the University of Oxford — built a website called Gas Index to track prices. They used a smattering of AI tools to help build the website, including a phone bot that has called nearly 20,000 gas stations across the US to request pricing updates.Cortland and Fleming said they spent about $5,000 and got the site live in a matter of days.Now, after building a product with AI from scratch, they have a message for students and aspiring engineers: use AI as both a tool and a teacher — and make sure it's a little rude.For large language models, they said the key is to prompt them to critique your work, not to agree with it."You can tell it, 'Hey, my friend has an idea, I think it's really stupid,'" Fleming said. "You fool the AI into thinking that it is doing a good job by giving constructive critiques."Cortland said he often asks AI to "explain it to me like I'm an idiot," while Fleming pushes his models to challenge his assumptions."His models are really mean," Cortland said.From there, they recommend asking AI to walk them through the step-by-step processes of building software."A lot of times, we have it acting as our tutor as we're building projects," Fleming said. "For example, it teaches me the best software engineering practices. I'm in academia — but we aren't engineers. To build that skillset, you can just use AI as a coach. It really accelerates your learning."Just as important, they said, is showing what you build to the world. It's a message that some of Silicon Valley's biggest names — like LinkedIn's CEO Ryan Roslansky and Greylock partner Reid Hoffman — have also emphasized."We're trying to help everyone out through a thing that's bad for everyone," Cortland said. "It's a trend of building in public. You have an idea, and you talk about what you used and how you made it. It's a way to show your chops."