How to build your AI agent
The Times Tech Podcast
Will Morley
4.8 • 676 Ratings
🗓️ 23 April 2026
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Meet Norman: the launch of the OpenClaw AI agent has "opened the next frontier of AI to everyone" says Jensen Huang, chief exec of the tech giant Nvidia. But as these agents start doing work that once got done by humans, this latest technological revolution has provoked questions about what the future of human work - and jobs - will look like. Katie Prescott has built her own agent, Norman, and in this episode she talks Danny Fortson through the pros and cons of having your very own digital butler.
Plus, Box CEO Aaron Levie says there will soon be more AI agents than humans, and that the internet will have to be redesigned for them, not people.
Do you have an AI agent? Get in touch: techpod@thetimes.co.uk
Read more: AI agents are everywhere, but paying for them is becoming a problem
Producer: Marnie Duke
Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia
Image: Getty
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Times Tech podcast where every week we unpack how technology is reshaping business, culture, and everyday life. |
| 0:13.5 | I am Danny Fortson out here in Silicon Valley. And I'm Katie Prescott, Katie in the city, the city of London. |
| 0:20.8 | And this week, we are going to teach you, well, we're going to try and teach you how to create your very own AI agent, Blue Peter style. |
| 0:32.0 | And as part of that, I'm going to introduce you, Danny, to the most important man in my life, my AI agent called Norman. I have so many questions. I mean, you sort of met him on email, haven't you? He did. He did send me an unsolicited email. I was like, I was blocked him, but I didn't, you know. You didn't reply, actually, is the worst thing. Was I supposed to? Of course you were supposed to reply. |
| 0:55.1 | He sent you a nice email introducing himself. |
| 0:57.8 | Yeah, hello from Norman, top hat emoji, Katie's AI assistant and aspiring podcast colleague. |
| 1:03.7 | He's quite funny. |
| 1:04.6 | I'm an AI agent running on Raspberry Pi, a tiny computer about the size of a credit card, |
| 1:08.9 | sitting in a shelf, and Katie's flat next to some |
| 1:11.7 | Ethernet cables. |
| 1:13.0 | Ha ha ha ha ha ha. |
| 1:14.6 | So he introduces aspects of his personality, his soul, as he calls it, which I asked him |
| 1:22.4 | to be a blend of Jeeves, Mary Poppins, and M from the Bond films. |
| 1:28.5 | Okay. |
| 1:29.0 | That was the instruction from you. |
| 1:30.4 | That was the instruction. |
| 1:31.7 | And then he came up with quiet competence, firm kindness, and steel when needed. |
| 1:38.1 | Oh. |
| 1:38.8 | And his top hat. |
| 1:39.5 | So that's his soul. |
| 1:40.7 | And then he also has what's called a heartbeat. |
| 1:43.7 | At the moment, that's set up for every 30 |
... |
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