Research for One-Person Startups Using AI on Ted Factory

Introduction: Building a Solo Startup in the Age of AI

Sat, 27 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0900

Introduction: Getting Started#

The Evolution of AI Technology and the Potential of One-Person Startups#

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in modern society is truly remarkable. The AI field, which had been somewhat stagnant until the early 2000s, broke through barriers when deep learning technology advanced in 2006. In 2016, it began receiving worldwide attention when Lee Sedol, a 9-dan professional Go player, was defeated by AlphaGo. Then in 2020, OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT sent shockwaves around the world and completely transformed the AI industry landscape. I believe there is no disagreement that AI is currently the hottest term in technology.

Key AI Concepts (1): AI / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / LLMs

Sat, 27 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0900

Key AI Concepts (1)#

To use AI effectively, it’s important to understand the key concepts behind it. This helps you understand how AI services and tools work, and why the latest news and trends matter.

AI is still evolving at a rapid pace. Services and tools are continuously updated, and new developments emerge all the time. If you build a solid foundation, you can follow the changes more easily and keep improving your ability to apply AI in practice.

Key AI Concepts (2): Fine-tuning / RAG / Function Calling / MCP

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0900

Key AI Concepts (2)#

In this chapter, we cover key concepts you’ll frequently encounter when turning a pre-trained LLM into a real product: fine-tuning, RAG, function calling, and MCP.

Fine-tuning#

Fine-tuning is the process of further training a pre-trained model to better fit a specific purpose. Thanks to open-source culture, training datasets and pre-trained models are often publicly available, and you can fine-tune them to improve performance or specialize in a particular domain.

Key AI Concepts (3): Prompt Engineering / Context Engineering

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0900

Key AI Concepts (3)#

In this chapter, we cover prompt engineering (how to structure questions and instructions) and context engineering (how to provide the background materials the model should use to produce an answer).

Prompt Engineering#

A prompt is the text you give to an AI model as a query (a question or instruction). For example, in ChatGPT, whatever you type into the input box is the prompt. Prompt engineering is the skill of writing prompts in a way that reliably produces the result you want. It may feel like “just typing in a chat box,” but the quality of the output can change dramatically depending on how you phrase and structure the input—so people call it “engineering” because there are principles, trade-offs, and know-how.

AI Services and Tools (1): ChatGPT / Gemini / Claude

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0900

AI Services and Tools (1)#

There are organizations that build AI models. They may publish their models, offer their own end-user services powered by those models, or provide APIs so developers can use the models. Based on public models, others may also create and release “derivative models” optimized for their own purposes, or ship them as services/APIs.

Meanwhile, many teams don’t train models from scratch. Instead, they integrate AI features into products quickly by using APIs offered by others. In this ecosystem, new services and tools keep appearing, helping organizations of all sizes—from startups to large enterprises—apply AI to business. In this chapter, we’ll focus on well-known AI services and tools and introduce what each offers and how they’re commonly used.

AI Services and Tools (2): OpenAI API Types and Usage

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0900

AI Services and Tools (2)#

In this chapter, we briefly introduce the APIs provided by OpenAI, along with short explanations and example code for each. Even if you’re not a developer, if you understand the basic idea of what an API is, this chapter may help you get a rough sense of “what you can do” and set direction when you want to build a service using OpenAI’s APIs.

About the APIs provided by OpenAI#

AI providers such as OpenAI offer consumer-facing services like ChatGPT, but they also provide APIs to third-party developers, expanding the ecosystem. For startups, using an API instead of training your own model can be a very practical way to ship high-quality AI features quickly.

AI Services and Tools (3): Hugging Face / LangChain / Cursor

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0900

AI Services and Tools (3)#

In the previous chapters, we looked at major AI services and APIs. In this chapter, we’ll cover tools that are closer to the “ecosystem”: an open-model platform (Hugging Face), an LLM app framework (LangChain), image / video / music generation tools, developer-focused AI coding tools (Copilot / Cursor), and the trend of integrating AI directly into browsers (AI browsers).

Hugging Face#

In the public model ecosystem, there are many options that go beyond what people typically call “open source,” including open-weight models whose weights are publicly available. Hugging Face is one of the most representative platform-and-community hubs for sharing AI models and datasets. You can discover and download models / data, re-share fine-tuned models, and even try models or host demos in the browser, which makes it easier to compare and choose. It also provides features to help users deploy and serve models on clouds (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, etc.), often via integrations / partnerships.

AI Use Cases - Boosting Work Productivity

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0900

AI Use Cases - Boosting Work Productivity#

Now that we’ve covered key concepts as well as services and tools, let’s talk about what you can actually do with them. I’ll break it down into ways to boost work productivity and ways to generate business ideas.

Boosting work productivity#

As mentioned in the previous section on ChatGPT, you can use ChatGPT for information search, summarization, translation, writing, proofreading/editing, code writing and review, data analysis and visualization, image / video generation, idea generation, and problem solving. The same applies not only to ChatGPT but also to other AI services such as Gemini and Claude. Each service has its own strengths and weaknesses, and those can change over time, so it’s best to stay curious, try multiple services, and pick what fits the situation.

AI Use Cases - Business Ideas

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0900

AI Use Cases - Business Ideas#

Business ideas#

Every time a new technology emerges, new opportunities open up. As the internet spread, smartphones arrived, and Bitcoin gained traction, the industrial landscape shifted and new winners appeared. Now we’re in the era of AI. There are many opportunities, and I believe it’s a better time than ever for individuals to take a shot.

One of the most important elements of economic activity is capital, and capital moves toward where it sees value. Many people worry that “AI will replace humans,” but more precisely, AI replaces or reshapes parts of what humans used to do, changing the “shape of work.” In that flow, the people who create something valuable will be the ones who attract capital.