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The Atomic AI Scorecard helps product managers, founders, and non-technical creators cut through the hype and navigate building software effectively in the AI era.
Each quarter, I track what’s improving, what’s still challenging, and highlight practical insights to help you build smarter.
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| Rating | Definition |
|---|---|
| 🟢 4-5 (Strong Performance) | Effective for most non-technical users, requires minimal intervention. |
| 🟡 3 (Moderate Performance) | Works but has limitations—requires adjustments, extra learning, or manual fixes. |
| 🟠 2 (Limited Use) | Has potential, but gaps in functionality make it unreliable for real-world application. |
| 🔴 1 (Needs Major Improvement) | Struggles to deliver on AI-powered claims; requires too much manual work to be useful. |
AI tools have come a long way, but are they actually making it easier to build products?
| Category | Q1 25 Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| API Integration (Ease of Connecting Services) | 🟢 4/5 (Strong Performance) | AI tools now simplify integrating API calls. |
| Natural Language Building (Talk-to-Build Platforms) | 🟡 3/5 (Moderate Performance) | Great for generating basic structures, can break with complex logic. |
| Debugging & Fixes | 🟡 3/5 (Moderate Performance) | Debugging is improving, but AI still struggles with advanced issues and can lack ‘common sense.’ |
How Quickly Can You Get Up and Running?
| Category | Q1 25 Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use & Learning Curve | 🟡 3/5 (Moderate Performance) | Lovable and Bolt offer simple onboarding for beginners. Replit offers customization but requires more familiarity. Cursor and Windsurf give maximum control but have steep learning curves. |
AI-assisted design tools promise fast UI/UX creation, but how well do they actually work?
| Category | Q1 25 Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| AI-Assisted UI/UX Generation | 🟡 3/5 (Moderate Performance) | Tools like Bolt / Uizard are leading design, but design intuition is still hit-or-miss unless you provide a reference. |
Collaboration and learning remain AI's weak spots—where do we stand?
| Category | Q1 25 Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Community Knowledge & Resource Sharing | 🟠 2/5 (Limited Use) | Transparency is growing, but AI tool marketing is full of hype (watch out for those influencers!). |
| Collaboration & Multi-User AI Projects | 🟠 2/5 (Limited Use) | Emerging improvements (Tempo, Replit), but still limited team-management capabilities. |