17:44Corey McClain · Demo
This New ChatGPT Voice Update Changes Everything
Corey McClain puts OpenAI's new voice-to-agent update through a live, unscripted stress test, running an entire video-production skill by voice alone.
September 23rdThe argument in one line.
Open-source clones of Adobe's paid tools have gotten good enough that an AI coding agent can learn one from scratch and use it to finish real creative work.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- A creator or freelancer paying monthly for Adobe Creative Cloud who wants to know whether free alternatives are actually usable yet.
- Anyone building AI agents or workflows who wants a concrete example of an agent operating a tool it was never explicitly trained on.
- A solo builder curious about open-source clones of major paid software and whether they're far enough along to rely on.
SKIP IF…
- You need enterprise-grade stability, support, or a mature plugin ecosystem right now — these clones are early-stage community projects, not production-ready replacements.
- You're looking for a step-by-step tutorial on using Effect Craft or ArtCraft — this video is a first-look test, not a how-to.
The full version, fast.
AI labs profit most by replacing existing software, and a free open-source project called ArtCraft is proving it's possible: a clean-room suite of Adobe clones, including a Rust-based After Effects equivalent called Effect Craft, appeared within days and already has thousands of GitHub stars. Corey McClain downloads Effect Craft, then hands it to a Claude Code agent with no training on the app and asks it to build an entire video edit using only that free tool. The agent finds the app on its own, learns it, and produces a finished edit with a working Final Cut Pro export. The conclusion: once an agent can operate a free clone, the paid original becomes optional.
Free for members
Chat with this breakdown — free.
Sign in and you get 23 free chat messages on us — ask for the hook, quote a framework, find the exact transcript moment, generate a markdown action plan. Bring your own key when you want unlimited.
Create a free account →Where the time goes.
00:00 – 00:21
01 · Intro
Corey sets the thesis: AI labs will eat the software industry before AI takes anyone's job, because replacing existing software is an easy way for labs to grow.
00:21 – 01:18
02 · Why Labs Replace Apps
Argues the ~$900B software industry is the real prize, name-checks ChatGPT Spaces pressuring Notion, and frames recreating software as the obvious growth move for cash-hungry AI labs.
01:18 – 02:45
03 · Adobe Clone Shockwave
Cites Adobe's $93B market cap and $23.77B revenue, then introduces ArtCraft: a trending, rust-based open-source suite cloning Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, Lightroom, and Illustrator.
02:45 – 04:41
04 · Open Source Rebuilds
Explains ArtCraft's clean-room rewrites built from public specs, community reaction on X, and the self-host loop: ask a frontier model to recreate software, then run it locally for free. Includes the Storyblocks sponsor read.
04:41 – 05:50
05 · Testing ArtCraft Apps
Corey checks GitHub star counts (PhotoCraft at 14.4K), admits he doesn't know GitHub well, and navigates to getartcraft.com to find a legitimate download path instead of trusting the hype alone.
05:50 – 07:04
06 · Installing Effect Craft
Downloads and installs Effect Craft, a free Mac app that mirrors After Effects' layout with 259 effects, real 3D, expressions, and export support, and opens it for the first time on camera.
07:04 – 09:10
07 · Agent Edits With Claude
Hands the exported screen recording to a local Claude Code session and instructs it to edit the video for high retention using his motion-graphic skill, but to build every animation inside Effect Craft instead.
09:10 – 10:45
08 · Results And Takeaways
Claude finds Effect Craft on its own, builds the animations, and exports a Final Cut Pro XML with cropped clips, borders, and creator credits. Corey calls it a win and asks viewers what paid software they'd replace.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- The global software industry is valued near $900 billion in 2026, and AI labs can grow fastest by replacing existing software rather than building new categories.
- Adobe carries a $93 billion market cap and $23.77 billion in 2025 revenue built on paid desktop apps that open-source clean-room clones can now copy feature-for-feature.
- A GitHub project called ArtCraft shipped seven clean-room rewrites of Adobe's suite, including a Photoshop equivalent that passed 14,400 stars within days of launch.
- Effect Craft, an open-source After Effects clone built entirely in Rust, ships with 259 effects, real 3D, expressions, and native export.
- Frontier models can recreate an existing piece of software from its public specs in a single session, then let you run your own local version instead of paying for a subscription.
- An AI coding agent can discover, learn, and operate a brand-new creative app it was never trained on, without a human walking it through the interface first.
- The agent used an unfamiliar open-source video tool to build a full edit, complete with cropped screen recordings, borders, and creator credits, and exported a working Final Cut Pro XML.
- Once a coding agent can find and operate a free open-source alternative to a paid tool, the paid tool stops being necessary infrastructure and becomes optional.
AI agents can already replace paid software
THE REPLACEMENT PLAYBOOK
A free, Rust-based clone of After Effects already has enough features for an AI coding agent to learn it alone and produce a finished, exportable edit.
02Why Labs Replace Apps
- AI labs profit by replacing existing software categories, not just by adding new ones, because recreating a known tool is an easier way to pull in users and revenue.
- The software industry's near-$900 billion valuation is exactly the kind of market size that makes wholesale replacement worth the effort for a frontier lab.
03Adobe Clone Shockwave
- Even a company as large as Adobe, with a $93 billion market cap, is vulnerable once its tools can be cloned feature-for-feature from public specs.
- A clean-room open-source suite built in Rust reproduced seven of Adobe's core apps, including Photoshop and After Effects equivalents, within days of its public launch.
04Open Source Rebuilds
- One of the clones, a Photoshop equivalent, passed 14,400 GitHub stars almost immediately, a sign the community sees it as a real alternative, not a toy.
- These projects are early-stage and community-built on Discord, so stability and support are unproven even though the core functionality already works.
05Testing ArtCraft Apps
- Before trusting a claim about a new tool, it's worth downloading and testing it firsthand rather than repeating what a social post says it can do.
- A legitimate download and normal install flow is itself a signal that an open-source project is further along than a weekend experiment.
06Installing Effect Craft
- A free Rust-based clone of After Effects now ships 259 effects, real 3D, expressions, and export compatibility, enough to cover most everyday motion-graphics work.
- The clone's interface closely mirrors After Effects' layout, so existing muscle memory from the paid tool mostly transfers with no retraining.
07Agent Edits With Claude
- An AI coding agent can be handed a brand-new, unfamiliar app and told to use it for a task, finding its way around the interface on its own.
- Pairing a coding agent with a dedicated creative tool, instead of asking it to generate animations from scratch, produced a more capable result than the agent alone.
08Results And Takeaways
- The agent produced a full edited video and a working Final Cut Pro XML, complete with cropped clips, borders, and creator credit, using only the free clone.
- Once a free, agent-operable alternative exists for a paid creative tool, the paid subscription becomes optional rather than required infrastructure.
Terms worth knowing.
- ArtCraft
- An open-source GitHub project that clean-room reimplements Adobe's creative suite as seven native desktop apps, including equivalents to Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects.
- Effect Craft
- ArtCraft's After Effects equivalent, a free Rust-based motion graphics and visual effects app with 259 effects, 3D support, and expressions.
- Clean-room reimplementation
- Rebuilding a piece of software from public specifications and observed behavior, rather than copying source code, so the result is legally distinct from the original.
- FCP XML
- A Final Cut Pro project file format that stores an edit's clips, timing, and structure so it can be opened and refined inside Final Cut Pro.
Things they pointed at.
05:54toolEffect Craft
07:04toolClaude Code
07:21toolFinal Cut Pro
Lines you could clip.
00:14
“The first thing that is actually going to take and eat alive completely and entirely is the software industry.”
02:50
“You can open a session of GPT-6 Astra, Claude Opus 5.5, and you can tell it to recreate a platform like the script in one shot.”
05:54
“I'll be the guinea pig for you guys.”
07:01
“The reason I downloaded this is because I want my agent to use it.”
10:06
“Is there software that you pay for on a regular basis that maybe you've thought about replacing with AI, but you never thought it was possible?”
Word for word.
Read-along
Don't just watch it. Burn it in.
See every word as it's spoken — crank it to 2× and still catch all of it. The same dual-channel trick behind Amazon's Kindle + Audible.
metaphor
If you talk to your favorite guru on any day of the week, one of the things they're going to tell you is that AI is going to take your job. And while I do believe there's some truth to that, before AI takes anyone's job, I think the first thing that is actually going to take and is the software industry.
There are a lot of reasons why I believe this. Number one, the leading AI labs need cash to grow. And one of the easiest ways for them to bring in more users and possibly charge more for their products is to start replacing existing software, which is something they can easily do.
Right now, chat GPT spaces is practically killing Notion. Another reason why is this. The global software industry is estimated to be worth between 830 and 926 billion in 2026, driven heavily by the rapid acceleration of artificial intelligence and enterprise digital transformation.
Jarvis is not what we should be aiming for or getting excited about. Green Lantern is because if you have an idea, you can literally recreate that idea right now. And in this video, I'm gonna give you an example in detail of what I'm talking about, not from things I'm doing, but from what other people are doing right now.
Adobe has a market capitalization of $93 billion, annual revenue of 23 .77 billion in 2025. If you don't know who Adobe is, they're responsible for what I believe are the most popular content creation tools ever to exist. premiere pro after effects photoshop lightroom illustrator and so much more it they're like the when it comes to these tools but if you come to x right now what you'll see that's trending in the news is open ai dots and codecs see rapid community fixes and builds metamuses ai agent tops the app charts but i want you to look at this here rust based open source suite recreates adobe creative tools two days ago 25 .2 thousand posts the art crafts team crafting apps project includes seven native desktop programs like photocraft for image editing vector craft for vectors and film craft for video all designed with familiar interfaces and file compatibility such as psd support Built as clean room re -implementations using public specs, the apps are in early stages with active GitHub development and community invites via Discord.
Figures like Eric S. Raymond held it as Adobe's doom, while others marveled at AI's role in the rapid recreation, fueling talk on software's open future. Software is going to get one day when people realize that you can open a session of GPT -6 Astra, Cloud Opus 5 .5, and you can tell it to recreate a platform like the script in one shot.
And then you can iterate on your own personal version that you've run as a local host to give your agent the tools it needs without purchasing another subscription. You got to understand how powerful this is. And as people begin to recreate more software like this and open source it, Software becomes something that you just go to the internet and download for your agent.
Oh, my agent needs a video editor. I can go get one for free right now. Really?
Oh, my agent needs a Photoshop. That's Photoshop quality. Well, there's this open source software project for Photoshop and so forth.
But what I want to do is I want to see how true this is. Thanks to Storyblocks for sponsoring this video. Storyblocks is a 100 % human -made stock media library with footage, music, sound effects, templates, and images created by real artists.
We're talking about replacing software, but the editing tool, the animation tool is only one part of the process. You still need good material to work with. For a video like this, I don't just want random clips.
I want clips that help explain what I'm actually saying in the video. With Storyblocks, you get unlimited downloads. So you can try multiple options to find what works for you.
So in the end, you actually spend less time hunting for the perfect video and more time creating the content that you're actually looking to make. The assets are all pre -authorized for monetized and commercial projects. And every download supports a real artist.
Hit the storyblocks .com slash Corey McLean to get 15 % off for a limited time on all annual plans. But it's only available through my link. Now, some people, they've already.
community noted this and basically is still gathering ratings. But these are the beginnings of these different projects. So we're going to go to this photo craft one right here.
It already has 14 .4 thousand stars. This thing is taking off. Now, I don't know exactly how to use GitHub.
I need to learn GitHub. I started trying to learn it, so I'm not gonna try to pretend and download stuff right there. What we're gonna do is come down here to this post, getartcraft .com apps, because I think that this is a legitimate way to download them.
But look at this, pricing. Are they selling these? Create without limits, credits, nano banana.
I don't know if this is the same thing. Let's back up. Let's go to Effect Craft.
This is like After Effects. Download from Mac OS, what's inside, animate what you know, layers of every kind, 259 effects, real 3D, expressions, export anywhere, download from Mac OS, version, run it today. All right, let's just download this here and then try it.
. Let's see if this is actually going to work. Okay, it's downloaded .dmg.
It's a legitimate app format. Let's go ahead and open it and drag it over like we're supposed to. All right, let's drag this over here and drop it.
Okay, so it's installed. So let's click on it and open it. So this is what it looks like when you open up Effect Craft.
And if I'm not mistaken, this is very similar to what it looks like when you first open up After Effects. You have some controls across the top. Okay, hovering does not bring up their name or title.
So if you're not familiar with After Effects, don't look for any help here. There's a default review, learn, small screen standard. Let's put it on default because truth be told, let's just be honest.
I didn't download this so I can learn After Effects or what is this called again? Effect craft. So the reason i downloaded this is because i want my agent to use it and now we want to export this video and then we're going to save it to this folder place yourself in viral trends with two screen recorders inside of it we're going to save and now it's going to export then i'm going to come over to cloud code where i already have a session set up that is local with the place yourself in viral trends folder that has the video i just uploaded to final cut pro as well as clips and assets And I'm going to place in the location of the asset.
And then I'm going to tell Claude to simply use my motion graphic skill that we created. And I want you to edit this video. Make sure that the first 30 seconds is high retention.
But more importantly, what I like you to do is instead of just using the motion graphic skill, once you figure out. what assets to put where. I want you to use the, what is it called?
It's not After Effects. It's Effects Craft. It's a new app.
I downloaded it. I think it has a unicorn for the app icon, but it's... essentially an open source version of After Effects.
And I'm trying to see how good it is. So create all of your animations there and then add them to the video and create an FCP XML that I can open inside Final Cut Pro to get my final video to upload to YouTube. And now all we have to do is wait.
This is going to let me know. how good the app actually is because Claude is going to use it. Claude is going to find, even though I couldn't remember the name of it, Claude is going to find it.
Claude is going to use it. And then we'll see, you know, how good it is. I know Claude is good.
Claude can create the animations without it, but we're going to see how good it is with the tool. That kind of gives me a gauge of how good the tool is because even though Claude is great, it's even better when it has a tool like After Effects or something to work with. and it found the effect craft so we're gonna wait and i'll come back when it's done editing the video and then we'll look at it and see what it created and then you can judge for yourself whether you want to go over to x and download these free apps so that you can run them locally and possibly unsubscribe from all of your adobe accounts and so through a series of very fortunate events Claude was able to edit the entire video using effects craft.
And now you can look at that video. It created a Final Cut Pro XML that we can up and up over here. And as you can see, this is what it created based on the choices I made about the style and things like that in the beginning of the session.
But it brought in all of the screen recordings, cropped them, placed borders around them. It gave credit to the creators, Downy .ai. It gave credit to individual creators on all of their videos.
And it brought in different videos assets from the video itself at their relevant portions in the beginning of the video. So if you're asking me for my opinion on this effects craft app, I'm definitely going to download more of them. that I believe can help me in my daily workflow with content creation or my business.
If you got value out of the video, make sure you hit the like button, subscribe to the channel, and let me know, is there software that you pay for on a regular basis that maybe you've thought about replacing with AI, but you never thought it was possible, and now you might be thinking about giving it a shot? Let me know in the comments.
And if you wanna see the rest of that video to see how Claude was able to edit that video and put it together, great. Check the video out.
Let me know what you guys think about the edit. And as always, take care, have a great day, and I'll see you over in that video.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
Corey opens by setting aside the usual "AI will take your job" warning to make a sharper claim: before AI touches anyone's job, it's going to eat the software industry itself, and a free clone of After Effects downloading on his own machine is the proof.
Named ideas worth stealing.
03:19concept
Recreate-and-self-host loop
- Open a session with a frontier model
- Tell it to recreate an existing piece of software from public specs
- Run your own version as a local host
- Give your agent the tool it needs without buying another subscription
Corey's description of how creators can use a frontier model to clone a piece of paid software and self-host it, removing the subscription from the workflow entirely.
Steal forany workflow where a recurring SaaS subscription could be replaced by a self-hosted open-source clone an agent operates directly
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
10:06subscribe
“If you got value out of the video, make sure you hit the like button, subscribe to the channel, and let me know, is there software that you pay for on a regular basis that maybe you've thought about replacing with AI.”
Standard end-screen like/subscribe ask paired with an engagement question, plus a soft tease pointing viewers to a separate full-length video showing the complete Claude Code edit.
MENTIONED ON CAMERA
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
Visual structure at a glance.
