I’m JA Westenberg.

I founded SELF an AI-native agency. I’m building KEROUAC and SEDITION, and A HISTORY OF OPTIMISM.

I write about AI + culture, tech & philosophy.

My goal: to think in public about artificial intelligence and what it means to be a human in the machine age.

What you’ll find:

• Clarity and mental models

• Psychology, philosophy and history

• Cultural critiques

• Random thoughts + ideas

Email:

• joan@joanwestenberg.com

• joan@thisisstudioself.com

How I AI (Disclosure)

Updated: 12 Oct 2026

I use Cursor and Claude for all coding tasks, and I use Grok Bot as the harness to manage my work. I use Claude and Grok to manage my knowledge base and wiki in Obsidian. I use VidIQ for YouTube. Cursor and Claude are also my go-to tool for formatting ebooks and maintaining versioning for knowledge work using Github. I use Omarchy and Mac as my operating systems, and Hey and Basecamp’s CLI and MCP servers for managing email, tasks, projects etc.

How I Write with AI

I write some posts with zero AI-assistance, but most with Spiral by Every and Claude. Either way, I start by developing the outlines and arguments by hand, usually in Obsidian, deciding what I want to say and how the ideas should fit together. If I’m using AI, I’ll start with either Claude or Spiral to turn those outlines and arguments into prose; an agent can write a chunk of the initial paragraphs, depending on the piece and the length of my initial input. I edit every paragraph by hand, revising the language, emphasis, and meaning. I then run the edited draft through Claude to identify structural weaknesses, gaps in the argument, and opportunities to improve the piece. I decide which suggestions to accept and make the final revisions myself. The ideas and overall direction are mine, while AI plays a substantial role in drafting the prose and helping me strengthen its structure and arguments. I manage my writing // blogging pipeline via Basecamp.