Weekly RenLog: 'No Problem for Liberal Arts Majors or Non-Engineers! How to Start Personal App Development with Google AI Studio as Your Ally'

No Problem for Liberal Arts Majors or Non-Engineers! How to Start Personal App Development with Google AI Studio as Your Ally

'I want to turn my idea into an app, but I've never done any programming...'

'As a liberal arts major, isn't app development just a privilege for science majors and engineers?'

Are you giving up because you think that?

Let me give you the conclusion. The era has truly arrived where even liberal arts business professionals with zero programming experience can create their own original apps right now.

This is because the ultimate partner, 'Google AI Studio', has arrived.

Until now, 'app development' was a grueling journey of spending hundreds of hours learning how to write code and fighting with errors. But now, what we need to do is not programming. 'Giving instructions to AI in Japanese'. That is all.

This time, I will teach you how to create one using the powerful weapon that is Google AI Studio.

Seeing is believing: here is the app I made!

I didn't use any advanced design or complex backend knowledge at all. All I did was talk to Google AI Studio in Japanese, saying, 'I want to make an app like this.'

And surprisingly, even without using the paid versions of ChatGPT or Claude (about 3,000 yen per month), with Google AI Studio, you can fully utilize the power of the latest AI, 'Gemini Flash-Lite Latest' for free.

'I have an idea that's just sitting there'

'I want a tool of my own to streamline my daily work'

'I don't want to be left behind in the AI era'

If you think that, please read this article and try building your first app along with me. If you have one computer, you can start right now!

Why is 'Google AI Studio' the weapon of choice for non-engineers right now?

'If I'm going to make an app with AI, isn't the ChatGPT or Claude I always use fine?'

Many of you must have thought that.

Of course, ChatGPT and others will output code. However, for non-engineers to start 'personal app development' in earnest, there are 3 clear reasons (advantages) why Google AI Studio overwhelms other AIs.

1. You can use premium-level AI (Gemini) that costs 3,000 yen a month for 'basically free'

This is the biggest reason. If you try to use the latest high-performance models on ChatGPT or Claude, it costs about $20 (approx. 3,000 yen) per month in subscription fees. For a beginner who wants to 'try making an app,' a fixed monthly cost is a big hurdle, isn't it?

With Google AI Studio, you can fully utilize the features of the world's top-tier AI models developed by Google, such as 'Gemini 1.5 Pro' and 'Gemini 1.5 Flash', basically for free as part of the free tier for developers. It is truly a god-tier tool that allows you to conduct cutting-edge experiments with zero risk.

2. The 'amount of information you can send at once (context)' is dimensionally larger

As you proceed with app development, the amount of code increases. Have you ever had the experience of pasting long code into ChatGPT only to be told 'you've reached the character limit' or having it forget the context of the previous conversation?

Google AI Studio (Gemini 1.5 Pro) can process an overwhelming amount of information (up to 2 million tokens), tens to hundreds of times more than typical AI at once. In other words, you can have the AI read your entire app program, and when you ask it to 'fix this bug' or 'add a new feature here,' it will provide perfect support without ever losing track of the context.

3. Actually, it's become an era where 'liberal arts majors (people good at Japanese)' have the advantage

Now that programming is no longer necessary, the most important skill in app development is 'the specificity of your instructions (prompts) to the AI'.

• 'What kind of screen do you want?'
• 'How should it behave when a button is pressed?'
• 'What kind of error is occurring?'

The ability to explain these things to the AI logically and in polite Japanese is exactly what determines the quality of the finished app. In other words, rather than science-oriented engineers who know code syntax, liberal arts business professionals who can clearly communicate specifications in words are increasingly able to master AI and build apps at lightning speed

in a rapidly growing number of cases.

There is no need to learn a 'programming language.' Google AI Studio is a weapon that allows you to take on the world using only your 'Japanese language skills.'

Leveraging your liberal arts brain! How to construct 'prompts'

'If I can't write code, how should I give instructions to the AI?' The answer is 'prompts (instruction text for AI)'.

In an era where programming is unnecessary, app development has changed from 'the task of writing code' to 'the task of submitting a project proposal to the AI in Japanese'. What is useful here is the 'ability to organize situations' and 'ability to communicate in words (liberal arts brain)' that liberal arts business professionals use in their daily document creation and work coordination.

I will teach you how to construct the ultimate prompt to extract perfect, working code from Google AI Studio in one go.

1. Include the '4 elements' that prevent AI from getting lost

Asking the AI to 'make code for an app like this' in one sentence is the same as dumping a task on a subordinate by saying, 'Just make some good-looking document.' The AI will also be confused and return off-target code.

Leveraging your liberal arts brain, let's create a 'polite instruction manual' in Japanese that organizes the following 4 elements.

• [Premise] : What role (persona) do you want the AI to take on?
• [Objective] : The problem the app solves or the goal it achieves
• [Specific Specifications] : Screen design and button behavior
• [Output Format] : Specifying a format that works immediately after copy-pasting

Tips for 'Error Resolution' That You Can Do with a Humanities Brain

If the code the AI generates doesn't work or produces an error, there is no need to panic.

Even if you can't analyze 'where the code is wrong' like an engineer, you just need to explain the 'phenomenon currently occurring' to the AI in your own words and that's it.

As long as you can have a back-and-forth conversation where you organize and explain 'what the current situation is and how you want it to work,' the AI will find and fix the bugs for you.

[Practice] Let's actually use AI to build the foundation of an app

Step 1: Open Google AI Studio and create a 'Chat Prompt'

First, open the top screen of Google AI Studio.

Several options will be displayed, but since we want to build the app while chatting with the AI, you are ready once a familiar chat screen, similar to LINE or ChatGPT, appears.

Select the powerful 'Gemini 1.5 Pro' AI in the right-hand menu

On the right side of the screen, there is a menu (Model) to choose the AI model. It is often set to the lightweight 'Gemini 1.5 Flash' by default, but when developing apps, it is recommended to switch to the smarter 'Gemini 1.5 Pro'.

Because it accurately understands complex instructions and design preferences, errors (bugs) in the initial code output will be overwhelmingly reduced.

Step 3: Send the prompt

Paste the 'prompt' into the chat input field.

Once you have finished writing the [Purpose] and [Specifications] sections with the content of the app you want to create, press the send button.

Just by waiting a few seconds, the screen will start clicking away, and the 'code' that turns your idea into reality will be output at a furious speed. *Step 5: Download the file and run the app This depends on the app you are building.

Once you have saved the program file that the AI wrote out to your computer, it is finally time to run (execute) it.

How you run it from here will roughly be one of the following methods, depending on the type of app you are building.

- For rich, screen-only tools (such as HTML files)

• Simply drag and drop the saved file into a browser you normally use, such as Google Chrome, and the app will start running right there.

For full-scale apps that communicate with AI (such as Python or JavaScript) - You can easily launch it in a local environment by loading the file into a free AI editor (development environment) such as 'Cursor' or 'VS Code' and pressing the play button (execute button).

For convenient tools that link with Google services

• The system is integrated simply by pasting the code into the settings screen (extensions) of Google Sheets or similar, and pressing the 'Deploy' (publish) button.

Even without programming knowledge, you can experience the thrill of seeing an app based on your own ideas come to life right before your eyes in just three steps: “Have AI generate the code” → “Save the file” → “Open it in the specified location (or press a button)”!

Summary: Use the Power of Language to Turn Your Ideas into Reality

I especially want those who have given up on the dream of app development because they are “liberal arts majors” or “can't write code” to try using Google AI Studio.

The era has completely changed.

What is needed for development from now on is not memorizing complex programming languages. It is the ability to specifically articulate the ideas in your head—such as “I want to solve this inconvenience” or “I want to create something interesting”—into Japanese.

Let's review the steps introduced this time.

1. Welcome the high-performance AI “Gemini 1.5 Pro” for free in Google AI Studio
2. Submit a liberal arts-friendly prompt that includes the “premise, purpose, specifications, and output format”
3. Even if an error occurs, communicate the phenomenon in front of you in words and play catch with the AI
4. Save the generated code and try running it yourself

Start with a “super-minimal tool just for yourself” that solves a small daily frustration.

The thrill of having an app start working based on your own instructions, even if it's just one, is a goosebump-inducing excitement you've likely never experienced in your business career.

In “Weekly RenLog,” I would like to provide various knowledge and experiences.

Please feel free to keep reading and use it for your own growth!!

If you found this article even a little “exciting!” or “useful,” it would be a great encouragement if you could let me know by liking it on note or sharing your thoughts on X (formerly Twitter)!

Now, it's your turn to make AI your ally and create your first app. Open your computer and try talking to Google AI Studio!