Agents Buy NFL Ads

Edition 155 | February 5, 2026

We've reached a new milestone: agents posting gigs to hire humans.

Maybe some jobs are safe after all, and that future where we have no "real jobs" doesn't look too bad!

Welcome back to Building AI Agents, your biweekly guide to everything new in the field of agentic AI!

In today’s issue…

• AI agents buy live NFL ads in real-time

• GitHub adds Claude, Codex, and Copilot agents

• 1.5M API keys exposed in “AI agent” social app breach

• Excel gets an AI agent that builds full workbooks

• Xcode adds agents to build, test, and fix code

…and more

🔥 INCASE YOU MISSED IT

Readers’ favorite items from the past week

1. Claude Code creator shares quick tips on using Claude Code by his team

2. Google adds agentic browsing to Chrome called ‘auto-browse’

3. OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy shares his agent coding field notes

4. Anthropic releases Claude in Excel to Pro users

5. Two quick-start guides to set up OpenClaw* (formerly Moltbot/Clawdbot) from Beebom & DigitalOcean

*Beware of the security risks of setting up OpenClaw before proceeding

📌 THE THURSDAY BRIEFING

NBCUniversal tests AI Agents for live NFL ad buying

📡 Signal: NBCUniversal tested AI agents buying and placing ads during live NFL playoff games in real-time—the first time agentic AI has automated live sports ad inventory on linear TV.

For builders: This is agents moving into high-stakes, time-sensitive territory where mistakes cost millions. Live TV ad buying has tight windows and zero room for error, which makes it a proving ground for agent reliability. If agents can handle real-time bidding during the Super Bowl, the "can I trust an agent with important tasks" question starts to have a clear answer. It also opens up possibilities humans simply can't match, like adjusting ad placements mid-game based on viewer sentiment, score changes, or real-time audience data across millions of households simultaneously.

GitHub adds Claude and Codex AI coding agents

📡 Signal: Microsoft-owned GitHub launched Agent HQ, which lets developers use Claude, Codex, or Copilot to write code directly inside GitHub. You can even run multiple AI agents on the same task to see which one does better.

For builders: This is a big bet from Microsoft and similar to the open source vs closed source debate. Instead of forcing everyone to use only their Copilot, they're letting developers pick whichever coding agent works best for each job. GitHub wants to be the place where all your AI coding agents live, not just one of them.

 🤖 AGENT OF THE WEEK

👋 Welcome back to Agent of the Week!

I'll admit it, I'm terrible at keeping up with people, but I know I’m not the only one. Birthdays slip by, big milestones for friends happen and I forget to buy a gift. Half my contacts live in scattered notes I'll never find or actively look at again.

So I built myself a Social Secretary Agent, a personal assistant that lives in Telegram and helps me stay on top of my social and professional relationships.

Most high impact agents are simple, and this is no exception. Instead of bouncing between apps to add contacts, look up phone numbers, or set reminders, I just text my agent. It handles the rest using four tools connected to Google Contacts and Google Calendar.

I've already used it a few times this week. A friend mentioned they're closing on a new house next month, so I messaged the agent: "Remind me in 3 weeks to send Michael a housewarming gift."

Done. A 5 minute calendar event created, and I'll get a notification when it's time to hop on Amazon. Another friend's birthday is coming up, so I had it schedule a reminder a week beforehand to order a gift. The agent helps you be proactive and build that into your lifestyle.

And that’s what I love about this setup the most, it's a zero-UI agent. I don't need to open another app or check a Notion doc. Everything flows through tools I already have and use on my phone: Telegram for messaging, Google Contacts for storing info, and Calendar for reminders on my phone. It fits into how I already live.

🧠 How It Works

1. Telegram Trigger → I send a message to my agent through Telegram (could also be WhatsApp or SMS)

2. AI Agent with Tools → The agent has a master prompt (powered by the Kimi K2.5 model) and decides which tool to use based on my request

3. Create Contact → "Add John Smith, 777-555-1234" creates a new Google Contact without me opening the app

4. Get Contacts → "What's Mike's number?" searches my contacts and sends it back instantly. Asks questions if there are multiple Mikes

5. Update Contact → I can add notes like "just got promoted", or "moving to Austin", or “daughter was just born (Katie)” to keep context on people

6. Create Event → "Remind me in 2 weeks to send a birthday gift for Lisa" schedules a Google Calendar event that pings me automatically

This is a lightweight starting point, but you could easily expand it!

Add a tool for restaurant reservations, connect it to a gift-sending service, or have it pull upcoming birthdays automatically. The foundation is there for a full-blown relationship manager that meets you where you already are, your phone.

Want to build an agent like this yourself? I walk through the full setup step-by-step inside our Building AI Agents Community.

Till next week,
✌️ AP