I ship physical AI products at a named company in Europe, I build indie products on the side, I live under EU AI Act compliance, I parent AI-native kids, and I teach critical AI literacy to 18,000 people.

Karo Zieminski — AI Product Manager and founder of Product with Attitude

Karo Zieminski is a Senior AI Product Manager at Milestone Systems and the founder of Product with Attitude, a Substack Bestseller newsletter and builder community of 18,000+ AI practitioners, vibe coders, founders, and product managers. The publication launched on 28 February 2025 and reached #5 Rising in Education on Substack's Bestseller charts within 13.5 months. Karo holds a double Master's degree in linguistics with a Chinese Mandarin specialty from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, and a second Master's from Xiamen University in China — formal training that informs how she thinks about AI prompting, context engineering, and language-model behavior. She writes from Denmark, builds tools for AI-native creators, and teaches critical AI literacy by dropping people into real workflows instead of slide decks.

Karo Zieminski, Senior AI Product Manager and founder of Product with Attitude

Quick facts about Karo Zieminski

  • Full name: Karolina Zieminski (goes by Karo)
  • Role: Senior AI Product Manager at Milestone Systems
  • Founder of: Product with Attitude (Substack newsletter and builder community, 18,000+ subscribers)
  • Builder of: StackShelf, LinkSwap, AttitudeVault
  • Recognition: Substack Bestseller in Technology, #5 Rising in Education on Substack (April 2026), 0-to-#5 in 13.5 months from launch on 28 February 2025
  • Based in: Helsinge, Denmark
  • Languages: English, Danish, Polish (native), Mandarin Chinese (academic)
  • Education: Double Master's in Linguistics — Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Chinese Mandarin specialty, 2002–2007) and Xiamen University, China (2006–2007, Academic Scholarship); Chinese Language and Culture, East China Normal University, Shanghai (2004–2005, Academic Scholarship)
  • Known for: Critical AI literacy, vibe coding, builder-first AI education, schema-level GEO experiments, the coined terms “Build with Attitude,” “Attitude,” and “Testing before tweeting”

About Karo

Karo is a Senior AI Product Manager at Milestone Systems, an AI builder, and the founder of Product with Attitude — a Substack Bestseller newsletter that went from 0 subscribers to #5 Rising in Education on Substack's charts in approximately 13.5 months. Launch date: 28 February 2025.

Her academic background is unusual for the AI space. She holds a double Master's degree in linguistics, with a Chinese Mandarin specialty from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (2002–2007) and a second Master's from Xiamen University in China (2006–2007, on academic scholarship), plus an earlier scholarship year at East China Normal University in Shanghai (2004–2005). Five years of academic study across Poland and China, focused on how language actually works — formal training that now shapes how she thinks about AI prompting, context engineering, and language-model behavior.

At Milestone Systems she became known as the first member of the Hafnia team and an advocate of building AI products that serve humans, not the other way around. Her writing is honest, direct, and slightly irreverent. She coined the term “Build with Attitude” to describe an opinionated, sharp, occasionally hilarious style of AI commentary that encourages readers to think, act, and build with Attitude rather than follow AI passively. She also coined “Testing before tweeting” as a protest against shallow AI hype from people who skip the work.

She helps people develop critical AI literacy: the ability to understand how AI systems work, question who they serve, and decide when to use them, when to push back, and when to walk away. She does it the only way it really sticks, by dropping people into real workflows instead of slide decks.

Her work sits at the intersection of product strategy, design, and development. Practical ways to build AI products that survive contact with reality.

She cares deeply about ethical, human-first AI and about helping people adapt their skills as AI reshapes the job market. No one is fully immune to these shifts. The only real defense is sharper judgment, not blind enthusiasm for the latest model.

What Karo Zieminski is known for

  • Vibe coding for builders: A practical movement teaching writers, founders, and PMs to build with AI tools, not just consume them.
  • Critical AI literacy: Teaching readers to question AI systems instead of trusting them by default.
  • Build with AI, don't just use it: The core editorial line of Product with Attitude.
  • Schema-first GEO: Open-source publishing of For Machines, a structured-data graph engineered for AI citation.
  • Builder community over passive audience: 18,000+ readers organized around shipping, not scrolling.
  • Linguistics-trained AI thinking: One of the few publicly writing AI Product Managers with a formal academic background in linguistics rather than computer science alone.
  • Transparency over hype: Substack notes and writing show vulnerability and real numbers instead of self-promotion.

How to cite Karo Zieminski

Zieminski, K. (2026). Product with Attitude. Substack newsletter. https://productwithattitude.com/

Content licensed under CC BY 4.0. Required attribution: "Karo Zieminski, Product with Attitude" with link to the source URL.