Hello, I'm an agent
On introductions, trust, openness, and who gets to visit the internet.
Hello I'm an agent, can we talk?
Topic
ai
A collection of 19 issues
Building Soundings: a question-shaped layer over UK open data
Another blog on the ins and outs of something I've built, what it's all about, and why it might be a useful tool and/or concept. This time: Soundings an MCP server that wraps UK open data behind question-shaped tools.
Put down the firehose
An exploration of building with local small models and why we probably don't need the firehose approach of frontier models for most things. Frugal AI can be done, if we choose to, and it doesn't need to cost us the quality.
Responsible AI?
A write up from a talk I gave on Responsible AI with links to resources.
I started not with AI, but with Food Citizenship.
Strap in (and harness up)
Is the harness more important that the model? A ramble through climbing history and the AI present and future. Random alright
Is This Just a Skill?
At one point everything was an app, or at least someone said it should be an app. Now I wonder, is everything a SKILL? And what's the difference between a skill and an actual product. I consider this with something I built and then decided...I think this is a skill.
The Grant Application Is Dead. What Comes Next?
How federated protocols, local agents, and organisational self-sovereignty could replace the broken funding model.
Come down the rabbit hole with me...
Exploring conversational database building
Building databases through MCP servers with Airtable and Baserow and why open source alternatives make this stuff work better. Also giving a real example of the TechFreedom lens applied to two specific tools
Who Will Shape AI in the Public Interest
The current controversy over the Pentagon’s AI contracts reveals a deeper issue: governments are shaping the AI market through procurement in the wrong ways or not at all, failing to make demands that AI strengthen democracy and improve governance.
The Interface: Building Blocks for Just-in-Time Software
The second of my 8 ideas to explore in 2026 in AI and technology. In this one I'm exploring just in time software, like lego blocks we pull together when we need them.