Independent AI systems studio · San Diego

You probably don’t need an AI strategy.

You need one useful thing working.

Most AI ideas stall because nothing connects them to the software a company already runs on. That connection is what I build—the plumbing between the clever idea and your actual records, spreadsheets, and tools—plus the unglamorous work that keeps it running.

Tell me what’s stuck See where I can help

WORK THAT REPEATS+SYSTEMS THAT TALK+TOOLS YOUR TEAM USES+WHEN IT GOES WRONG+MAKING IT RELIABLE

01 / WHAT I BUILD

Three ways to put AI to work.

These are deliberately small projects with an end date. Your team keeps its roadmap. I take ownership of the awkward thing sitting between “we should” and “it works.”

For manual work that should not be manual

AI Workflow Build

I learn a repetitive, judgment-heavy process by doing it with you once—then turn those steps into a focused tool or reusable AI workflow.

Explore this service

Writing down how the work really happens
AI where it helps, fixed rules where it must not guess
Someone signs off, and there is a record
Running on real work

For systems that need to talk to each other

Connect It Up

I connect your AI feature to the data and software it needs to do its job—without giving it the keys to everything.

Access to the data it needs
Who is allowed to do what
Safe connections to your tools
You can see what it did

For a demo that never made it into real use

AI Feature Rescue

The demo proved the idea. I find what is stopping it from being used for real, fix the parts that keep breaking, and leave your team something it can run without me.

Why it is stuck
What happens when it goes wrong
Making it cheaper and faster
Handed over and running for real

02 / SELECTED WORK

Real processes.
Working systems.

Every project begins with work someone is already doing. The goal is to preserve the judgment, remove the repetition, and leave behind something dependable.

View all case studies

CASE STUDY 01AI WORKFLOW BUILT + IN USE

PUBLIC RELATIONS / RESEARCH OPERATIONS

A media list that verifies itself.

We turned hours of research, source checking, contact collection, and spreadsheet work into one guided command—with the professional still making the calls that matter.

THE SHIFT From rebuilding the process every time To a repeatable, evidence-backed workflow

Read the case study

CASE STUDY 02AI CONTENT SYSTEM BUILT + IN USE

CREATIVE PRODUCTION / A PERSON STILL DECIDES

A visual world that doesn’t drift.

Style rules, character references, scene generation, animation, and finishing became one reusable pipeline—with the person still choosing what is worth publishing.

THE SHIFT From rebuilding the creative process for every post To a controlled system that remembers the world

Read the case study

03 / THE APPROACH

Small enough to finish.
Important enough to matter.

Show me what is slow.

One conversation about what is slow, stuck, expensive, or being babysat by a person.

We make it smaller.

I define the smallest version that is genuinely worth having, what it trades away, and exactly what “done” means.

I build the thing.

Short feedback loops, visible progress, and real software—not a month of meetings about software.

Your team can own it.

Clean handoff, clear documentation, and no mysterious black box that requires me forever.

04 / THE FIT

A good problem for ATWORKS looks like this:

✓It has a clear business owner
✓The pain already exists
✓It is small enough to actually finish
✓Your core team cannot prioritize it
✓Useful matters more than flashy

×“We should do something with AI”
×A chatbot nobody asked for
×An endless transformation program
×Replacing your whole engineering team
×AI for the sake of saying AI

05 / THE PART NOBODY SAYS OUT LOUD

What you’re actually
worried about.

Nobody raises these on a first call. They are the reason projects never start, so let’s do them now.

I don’t know enough about this to tell whether you’re doing it right.: You don’t need to. You need to be able to judge the result, and that part you already know better than I do—whether the list is good, whether the draft holds up, whether it actually saved anyone time. I explain what I am doing in plain words, and if I ever cannot, that is a bad sign about the work, not about you.
It’s going to replace people on my team.: Every system I have built does the repetitive part and hands the judgment back. The person who knows the work stays the one directing it. That is not a nice sentiment, it is the design—a system that decides on its own is a system nobody trusts.
Our data will end up somewhere we don’t control.: We decide up front exactly what it can see, and it gets nothing else—not the whole database because that was easier to wire up. If a system should not be touched, it does not get connected.
We’ll be stuck with you forever.: The opposite is the goal. You get the code, the documentation, and a walkthrough. I would rather you never need to call me again than build something only I understand.
It’ll cost a fortune and never finish.: You get a price and a date before anything starts. If it turns out to be bigger than it looked, you hear that early—not in month four.

If your worry is not on this list, put it in the first email. I would rather answer it than have it quietly end the conversation.

06 / WHO YOU’RE HIRING

Built by someone who has spent a career making complicated systems behave.

I’m Adam Thayer, a Staff Software Engineer in San Diego. Before software, I worked in Coast Guard aviation, search and rescue, avionics, auto repair, and a handful of jobs where the answer could not just sound good—it had to work.

That is still how I approach technology: understand the real problem, respect the consequences, and build the simplest durable thing that solves it.

PLAIN LANGUAGEREAL OWNERSHIPNO TECH THEATER

Taking on select projects

What’s the useful thing
your team keeps putting off?

Bring me the problem

Five questions, or just email me. Either way, tell me what is happening now, what you want to happen instead, and why it matters.