My Top 5 Prompting Tricks (That Actually Work)
Help for eliminating robotic AI responses — and to start sounding like you. Why This Matters You’ve heard me say it: garbage in, garbage out. But honestly — sometimes the output is dull even when your input seems solid. Why is that? Because writing for AI is not the same as writing for people. Prompting isn’t about […]
We’re Not Failing AI. We’re Failing People.
Ok, taking a moment to pause…If you’ve been reading along, you know I’ve spent the last few weeks writing about the promise of AI — how it can unlock creativity, assist with songwriting, speed up ideation, and change the way we work. But after reading Fortune’s June 11th piece on AI fatigue, I had to […]
How Licensing Taught Me to Prototype for the Pitch
Designing Keepsafe Critters for the Brands Kids Already Love I had a patentable idea — but wasn’t foolish enough to think it would stand on its own.This product needed something bigger.A world. A brand. A story that kids already trust. After building out the core concept of Keepsafe Critters, I realized the design had more […]
Prompting Ain’t Plug-and-Play: Why AI Still Needs an Artist
A deeper dive into prompt engineering as a creative discipline *WARNING* — Controversial take, but true:Critics often say AI outputs feel soulless. That they’re cold. Generic. That no real artist would create something like that. And many times… they’re right. But that’s not the model’s fault. It’s the prompt. Because the spark isn’t in the […]
Design That Shouldn’t Work — But Does
At Ronchamp, Le Corbusier defied convention and created a chapel that remains one of architecture’s boldest risks. 15 years ago today, I landed in France. I didn’t go to Paris, I went to Ronchamp. Most people visit this hillside town for a quiet retreat. I went for concrete and curves. Notre Dame du Haut — […]
I Built a Product Before I Found the Market
How Keepsafe Critters taught me the difference between a prototype and a product strategy. I Had the Prototypes. I Had the Packaging. What I didn’t have was a path to shelf. I had a real product: a complete prototype, branded packaging, a planned product line, and licensing ambitions.What I didn’t have was a plan to […]
How to Build Your First SLM
Train a small language model to sound like you — without breaking the bank. Large language models (LLMs) are great, but they’re not personal. They don’t know your tone. They don’t match your style. And they certainly don’t speak like your grandfather, your best friend, or your brand. I mean, let’s be honest — right […]
The Lock That Roared
My first product didn’t ship — but it taught me how to build things that can. I’ve spent over two decades designing things — for theme parks and video games, in software, mixed reality, and AI-powered tools. I’ve built location-based attractions that bring static IP to life, games that merge story and competition, software that simplifies complex workflows, and training systems […]
The Devil’s Dance
Writing lyrics by hand. Prototyping the sound with AI. I wrote the lyrics to The Devil’s Dance. Every rhyme, every stomp, every shout in the chorus — all mine. I grew up on Johnny Cash, George Jones, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and listened to how they told stories — the cadence, the honesty, the grit. […]
The Model That Remembers My Dad
Why the future of AI isn’t just smart. It’s personal. My dad has Parkinson’s. His memory is starting to slip — and with it, his independence. He also has stage 4 bone cancer. For months, I’ve been thinking about how to preserve a part of him — not as a static recording, but as something […]
AI Didn’t Write this Song. I Did.
Why showing your work matters when machines can fake it — and how AI helped me finally hear what I wrote I’ve been writing about AI and creativity — the tension, the promise, the process. But this time, I’m not just talking about it. I’m showing it. Because it’s easy to say AI can help […]
When Prompts Become the Pipeline
What that means for those of us who built the old one Right now, prompts are just the beginning.A sketch. A seed. A shortcut to a concept. But we’re getting close to something bigger — something more disruptive. A moment when prompts stop being just the front end of creativity…and start driving the entire pipeline. Prompt […]
Garbage In, Garbage Out: Why My Kids Use AI Better Than Most Adults
And what that says about the future of creativity AI isn’t magic. It’s not cheating. And it’s definitely not thinking for you. It’s a mirror — fast, pattern-hungry, and logic-driven.And what it reflects depends entirely on what you give it. My Kids Know Something Most Adults Forget I work in tech. I’ve been deep in […]
You Don’t Become Irrelevant for Using the Tool. You Become Irrelevant for Ignoring It.
Every generation of artists faces the same question: If you use new technology, are you still a “real” artist? When Photoshop was released, many traditional photographers dismissed it as cheating. If you used it, you were immediately discredited. The same thing happened with digital painting, music production software, and even word processors. Now, it’s happening […]
Svartifoss in Monochrome: Sculpting Time and Texture in Iceland’s Basalt Cathedral
There are places in the world that feel more carved than formed — like the Earth sat still long enough for an artist to chip away with purpose. Svartifoss, the “Black Waterfall” tucked inside Iceland’s Skaftafell National Park, is one of those places. Its stark basalt columns don’t just frame the falls — they elevate […]