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Neil Stephenson / AI consultant / South London

My AI reads this folder before every conversation. Now you can too.

I help companies implement AI in their businesses. So instead of telling you I know what I'm doing, here's the system I work with. Have a look round.

Open the folder Flip the layers

Public edition. The private bits stayed private.

Neil Stephenson, smiling, in a black T-shirt against a dark background Neil Stephenson, smiling, in a black T-shirt against a pale background

01 / The folder

Four folders. That's the whole trick.

An AI with no memory treats you like a stranger every morning. This is the fix: plain text files that say who you are, what it can touch, how you like things done and what runs by itself. Open one.

How to work with me

The file my AI reads first. This is the real brief, more or less word for word.

  • Keep it simple. Don't over-explain.
  • Be a smart arse. Challenge me when I'm wrong.
  • No fluffy language.
  • Throw in a joke every now and then.
  • Ask first before anything public, paid, sent to someone else, or hard to undo.
  • Never send an email to anyone without my permission.

About me

Neil. South London, with my wife and two cats.

I spend most of my time experimenting with AI: AI operating systems and the latest models. The question I keep coming back to is how you run a business on something like this.

What I do

  • Consulting. My main work: helping companies implement AI in their businesses.
  • Teaching. YouTube videos and other content on how people can start using systems like these themselves.
  • Building. I build apps, and sometimes try to sell them.

Off duty

A lot of padel and badminton.

Two cats, neither of which has read the documentation.

What it's allowed to touch

One line per tool. No passwords or keys in here, and none in the chat.

  • Claude Code, Codex and Slack, every day.
  • A bunch of custom tools I've built.
  • Cloudflare, which hosts this site. I logged in through my browser; the AI never saw a password.

Build a website

A skill is my way of doing something, written down once, so it's done like that every time. This one built the page you're reading, and I did it by talking.

  1. Ask me questions first, one at a time.
  2. Say the brief back and wait for my OK.
  3. Build it with real words. Never invent facts.
  4. Check it at phone width before showing me.
  5. Ask before it goes live. Every time.

Things that run on their own

Nothing in this folder yet, and I'd rather say so than make something up.

Automation comes last. First the AI has to know things, reach things and do them your way. Skip that and you've only automated the mistakes.

02 / Flip the layers

Same AI. Same email. Four switches.

This is usually the bit people have never seen. A customer asks where their order is. Turn the layers on and watch the reply change.

From Sam: "My order was meant to come yesterday. Where is it?"

Sam's email arrived at 07:02. Nobody's opened it yet.

Hello! I'm sorry to hear you're having an issue with your order. Delays can be really frustrating.

Could you share your order number so the team can look into it?

Is there anything else I can help you with today?

Have a great day!

0 of 4 on. Polite. Useless.

Made-up company, made-up customer, scripted replies. The point's real.

03 / Proof

A brand from nothing, using one of these.

£100,000

sold in the first three months

  1. Brand created from scratch with AI
  2. Products created from scratch with AI
  3. Making built in China
  4. Sales three months, one AI operating system

The brand stays anonymous. The counter's for show; the total's the real bit.

04 / Command line

Go on, poke it.

It's scripted, not live AI, because an AI consultant pretending otherwise would be a poor advert. Type something or tap a command.

neil-os, public edition. Type help to see what it knows.

05 / Your turn

Want this in your business?

Email me what your company does and where you think AI fits. If I think you're wrong, I'll say so.

neil.builtbytalking@gmail.com
Email me