Mythology of Artificial Intelligence
The fantasy of building a profitable AI SaaS in a weekend ignores the difficult parts: workflows, engineering, distribution, adoption and measurable business value.
Bob Mazzei · Author
Independent writing, analysis and books.
Technology, business, artificial intelligence and the ideas that shape how organisations and societies work.
Author · Business Engineer · AI ConsultantMore than three decades across technology, business and international commerce.
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Selected writing.
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Latest writing
New work from the publishing desk.
Before You Buy AI: What Exactly Are You Paying to Solve?
AI proposals can be persuasive. The harder question is whether the technology solves a real business problem, at a cost and level of risk that make sense.
Mythology of Artificial Intelligence
The fantasy of building a profitable AI SaaS in a weekend ignores the difficult parts: workflows, engineering, distribution, adoption and measurable business value.
AI Is Saving Nonprofits Time. But Is It Helping Them Change Lives?
Artificial intelligence is spreading rapidly through the nonprofit sector, but saving time is not the same as creating impact. The harder challenge may be organisational rather than technological.
Extract from Declan's Lost Race
An unidentified man is found dead in Spain. The forensic evidence presents a problem: two distinct male DNA profiles where every outward fact insists there was only one man.
Extract from The Ghost of Highgate
Nob finally discovers the identity of the impossible Victorian who has appeared in his life.
Areas of interest
Follow the questions, not the categories.
Free resources
Free guides & practical resources
Some ideas are more useful when you can take them away and use them.
Download free guides, ebooks and practical resources on artificial intelligence, business engineering, operations and better decision-making — published by Sienda Media from the work and experience of Sienda Ltd.
Published by Sienda Media
The AI Theatre Detector
A practical guide to separating useful artificial intelligence from expensive theatre.
View free guide →Published by Sienda Media
When the Problem Isn't Where It Appears
A practical framework for diagnosing the real problem before choosing the solution.
View free guide →Published by Sienda Media
AI Myth-Buster
A practical field guide to what artificial intelligence can do, what it cannot do and where the hype gets in the way.
View free guide →Professional
Experience applied to difficult decisions.
Independent analysis at the intersection of business, technology and artificial intelligence, informed by more than three decades of commercial and technical experience.
AI & Technology
Independent assessment of artificial intelligence, automation, technology choices and the claims made around them.
Business & Decision Analysis
Analysis of commercial problems, operating decisions, projects and the assumptions on which they depend.
Executive Briefings
Focused research and independent analysis for decisions that require more than a sales presentation or a dashboard.
Books
Stories for readers who prefer a mystery that thinks back.
Latest novel
Declan's Lost Race
One dead man. Two male DNA profiles.
A body on the Costa del Sol, two incompatible DNA profiles and a second profile that reaches back to a London murder committed thirty-two years earlier.
Earlier work
The Ghost of Highgate
Philosophical satire · 2023
Karl Marx is back — although he prefers to describe himself as an enduring idea, temporarily manifest.
Briefings & guides
Premium publications.
Guide
Before You Buy AI
The Executive Due-Diligence Kit for evaluating AI proposals, vendor claims, hidden costs, return on investment, operational risk and the evidence required before approving the investment.
View publicationThe Socratic Shrug
Where certainty goes to be questioned.
I also publish The Socratic Shrug on Substack — essays and arguments on evidence, certainty, power and human behaviour.
About Bob
Bob Mazzei
Bob Mazzei is an author, business engineer and AI consultant whose work spans fiction, technology, business, political economy and questions of evidence, reasoning and human behaviour.
His professional career began in 1987 and has crossed business engineering, technology, commercial management, software, data, project work and professional education in international markets.