Pruning My Pothos
A field guide to applied AI systems

Making applied AI systems easier to understand, inspect and build.

I build with AI, test what happens, and explain what I learn in plain language. Read the argument, see it drawn, and keep a copy for later.

Start with the mapFlip through a storyboard
evidenceplain wordscheckshypeSNIPpruning my pothos.Cut the claims. Keep the craft.
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Systems map

Where are you in the system?

Eight questions an applied AI system has to answer, in the order the answers tend to depend on each other. Each one is an article and a storyboard. Follow the sequence, or enter where the question becomes useful.

All articles All storyboards
  1. 01 · How models work

    What is actually generating the output?

    Storyboard
  2. 02 · Context & retrieval

    What can it see, and how did that get there?

    Storyboard
  3. 03 · Instructions & contracts

    What are we asking it to do, and what is enforced?

    Storyboard
  4. 04 · Action & authorization

    What can become a real effect?

    Storyboard
  5. 05 · Human judgment

    Where does a person have to decide?

    Storyboard
  6. 06 · Evaluation & evidence

    How do we know the behaviour was acceptable?

    Storyboard
  7. 07 · State & continuity

    What has to survive across a boundary?

    Storyboard
  8. 08 · Readiness

    Is there enough evidence and control for this use?

    Storyboard
Selected systems

Ideas that cut across the map.

Reference sheets

Connect the dots.

Slide guides, architecture sheets and mind maps to download and keep beside you. The first ones are being drafted.

Drafted with NotebookLM, edited by Pruning My Pothos.

See what's coming
  • Slide guide · coming soon

    A system, step by step, ending with where it breaks.

  • Architecture sheet · coming soon

    Every component, flow and trust boundary on one page.

  • Mind map · coming soon

    One topic and all its branches.

Stack

Test the idea.

Where the explanations get built and find out whether they hold.

See the whole stack, with source
Shelf

Trace what informed the work.

Open the shelf