Week 17. Kieron wore a shirt and shoes to a food industry conference for 60 senior leaders. Neil nearly went back in the doghouse because his daughter told him to read the room and he (foolishly) chose not to. Leading AI's website has had hundreds of cyber-attacks in two weeks. It's been that kind of week.
Schools — 58-page complaint letters and why the AI arms race matters
A head contacted Neil about using AI. The emerging problem: parents are using AI to write increasingly sophisticated complaints. One head received a 58-page letter. KnowledgeFlow answers it regardless of length, grounded in the school's own policies, in the school's own voice. Kieron gave his youngest son's school access to the demo tool six weeks ago. The apology correction emails have stopped.
Kieron's big talk — did it land?
60 leaders. 90 minutes. A room full of MDs and CFOs he'd never met in an industry he barely knew. Last year's AI session was too technical and too salesy. Kieron's answer: Nokia, Blockbuster, Kodak — and one uncomfortable question. How easy would it be for a new entrant with great AI and no capital to disrupt your supplier relationships tomorrow? The feedback was good. He didn't end up in a ditch.
The Agentic Bid Writer — Kieron hasn't even seen the latest version
12,000 words across 7 questions. Cup of tea. 45 minutes. Done. Then it marks itself, rewrites itself up to three times, and presents you with a polished draft before you've even read the original tender. A conservative customer's verdict: "It looks practically done to me." Neil is already complaining he has to add bullet points himself. The revolution continues.
KnowledgeFlow is the context layer — we just didn't know it had a name
Gartner spent three days talking about context. Kieron spent two days thinking he knew nothing. Then he realised: policies, tone of voice, brand guidelines, system prompts — that's the context layer. KnowledgeFlow has been building it for two years, we just didn't know what to call it.
There are only 46 ships in the world that can lay undersea cable
1.2 million miles of cable carries almost all the world's data. It costs $800,000 to fix even minor damage. If someone wanted to take out a country's internet infrastructure — really take it out — it wouldn't be hard. Neil has Starlink as backup. Most organisations have nothing. Donald ran a penetration test this week: no major findings, five minor ones. How many organisations can say the same?
Neil didn't quite make it back into the doghouse. Mrs Watkins got her glass of wine. All is well.
Two mates. A bar. Thirty years of business between them. And all they want to talk about is AI.
Pull up a stool — we'll get the beers in. 🍺
