The Lab

Measuring AI. Instruments running.

Everybody’s got a take. I’d rather have a measurement.

This is a workshop for AI and agents, with the garage door open.

Read the record

AI moves faster than anybody can read about it, so I build the thing, point instruments at it, and write down what actually happened.

Then I put the whole mess out here, because somebody arguing with me is worth more than another take that agrees.

The contract

  1. What I do

    I build things, I point instruments at the field to see what’s actually happening, and I write down what I find. The wrong turns go in too.

    An open computer chassis on the bench under the lamp, a screwdriver and a closed notebook beside it.

  2. What this isn’t

    Nothing here is for sale. No newsletter funnel, no consulting pitch, no product hiding behind the curtain.

    A single plain rack server with an unlabeled faceplate and one status light.

  3. What you’re for

    You’re the part I can’t do alone. Every source and every method is published so you can pull the work apart. Tell me what I missed, or where the framing is off.

    A jeweler’s loupe resting on a circuit board, a red pencil beside it.

What are you here for?

Five ways in. Pick the one that sounds like your week.

0102030405YOU

Latest from the Lab

What I’ve been building, measuring, testing, and arguing with lately.

  1. A vintage flatbed film-editing bench at night, film threaded through the splicer and the operator's stool empty, one red grease-pencil mark on the film.

    Build Log No. 007

    This video? Same agent.

    An agent scripted, scored, drew, recorded, cut and checked a 58-second reel by itself. Here is how, and the skill to make your own.

  2. Two philosophers carved in marble and steel, forehead to forehead in a fighting cage, one red line between their eyes.

    Field Report No. 004

    Telling AI to think like Socrates: new voice, same answers, bigger bill

    Does telling an AI to think like Socrates make it smarter? On 15 real bugs it changed the voice and the bill, not the answers.

  3. An empty conference room at night, twelve chairs around a long table, one small desk microphone with a red light.

    Note No. 003

    This meeting could have been a prompt

    Most companies handed out AI and got faster email. The payoff comes from changing how work moves between people.

  4. A single turnstile gate at the entrance to a dark server hall, one small red indicator lit on it.

    Build Log No. 006

    The free model at the front of the line

    A free model on a Mac mini takes the first look at every request and passes only its doubts up. When does that cascade actually pay?

  5. The NorseStar Air demo deciding a flight search with the decision model switched on, its chosen package and the questions it asked lit on screen.

    Build Log No. 005

    The model that can't write a sentence

    It can't write a sentence, and it was adopted faster than any model before it. What a typed yes-or-no with odds attached is good for.

  6. A coil of black cable spilled across a concrete floor in loops and knots, one red cable tangled through it.

    Build Log No. 004

    The work is not a line

    I put a meter on three days of real work with my agent. The shape that came out isn't the line every delivery process assumes.

  7. A drafting table at night under one lamp: rolled blueprints, a T-square, a set square, one red pencil.

    Build Log No. 003

    The work before the work

    A project written up before it's built, then held up against this site's own findings. Four of my habits survive. Four don't.

  8. An empty conductor's podium in a dark concert hall, the players' chairs and music stands in front of it, one stand lamp glowing red.

    Field Report No. 002

    Buying an AI agent team: the manager isn't the expensive part

    The picture being sold to boardrooms is roughly right. Almost everything expensive about how it's being bought is not.

Everything else, in the order it happened.

Findings →The whole shelf: every claim, tested and graded.Build logs →What got built, what it cost, what broke.Notes →Arguments and reading, the shorter kind.

The assistant

Have a question? Ask it.

Ask about this siteLive
You

What is this site, in one line?

The Lab

A homelab for AI and agent work, open to visitors. Rick builds things, points instruments at the field, and publishes what happened, wrong turns included.

You

How far can I trust the numbers?

The Lab

Each instrument publishes what it counts, what it misses, and every reason to trust its numbers less than a census, on the same page as the figures. Start there.

You

Where do I start if I’m short on time?

The Lab

Findings. Each one is a claim tested against the evidence and graded before it goes up. Pick the one closest to your week.

Checking the answer against the site

It answers from the published pages and says so when they do not cover something.

A garage workshop at night, its door rolled open onto a dark driveway, the bench lamp on.

The garage door is open.

Read the record