Everyone has an AI idea right now. Fewer people can tell you which version of that idea survives contact with real data, real users, and a real budget. That gap is where AI consulting earns its money, and it is where most projects quietly fall apart.
I am an independent senior engineer. Twenty years of shipping production software, and for the last stretch that has meant AI and LLM systems that run every day, not just demos that look good in a room. When you hire me for artificial intelligence consulting, you are talking to the person who will build the thing, not a strategist who repackages your problem into a slide deck and hands it off.
Who this is for
- Teams sitting on an AI idea, unsure what is genuinely useful versus what is hype.
- Companies that got a slick proof-of-concept that never made it to production.
- Founders who want a straight technical answer before they commit budget or headcount.
- Businesses drowning in a manual process that a well-placed model could actually fix.
If you already know exactly what to build and just need hands, skip the consulting and go straight to the build services. If you are not sure yet, this is the right page.
What AI consulting means here
No mystery, three things:
Strategy. Where AI actually helps your business, and just as important, where it does not. Half of good AI strategy consulting is talking people out of the expensive, fragile idea and toward the boring one that pays off.
Feasibility. Can this be built reliably? What will it cost to run, not just to build? Where does it break when the data is messy or the traffic spikes? You get an honest engineering answer, in writing, before anyone commits.
Build. If it makes sense, I build it. That is the difference between AI consulting services from someone who ships and advice from someone who never has to live with the result.
AI strategy, not slideware
A lot of AI business consulting stops at a roadmap and a bill. Mine starts from a working question: what is the smallest thing we can put in front of real users that proves the value or kills the idea cheaply?
That means picking the one workflow where a model changes the economics, scoping it tight, and shipping something you can measure. Grand transformation plans look impressive and almost never survive the first quarter. A narrow win that pays for itself buys you the right to do the next one.
From advice to a working system
Once we know what is worth building, these are the pieces I deliver directly:
- AI Agent & LLM Integration Development - agents that do real work against your systems.
- AI Integration Services - wiring models into the tools and data you already run.
- AI Infrastructure & Self-Hosted AI - your own models, your own hardware, your own data boundary.
- AI Chatbot Development - support and sales assistants that actually answer.
- Voice AI Agent Development - phone and voice agents that hold a real conversation.
- AI Website Development - sites built with AI in the workflow from day one.
Consulting points you at the right one. You do not pay for a strategy that ends in a shrug.
How it works
- Discovery call, free. Thirty to forty-five minutes. You describe the problem, I tell you honestly whether AI is the right tool and roughly what it would take.
- Feasibility assessment. A fixed-fee, few-day deep look: what to build, what it costs to build and run, what the risks are. You own the document either way.
- Build or roadmap. If it is worth doing, I build it in milestones with weekly demos. If it is not, you walk away with a clear reason and money you did not waste.
Why work with an independent consultant
A big firm sells you a team you never meet and a process that bills by the month. I am one senior engineer who both advises and delivers, which means the strategy is grounded in what is actually buildable and the build is grounded in why it matters to your business. Fewer people, less overhead, and the person deciding is the person doing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does AI consulting cost? The first discovery call is free. A scoped feasibility assessment is a fixed fee based on how deep the questions go, usually a few days of work. Build engagements are quoted per milestone once we both know what we are building. No open-ended retainers unless you ask for one.
Do you only advise, or do you actually build it? Both, and that is the point. You talk to the engineer who writes the code, not a strategist who hands a deck to a junior team. If the assessment says build, I build it: agents, LLM integrations, self-hosted infrastructure, chatbots, voice. If it says do not build, I tell you that too.
In-house team versus an AI consultant? Hiring a full AI team is slow and expensive when you are still proving the idea works. A consultant gets you a straight feasibility answer and a working proof in weeks, so you only staff up once you know there is something worth staffing for.
We already have an AI demo that does not work in production. Can you help? That is the most common reason people call. A demo that impresses in a meeting and a system that holds up under real load, real data, and real edge cases are different engineering problems. I audit what you have, find where it breaks, and tell you what it takes to make it reliable.
Do you work with companies outside Chicago? Yes. I am based in Chicago and work with clients worldwide, remote by default. Local clients are welcome to meet in person.