Amechi

I started using AI in 2022 — not because it was trendy, but because I needed help.

I was navigating a career transition into cybersecurity, studying for certifications, learning a new field from scratch. I didn't have a mentor. So I built one. I used AI as a personal coach, a study partner, a sounding board. It worked. I got the job.

That experience changed how I think about AI. Not as a technology to be impressed by, but as a tool that either works for you or doesn't — and the difference usually comes down to whether you know how to use it.

Since then, my relationship with AI has only deepened. In my current role in security operations, I'm the team's AI lead — evaluating tools, identifying use cases, and driving implementation in a real operational environment. I'm not watching the AI revolution from the sidelines. I'm in the middle of it, making practical decisions about what to deploy, what to skip, and what's actually worth the hype.

But the practitioner mindset didn't start with AI. It started in 2013.

That year, I saw a problem — there was no good digital tool for martial artists to track their training — and I built one. The BJJ Training Journal became a full SaaS product: user research, UX design, a freemium model, iOS and web platforms, and a go-to-market strategy I ran myself. I earned a Software Product Management certification and applied it in real life, across four years and thousands of users.

I wasn't the one writing the code. I was the one figuring out what to build, why, and for whom. That distinction shapes how I approach AI: I'm not just asking what the technology can do. I'm asking what people actually need it to do.

A few other things that round out how I think:

I'm a licensed attorney. I don't practice, and I'm not here to be the AI Law Guy. But understanding how legal systems approach liability, risk, and governance is a lens that most people in this space simply don't have.

I also build at home. I've put together a dedicated lab — a custom PC, local model experimentation, infrastructure I can break and rebuild without consequences. The best way I know to understand something is to get my hands on it.

This site is where I document what I'm learning, what I'm building, and what I actually think about where AI is going. Not hot takes. Not hype. Real observations from someone who's in the work.

If that's useful to you, stick around.