chris_midgley/
private advisory · taking on a small number of engagements · uk based · in person preferred
don't be briefed, build.
i help executives develop ai fluency and better judgement. not report readers. practitioners.
├─ about/ // the wedge

i've stood on building sites, at crime scenes, and in control rooms on £bn programmes. i know what human judgment under pressure looks and feels like. it's the asset ai can't replace, and it will only erode if you let it.

built around us is where i ask should you? the ethics, research and thinking. all free.

proevo.ai is the proof i can build what i argue for. local, governed, no vendor lock-in. i won't sell you the licence or the ip. i'll teach you the principles so you can build your own.

├─ advisory/ // private engagements

private advisory for principals and executives carrying decisions too sensitive to delegate or document. the work is conversational, hands-on, and confidential.

  • private counsel and judgement support, ongoing or fixed-term
  • independent review of ai capability, sustainability and social-value claims on bids
  • governed-ai architecture work, in person where it matters
  • readiness sessions for boards and executive teams
taking on a small number of engagements. application by conversation, not form.
├─ proof/ // hpc

i automated myself out of a £100k+ contract at hinkley point c, the largest mega-project in europe, inside six months. before agents were cool. inside a regulated environment that was already rife with shadow ai nobody at the top knew about.

the architecture took three weeks in microsoft power apps. the rest, the part that actually mattered, took the other five months.

  • senior stakeholder engagement, up to programme director and tier-one principal contractors
  • third-party integrations across the supply chain, before integration meant an api endpoint
  • motivational interviews with 40+ staff to understand role impacts, what they did, and what they did not want to lose
  • ux and adoption work so the tool was used after i left, not shelved
it taught me what most ai conversations still miss: the model is the cheap part.

everything i build now comes from that pattern. shipping the architecture is three weeks. shipping the change is six months. you cannot shortcut the second one.

├─ writing/ // midgley review

the writing lives at built around us. the ethics, the research, the thinking that sits before how. all free.

├─ contact/ // by conversation

if the brief is real and the question is honest, book a 30-minute conversation. i reply personally. i do not pass enquiries to anyone else.

if it's a fit, we'll talk. if it isn't, i'll say so.