Sometimes the most impressive AI is no AI at all
When users expect LLM-like smartness, sometimes you can give it to them without any of the downsides...
After 2023/24 in an AI startup, I’ve gone back to my HouseHeld product, this time focused on Automatic Home Maintenance.
Obviously I’m considering every opportunity to use LLMs and Agents. But I notice something funny: the whole perception and expectation around what products can do means you can sometimes design for AI “feel” without having to suffer the unpredictability and cost of proper LLM infrastructure.
Our onboarding flow is the perfect case study. Users simply talk to the system about their property, describing its features in natural conversation. As they mention things like gutters, a garden, solar panels or a boiler we add these elements to their home profile in front of their eyes.
The feeling is really dynamic, really responsive and our users find it really satisfying. But there’s no AI involved, it’s using browser kit transcription.

Because we have a limited use case, we can make assumptions and get away with an incredible amount. And because peoples’ mental model is now attuned to an AI-like experience, their mind sort of fills in the blanks.
So much AI-product building is really really not about the LLMs and tech. Just as people’s habits changed with mobile interfaces, their considerations about interfaces now can be exploited and prompted to your advantage.
Yes we all want to show off about our clever implementation of AI tech. But if you can get the AI experience for free, I think that might be even better…