The New Corporate Savior: The Era of Bespoke AI

I recently came across someone who built an automated contraption using a water gun just to keep pigeons from pooping on his windowsill.

The rig detects the incoming pigeon, takes aim, and —bzzzt— blasts it with water.

Video:

Honestly, this might be the clearest lesson in software and business development I’ve seen in a long time.

Think about it: no major brand is ever going to mass-produce a device for that hyper-specific, niche problem on a single balcony. But the friction this guy faced was so real and frustrating that he took matters into his own hands and built his own solution.

I believe this is exactly the crisis companies are facing in the software world today.

We hit a bottleneck in our workflow that is entirely unique to us. To fix it, we go out and buy a massive, clunky, off-the-shelf software license. We end up using barely 5% of its features while forcing our team to mold themselves into their rigid frameworks.

But there’s a flip side to the coin. Recognizing this need and dumping the job on your internal team with a casual, “Hey, let’s just build a quick automation here” is a massive trap.

You inevitably end up with amateur, fragile systems that collapse at the slightest breeze.

Hyper-specific problems require professional engineering. Just like you wouldn’t ask your accountant to pick up a welding torch to build a balcony rig, you shouldn’t expect your in-house team to become AI systems engineers overnight.

The real way forward is to stop forcing your business processes into cookie-cutter software. Instead, partner with “digital mechanics” who can custom-design and scale these digital rigs specifically for you.

We need to leverage the power of AI and technology the right way. Keep your team focused on their core competencies, and leave the bespoke AI systems to the experts.