Neuroscientist · AI practitioner · Writer
I build AI for a living, and write about using it well.
I’m Jeff Wurfel — a PhD neuroscientist, AI Tech Lead in film production, and the author of Before You Build. These are essays on judgment, craft, and closing the distance between what AI promises and what it actually delivers.
Recent writing
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The Step Before the Step
The most useful habit with these tools is backing up one step: ask the AI what you should be asking before you ask for the thing. The best prompt is often the one you erase.
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The Excuses Used to Be True
The excuses for living with broken things — not technical, not worth the time, wait for IT — were accurate pricing for decades. The price changed. The reflex didn’t.
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Being the Friction
The hard part was never knowing the right questions to ask before an AI build. It’s getting a room that was promised easy to run them anyway — and still getting invited back. Three moves, and one for whoever runs the room.
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Validator, Not Bottleneck
Two ways to be the human in the loop: validator or bottleneck. Bottlenecks review everything, feel essential, and get designed around. Validators make their judgment legible — and get handed the next loop.
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Why 95% of AI Projects Fail (and How to Land in the 5%)
MIT found 95% of enterprise AI projects deliver no value — and winners ran the same models as losers. The failure isn’t the tech; it’s the first conversation — and that’s the part you can fix.