What I Keep Coming Back to When I Build AI for Myself
Start with the process, then use a working version to discover where AI helps and where your judgment belongs.
Read on LinkedInPractical AI · MedTech & manufacturing
Will Macdonald
I explore practical AI by building tools for myself and drawing on my experience in MedTech and manufacturing. I'm interested in how work actually happens, where human judgment belongs, and what makes an AI system useful and trustworthy over time.
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Selected writing.
Essays and field notes
A few pieces on building with AI, the judgment it needs, and what changes when it meets real workflows.
Why Regulatory & Quality Is the Gating Function for AI in MedTech
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Lessons from building a personal AI tool for capturing ideas, managing follow-ups, and keeping human review in the loop.
Read on LinkedInSix Big Shifts in AI — a series
A six-part look at how AI is changing software, human judgment, and the choices facing MedTech SaaS providers.
Start the series§ 03
How I approach AI.
Working principles
Understand the workflow.
Before choosing a model, understand how the work happens: what people are trying to achieve, where the friction is, and what a better outcome would look like.
Find where judgment belongs.
Build something people can use, then learn what they trust AI to do, what they want to review, and what they want to decide themselves. That boundary emerges through use.
Make it governable.
Useful AI needs clear boundaries, traceable outputs, and ways to review and correct its actions. Those are part of the design from the start.
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A little context.
About
I'm a MedTech advisor based in Chicago, with experience across manufacturing, operations, and regulated industries. Building personal software gives me a way to test ideas, learn the tools, and understand the details behind the AI conversation.
Away from the screen, I'm usually in the kitchen, in the workshop, or behind a camera.
Get in touch
Questions, ideas, or a useful disagreement are always welcome.