About

What the site is for...

I build open-source tools with AI assistance and write about the process. Small, composable pieces. I've found that the decomposition into small tools matches AI's strengths. It's very Unix in philosophy. The blog shares what I have made.

This is a serious hobby project, like Audacity was. It runs parallel to my company Catalase Systems . Some of the small composable pieces I share here are relevant to the larger projects that run there. The code is free to use and adapt. It's MIT licensed.

Open Source

I've 20 years experience working on open source, writing code, coordinating releases, working in a small team of volunteers on the Audacity audio editor. What mattered there was that writing the code was fun, and that people enjoyed using what we wrote. I've seen how free software done well can have outsize effect. An active team of about 10 volunteers supported software that was getting around 2M downloads every month.

An Open Notebook

With AI assistance I now develop code faster than I could on Audacity. I share the techniques for working with AI as I learn them, and release the artifacts that result.

This Safer-Centaurs website is my open notebook for AI assited programming work. The "Centaurs" in the name come from chess, and the idea of a human-AI 'Centaur' that combines the strengths of both. The 'Safer' is because AI in various ways is dangerous. Using AI for the collective good requires thoughtful choices. I'm choosing to work in ways that democratise code and that advance our understanding.

Email: [email protected]