AdamMaguireWilson
Loyalty clouds judgement. I'd rather explore the whole field, and find the one tool that genuinely solves the problem at hand.
A Western AI advisor based in Hangzhou — the city behind DeepSeek, Qwen, Unitree and a good slice of China's AI frontier. I help Western teams understand what China is building, and Chinese teams understand what everyone else is. Less hype, more substance.
- 10 years
- Architecting & leading high-scale systems & the teams behind them
- 100+ projects
- Delivered across manufacturing, retail, finance, hospitality & more
- Hangzhou
- Over three years on the ground in China's AI capital
Where I'm useful
Chinese AI, decoded
What's actually happening across DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, MiniMax, GLM and the open-source crowd — and what it means for whatever you're building on. The research, done for you, without the fear or the froth.
Writing the foreigner's field guide to Chinese AI
AI-native strategy
Where AI genuinely earns its place in how you work — and, just as often, where it doesn't. I care more about what survives contact with real users than what looks good in a demo.
Now advising early-stage startups on AI strategy & go-to-market
Cross-border AI
Helping Western teams work with Chinese AI, and Chinese teams find their feet in the wider world. I've spent years on both sides of that gap, and it's narrower than it looks, once someone's actually crossed it.
GMBA, Zhejiang University — Hangzhou
High-performing teams
A decade building high-scale systems and the high-performing teams behind them, before any of this. The advice rests on having shipped the hard things, not just having opinions about them.
Advised UK Government Ministers on the future of Smart Cities
Recent notes
Essays and field notes on AI, technology, and building.
Setting Up a Scheduled Task in Hermes
Learn how to create a scheduled task in Hermes so your AI agent runs automatically on a timer — no manual triggering required.
aiSetting Up Obsidian with Hermes One
Learn how to install Obsidian, create a vault, and let Hermes One automatically build a full PKM structure — then put it to work finding research for your MBA thesis.
technologySetting Up Hermes: A Step-by-Step Guide
A beginner-friendly walkthrough for installing the Hermes local AI agent, patching the common incomplete install, and wiring up a provider (Kimi and MiniMax) — with every screen shown in order.
ai
When I'm not at the desk
Most of my life happens in front of a screen. The rest of it tends to be behind a camera or under the sea — one helps me to look at new perspectives; the other, to switch off. Both feed back into the work more than they should.
Got something you're trying to work out?
An AI build, a second opinion on a direction, or just a straight answer about what's really going on in China — write and I'll reply. I read everything that comes in myself.
Get in touch