Building with AI
Can current AI tools actually build useful websites, apps, automations and digital products — without quietly creating more work than they save?
Curiosity, with a reality check.
AI experiments.
Minus the hype.
I try new AI tools, workflows and ideas in the real world, then document what actually happened.
No breathless predictions. No “10x your life”. Just useful experiments, failures, surprises — and occasionally something worth paying for.
See what I’m experimenting withWhat is INTGOM?
I’m John Cairney, a former enterprise CTO who now has rather more freedom to experiment with technology than I did when running it for a living.
INTGOM is where I explore AI by actually using it: building things, testing workflows, comparing approaches and occasionally trying to turn an idea into a few quid.
Some experiments work. Some are pointless. Some expose just how far the technology still has to go.
I’m interested in all three.
The current rabbit holes
What I’m experimenting with
AI as a creator
I’m testing what happens when AI meets writing, images, video and online marketplaces — including whether any of it attracts a real audience or earns actual money.
Living with AI
Beyond demos and benchmarks, where does AI genuinely make everyday work and life better? And where is an ordinary tool still the better answer?
Latest experiment
Idea → product → reality check
Can AI create something people will actually buy?
I’m using AI to take an idea from blank page to finished digital product — including the creative work, production, listing and marketing.
The interesting question isn’t whether AI can make something.
It’s whether anyone wants it.
Follow the experimentSelected writing
A few things I’ve written that still feel worth keeping.
Nothing selected just yet. I’m starting with a clean page.
Follow the experiments
INTGOM will turn up in different places depending on what I’m testing.
I’ll add links here when there’s something worth visiting.
I’m deliberately not promising a publishing schedule.
Who’s behind this?
I’m John Cairney. I spent most of my career working in technology and finished it as CTO of Scottish Water.
I retired in 2026, which gives me the useful combination of decades of technology experience and no particular need to pretend every new AI product is revolutionary.
INTGOM is where I indulge the curiosity.
For professional advisory work, there’s Cairney Advisory
Say hello
Something worth trying, a useful observation or a different take?