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Writing · Field notes from the operating layer

Ideas for operating AI, not merely adopting it.

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Current essay · Models & Engineering

The AI Most People Haven't Met Yet

Chatbots continue and coordinate symbolic information. A different class of model represents how a bounded environment may change, often conditioned on action. Both are useful. Treating them as the same thing is why enterprise AI conversations keep talking past each other.

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Multi-part arguments, ordered as published.

Series / qwen38-local-wow

Qwen3.8: Same Weights, Different Product

A five-part investigation into how the harness and serving stack make Qwen3.8-27B useful: the reasoning dial, the harness delta (raw local 2/8 → harnessed 8/8), verified demos, portfolio economics, and native 262K context on 32 GB.

5 published parts5/5 planned
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Series / agent-native-work

Agent-Native Work

A four-part series on designing work for agents: why software got them first, every domain's AGENTS.md, the verification gap, and the practitioner-builder.

4 published parts4/4 planned
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Series / llm-os-modes

Modes of the LLM OS

A six-part series on the operating modes behind frontier AI: Chat, Agent, Deep Research, Cowork, and owned infrastructure.

6 published parts6/6 planned
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Series / token-economy

The Token Economy

A strategy and architecture series on token economics, model portfolios, and AI factory operations.

3 published parts3/3 planned
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Series / context-compilation

Context Compilation

The missing systems layer between retrieval and reasoning, from benchmark blind spots to measured evidence.

3 published parts3/3 planned
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Series / autonomous-stack

The Autonomous Stack

The architecture of intelligent systems, from the data substrate to agent runtimes and prescriptive intelligence.

4 published partsOngoing
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Series / agent-societies

Agent Societies

A field guide to what happens when agents interact at scale, from emergence to competence.

4 published partsOngoing
Browse in archive

Series / ai-native-computer

AI-Native Computer

A technical and operating-model series on what changes when AI becomes the computer, not just another app.

3 published partsOngoing
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  1. Framework · September 10, 2026

    The AI Most People Haven't Met Yet

    Chatbots continue and coordinate symbolic information. A different class of model represents how a bounded environment may change, often conditioned on action. Both are useful. Treating them as the same thing is why enterprise AI conversations keep talking past each other.

  2. Research Note · September 10, 2026

    When a Model Can Rehearse the Future

    Rehearsal is where world models earn their keep — exploring possible futures inside a bounded scene before acting. But visual plausibility, controllability, physical executability, and downstream task utility are separate properties, and current systems succeed at some and struggle at others.

  3. Framework · September 10, 2026

    A Different Model Often Requires a Different Substrate

    Chatbots ride on documents. Making a world model useful in a specific enterprise setting tends to require a different substrate — a linked operational record of observations, conditions, actions, and outcomes, with rights and provenance to match. Document RAG is insufficient for that, not irrelevant.

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The dispatch for people accountable for making AI work.

A biweekly note on governed enterprise AI, written from inside the operating problem.

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Writing | Brian Letort