Andrew Craig
Andrew’s background is firmly rooted in technology. Before building AI Smarty he worked for more than a decade in systems administration and software development roles within large technology companies, including Microsoft. Alongside his commercial work he has been an active contributor to open-source software for much of his career and, more recently, a hands-on contributor to a wide range of AI and machine-learning projects.
That combination of infrastructure, software development and practical AI experience is ultimately what led to AI Smarty. As generative AI began moving from research labs into everyday business, one thing became increasingly obvious: most smaller businesses were being left behind. The technology was powerful, but implementing it properly was complicated, expensive and designed around the needs and budgets of much larger organisations. And many of the supposedly simple AI products aimed at smaller businesses felt surprisingly limited.
So Andrew decided to build something better. AI Smarty was created to give businesses access to genuinely useful AI without requiring their own developers, AI specialists or infrastructure teams. Businesses can create AI agents that understand their company, work with their own knowledge and documents, and interact with customers across the channels they already use. Getting there meant solving everything from retrieval and AI orchestration to security, integrations, infrastructure, privacy and the less glamorous parts of SaaS that customers should never have to think about. But that’s rather the point. The complicated technology should sit behind the scenes. For the customer, it should just work.
Today Andrew remains closely involved in the product, from architecture and AI development through to product direction and talking directly with customers. He’s also particularly keen that things such as GDPR, data protection, auditability and sensible security practices are treated as fundamentals rather than premium features. Outside of software, Andy (as he’s more often known) can usually be found running somewhere around Sheffield or the Peak District, frequently accompanied by a dog with very different ideas about the planned route.
