PRETTY SMART
An Applied Intelligence Series
Pretty Smart is a multi-edition applied intelligence series examining how strategic thinking, systems design, and emerging technologies shape everyday decision-making in modern life.
Each edition uses a culturally familiar domain as a case study such as beauty, fashion, creativity, or personal planning to explore broader questions of agency, consumption, attention, and human judgment. Rather than treating intelligence as abstract or academic, the series focuses on how people actually think, choose, and behave within real-world systems.
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A central throughline of Pretty Smart is the responsible use of AI as decision infrastructure, not automation. Across the series, AI is positioned as a support tool for clarity, restraint, and foresight, helping individuals reduce cognitive overload, curb impulsive behavior, and make more intentional choices. The work emphasizes presence over performance and sustainability over excess, connecting everyday technology use to ethical and environmental considerations.
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Collectively, Pretty Smart functions as both a public-facing body of work and an applied research framework, contributing to conversations around human-centered design, ethical AI, and the governance of emerging technologies in daily life.
The AI Glow Up Guide
A Practical Guide to Using AI for Beauty, Clarity, and Intentional Living
This edition introduces the foundational thinking behind the series, focusing on prompt engineering and context engineering as tools for clearer communication with AI systems. It explores how AI can support self-reflection, planning, and personal strategy when used intentionally rather than reactively. The guide positions AI as an extension of high-functioning human intelligence, emphasizing that outcomes are shaped by user capability, clarity, and intention.
Fashion Intelligence
See It Before You Buy It
This edition uses fashion as a high-frequency decision environment to examine overconsumption, waste, and impulsive behavior. It introduces the concept of a virtual fitting room, where AI is used to simulate and refine outfits before purchase, separating visual curiosity from financial commitment. The guide positions AI as a tool for sustainability and restraint, showing how digital visualization can displace physical waste while preserving creativity, expression, and presence.
The Founder's Guide
Founder Intelligence for Building What Institutions Say Yes To
The Founder’s Guide applies the Pretty Smart framework to leadership, entrepreneurship, and organizational decision-making. It explores how founders and builders can use AI to clarify strategy, stress-test ideas, and design systems before committing capital, labor, or attention. Rather than promoting speed or scale, the edition emphasizes judgment, foresight, and responsible growth, positioning AI as a thinking partner for leaders navigating complexity and uncertainty.
Vision Board Alchemy
Crafting Your Dreams with AI
Vision Board Alchemy examines visualization as a cognitive and strategic tool rather than a purely aspirational practice. The edition reframes vision boards as systems for aligning intention, attention, and action, using AI to translate abstract goals into structured insight. It explores how visualization can support long-term thinking, reduce decision fatigue, and help individuals design lives with greater coherence and follow-through.