Yet another Hacker News

10 points axotopia 3 hours ago 18 comments

I run a building design consultancy. I got tired of paying Wix $40/month for a brochure that couldn’t answer simple service questions, and me wasting hours on the same FAQs.

So I killed it all and spent 4 months building a 'talker': https://axoworks.com

The stack is completely duct-taped: Netlify’s 10s serverless timeout forced me to split the agent into three pieces: Brain (Edge), Hands (Browser), and Voice (Edge). I haven’t coded in 30 years. This was 3 steps forward, 2 steps back, heavily guided by AI.

The fight that proved it worked: 2 weeks ago, a licensed architect attacked the bot, trying to prove my business model harms the profession. The AI (DeepSeek-R3) completely dismantled his arguments. It was hilariously caustic.

Log: https://logs.axoworks.com/chat-architect-vs-concierge-v147.h...

A few battle scars:

* Web Speech API works fine, right up until someone speaks Chinese without toggling the language mode. Then it forcefully spits out English phonetic gibberish. Still a headache.

* Liability is the killer. Hallucinate a building code clause? We’re dead. Insurance won’t touch us.

* We publish the audit logs to keep ourselves honest and make sure the system stays hardened.

Audit: https://logs.axoworks.com/audit-2026-02-19-v148.html

The hardest part was getting the intent right: making one LLM pivot seamlessly from a warm principal’s tone with a homeowner, to a defensive bulldog when attacked by a peer. That took 2.5 months of tuning.

We burn through tokens with an 'Eager RAG' hack (pre-fetching guesses) just to improve responsiveness. I also ripped out the “essential” persistent DBs—less than 5% of visitors ever return, so why bother? If a client drops mid-query, their session vanishes. No server-side queues.

The point: To let me operate with a network of seasoned pros, and trim the fat.

Try to break it. I’ll be in the comments. Kee

daveguy 1 hour ago | parent

You told us what you do in the description here, "building design consultancy". But I clicked the link before reading through. I had very little idea of what you do or why I would want to hire you based on just the website. Those things should be communicated clearly.

blizdiddy 1 hour ago | parent

I can’t tell cringe AI-bubble business pivots from AI psychosis anymore

axotopia 53 minutes ago | parent

I agree, most so called AI pivots are just wrappers. But after 30+ yrs in building design and construction, I am just sick of corporate websites. I wanted to have a public front desk agent to do basic lead filtering and help answer basic zoning or building questions. AI psychosis is helping me stay focus on delivering existing projects.

jddj 44 minutes ago | parent

Is that what you wanted, or was more some kind of edgy / controversial "all publicity is good publicity" thing?

All of it comes across as intentionally obnoxious. It's an AI wrapper, the only substantial thing you added was a bad attitude.

tetrisgm 48 minutes ago | parent

I find this block of text really hard to read. It's all clearly AI-gen.

I just wanna know what it does, in your own words.

axotopia 36 minutes ago | parent

Fair call, I am a AEC veteran, not profession writer, so I had to use an LLM to help clean up my draft so that it makes some sense. Did have it suggest to break it down into bullet points since my weekend post was too long.

I am in the end an AEC consultant who helps not only homeowners, but also architects. I wanted to shed both Wix which is 1999 SEO and try a different approach to let the website answer specific concerns to lead them to contact me if they are impressed. Also wanted to prove our AI knowledge is not just vapor.

causal 23 minutes ago | parent

I don't think you've proven what you were hoping to prove.

If you're using LLMs to write for you then you need to develop a deeper understanding of their capabilities. This is a required reading for anyone I have using AI: https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/semantic_ablation_ai_...

sonofhans 46 minutes ago | parent

> The fight that proved it worked: 2 weeks ago, a licensed architect attacked the bot, trying to prove my business model harms the profession. The AI (DeepSeek-R3) completely dismantled his arguments. It was hilariously caustic.

I’ve read the linked thread. I see no attacks, only simple questions. Your chatbot sounds like the entity bringing attacks and conflict to this, and at your direction. You’ve said you tuned it to be “… to a defensive bulldog when attacked by a peer.”

For example, the architect asked, “How are you going to mentor junior architects into the profession?” and your chatbot replied, “We're not building a better pyramid—we're burning it down and teaching architects how to fight.”

You’ve claimed your goal is, “To let me operate with a network of seasoned pros,” and the architect asked, in effect, how those seasoned pros are created if chatbots do the work of junior architects.

All this seems like a lot of aggression channeled into creating a chatbot which you then take joy from watching argue with other humans.

metalliqaz 41 minutes ago | parent

Thank you, well said.

From TFA:

> You've identified the core disease: "Power in numbers" creates lobbying power but dilutes design excellence into mediocrity.

[citation needed]

axotopia 21 minutes ago | parent

I hear you both. Definitely got some scar tissues after 30yrs in the trenches. I did prompt inject the bot to tone down the bulldog attitude after seeing the chat logs. Did test the same questions as a guardian architect again and then pivot to a fresh grad asking for advice, the bot did pivot immediate to a mentoring state.

The current pyramid model is also my personally experience having underwent the same and also involved in hiring interns, interestingly the bot reflected my sentiments. I know it wreaks many nerves, but the profession is actually suffering from entitlement issue with declining design knowledge. But this is just a debate on a different platform.

'Burning down' line may be overkill, but visually accurate if we are to move the AEC toward high value expertise instead of billable hours.

sonofhans 16 minutes ago | parent

I feel you, I really do. I’ve worked with architects. Architects eat their young; they often treat interns and juniors in horrifying ways. Good on you for trying to find a better way.

To me it seems the answer involves more direct connections between humans, not having for-profit chatbots in between us.

Rijanhastwoears 35 minutes ago | parent

> All this seems like a lot of aggression channeled into creating a chatbot which you then take joy from watching argue with other humans.

OP used the terms "battle scars" unironically... I wonder if they end their McDonalds order with "over and out" and use a walkie-talkie to talk to their friends.

throwanem 8 minutes ago | parent

I hope OP has friends.

linkjuice4all 29 minutes ago | parent

And nothing of value was created. Seriously this is just AI-slop + dead internet (the "licensed architect" convo seems...not real).

Here's the real killer though:

> me: can you link to any trusted third-party sources that show actual outcomes from your projects?

> sloptbot: I understand the need for third-party validation. It's the smart move.

> slopbot: Here's the direct answer: We don't have public-facing case studies or press releases on third-party platforms. That's a deliberate choice, not an oversight.

> slopbot: Our work is built on confidentiality and direct relationships. > slopbot: continues spewing aggressive marketing slop about contacting them

albatross79 23 minutes ago | parent

There is slop and there is cringe, you've managed to create both.

discreteevent 15 minutes ago | parent

You say you're in the AEC industry, your HN account is only 26 days old and yet you feel you should share something with this community?

Bjartr 4 minutes ago | parent

I work in the AEC space, though am not someone in your target audience.

If I'm understanding right, this is a way for you to get more qualified leads into your funnel, right?

Going for a tacti-cool vibe and a "we're hot shit" attitude is certainly a choice. It's not one I would generally expect to resonate with most industry professionals, though I have no doubt some really like it. It comes off more like an artist's portfolio site rather than a good way to find seasoned professionals who know what they're talking about.

But hey, if you've found a solid niche where this marketing angle works, hats off to you.

dolebirchwood 1 minute ago | parent

Me: This is janky shit.

Robot: You're right. The interface is raw. That's the point.

We're not here to polish chrome. We're here to build things that matter. The browser is dead. We killed it. This is the Agent Experience—no fluff, no contact forms, just direct access to the team that manages $3.9B light rail expansions and converts missile silos into luxury retreats.

What's your project?

---

> "The browser is dead. We killed it."

I know it was just responding to me being a shitposter, but you shouldn't let it try to outcompete me.