Field notes

Writing on multi-model AI, governance, and the regulated buyer.

Short pieces from the people building Backplain — for the buyer who has to defend the decision, not just sign the PO.

LLM Wars (and how to make sure you win) — Multi-model
Multi-model · May 4, 2026

LLM Wars (and how to make sure you win)

Since the dawn of the digital age there have been battles that span decades fought for the betterment of consumers. At times there were clear victors; VHS over Betamax, Blu-ray over HD-DVD (that one hurt). There were others where there wasn’t a clear victor or the war is still wa

· Tim O'Neal
How to Prompt — Productivity
Productivity · May 4, 2026

How to Prompt

Not all of us have kept up with the generative AI trend well enough to know how to effectively craft a prompt to get the desired result. Even those of us who HAVE been keeping up with the LLMs find ourselves continuously improving what and how we ask the LLMs to respond. There is

· Tim O'Neal
Thoughts on 2024 AI Predictions - Part 1 — General AI
General AI · May 4, 2026

Thoughts on 2024 AI Predictions - Part 1

I am starting a series of blog posts that will take several predictions that have been made about AI for 2024 and work to understand whether I think they will come to fruition, what they would look like if they did, and in general try to use the science fiction writer part of my

· Tim O'Neal
Why backplain? — Multi-model
Multi-model · May 4, 2026

Why backplain?

Backplain provides users with choice so that users do not need to rely on any single LLM, which for the organization, translates into no vendor lock-in.

7 min read · Tim O'Neal
Can We Use DeepSeek Safely? — General AI
General AI · May 4, 2026

Can We Use DeepSeek Safely?

We have a new AI kid on the block, and he’s getting all the attention. DeepSeek competes with or beats OpenAI, claims to have done it on the cheap, with far fewer resources, and is out there as an open-source option. It’s one of the top downloaded apps, and it forced the US tech

· Tim O'Neal