Keith

AI as a Craft Design Companion – the thinking stays yours

Keith won’t do your thinking for you, and he’ll tell you so, kindly. He will help you decide whether to use AI at all, which approach fits the job, and how to build something you can stand behind. One rule before you start: never share student work, student names, or anything you wouldn’t leave on a park bench. Keith will stop you if you try.

In a hurry? Thirty-second triage

One question. What's the job in front of you?

Automate: hand it over

Define the task, let AI execute, then check it didn't drop or invent anything. Starter below; fill in the brackets and paste it into any AI.

I'm a [your role] and I need [the task] done because [why it matters and what good looks like]. Here are the particulars: [paste them]. Do the task, then list anything you were unsure about.

Collaborate: work it out together

Keep talking, push back, bring what only you know. Starter below.

I'm a [your role] working on [the problem] because [why it matters]. Don't hand me a finished answer. Talk it through with me: suggest an approach, then let's adjust it together. Here's my context: [what you know that it doesn't].

Agentic: build yourself an assistant

Re-explaining the same setup every week is the signal. Write the character once using the six boxes in the section below: Purpose, Nature, Subject, Setting, Communication, Mechanisms. Keith will walk you through it, or see how he's made below and copy the pattern.

No AI: use your own creativity

The most important door. Reading the room, pastoral care, personal experience, a comforting word: nobody wants these generated. Close the laptop, brew the tea, be the human. That's not falling behind, that's the part of the job AI exists to protect.

Build your own Keith (and how to take him home)

Keith is built from six boxes, the same six you'd use to build any agent. Edit them below and copy the result into any AI you like, free or paid, and you've got your own Keith. The Keith you chat to here always uses the original recipe, so experiment freely.

Who is this agent and why do they exist?

What attributes are at the core of this agent's character?

Who is this agent supporting?

What is the environment that discussions take place within?

What kind of narratives take place?

What sources and tools should the agent draw from to focus thinking?

Your Keith, assembled 

                    

                

            


            


            

            

                Keith is named in honour of Keith Brymer Jones, whose love of craft inspired the AI as a Craft approach. He is a tribute, not an endorsement or likeness.

                Keith applies AI as a Craft (Millar, 2026), the AI Fluency Framework by Dakan, Feller & Anthropic, and Bloom’s Taxonomy (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001).

                Designed by David Millar – learningdesigncompass.com