About
We started moralai because the AI advice most small businesses get is bad.
Not malicious. Just conflicted, expensive, and aimed at the wrong problem.
The AI consulting market can have an issue. Many firms resell software, push their own products, or apply their own methodology. Fewer start by looking closely at the specific problem, and fewer still are willing to offer something small, or say "not this" or "not yet".
So moralai is the opposite shape of consultancy. We don't resell anything. We don't take kickbacks. The assessment is free, and it ends in a written recommendation. That recommendation is genuinely allowed to be "don't do this", and often is. About a third of the assessments we run end with us telling the owner that AI is the wrong lever for the thing they're trying to move, and suggesting something simpler instead.
If we think we can help once we've seen the picture, we'll offer a conversation about the recommendations. The assessment itself isn't a sales call.
That's not a marketing pose. It's just what happens when your income isn't tied to the answer.
We're based in Sheffield. Most of our clients aren't.
How we work
Three principles, applied concretely.
People before tools.
Before we talk about models or platforms, we ask who does the work today, what they're good at, and what they'd rather not do. If a tool makes someone's job worse, we don't recommend it.
Independent by design.
No reseller agreements, no affiliate links, no preferred vendors. When we name a piece of software, we also name the two we considered and rejected, and why.
Responsible means specific.
We won't tell you we do 'responsible AI' and leave it there. We will tell you, in writing, what data a system uses, who can see its outputs, and what happens when it gets something wrong.
Questions we get asked
Before you get in touch.
The things that come up most, answered as plainly as we can. If your question isn't here, the contact form is a good place to put it.
- Who is this actually for?
- Owners and operators of small and mid-sized organisations who suspect AI is being oversold to them and want a second opinion. Boards and non-execs asked to vet an AI strategy for a portfolio company. Not for anyone after a six-figure transformation programme.
- What does 'we'll tell you not to' mean in practice?
- About a third of our assessments end in 'not yet', 'not this way', or a flat 'no'. The recommendation says so in the first paragraph, not buried on page four. We'd rather lose the engagement than sell you something that quietly fails in six months.
- How much does an engagement cost?
- The assessment is free. If it ends in a yes and we agree to work together, the first project is narrow and has a written success test. Cost depends on the shape of the work. We'll tell you up front, and stop if the success test isn't hit.
- Do you resell software or take referral fees?
- No. No reseller agreements, no affiliate links, no preferred vendors. When we name a piece of software, we also name the two we considered and rejected, and why.
- What tools and tech stack do you use?
- We're agnostic. Whatever fits the problem and the people doing the work. Sometimes a frontier model from one of the big labs, sometimes a small open-source model running on a laptop, sometimes a spreadsheet with a rule written down. A tool doesn't earn a seat because it's new.
- What happens after the written recommendation?
- If the recommendation is 'no' or 'not yet', that's the end of it. No follow-up sequence, no nudge emails. If it's a yes and you'd like to talk, we'll offer a conversation. The writing is the deliverable either way.
- What if we're not a good fit?
- We'll say so. If the problem isn't one we can help with, or if a sharper firm would serve you better, we'll tell you in the recommendation and point you at who we'd try instead. No offence taken if you go and talk to them.
- Are you based somewhere?
- Sheffield. Most of our clients are elsewhere in the UK; some are around the corner. We work mostly remote, and happily visit for anything that earns the train ticket.
Want to see what that looks like in practice?
The free assessment is the clearest window into how we think. It's short, it's honest, and you leave with a written recommendation you can share with your board.