Future Finance

Where it started: March 2026

Future Finance is a financial services innovation programme for under-served communities. It began at the University of Bristol and is now becoming its own company. Jack Stanbury leads it. His days are a mix of research, a leadership programme to fill, partners and committees to keep moving, and a lot of email. Most of the context lived in his head, his inbox and a pile of documents.

He wanted four things: a system that remembers, help filling the June programme, a daily view of what matters, and enough understanding to extend it himself rather than call me every time. The work was confirmed on 30 March, and we sat down for the first demonstration in Clifton on 9 April.

Building it: April and May

I started from the same BrainOS I run my own business on. I copied it into his own repository and replaced my data, my preferences and my tone of voice with his. The plan was to prove every piece on my machine first, then on a clean second machine, then hand it over on his Windows laptop and fix whatever the logs showed.

A few early choices shaped the rest. His company holds the AI subscription, so it's a business tool rather than a personal one. His email runs on Google Workspace, which connects cleanly. And because he works on Windows, the system's background checks had to be rewritten to run on any platform before the handover.

His plan allows five scheduled runs a day, so we chose them with care, and the morning brief got the first one. That brief runs in the cloud, which means it can't see his WhatsApp messages, because those live on his laptop. It's a known limit we agreed at the start, so neither of us treats it as a fault.

Under the surface the system is a set of plain files: what Jack is working on, who he works with, how he likes things written, and the decisions he's already made. Every task reads them first. That's what lets it draft an email that sounds like him, or a brief that knows which meeting matters today.

22 May: the handover, and what didn't work

I handed the system over on 22 May, on his laptop, with his first scheduled run set up together. Then the honest part. Things looked done and weren't. The email assistant reported success while putting no drafts in his inbox. The morning brief logged empty runs as complete.

In June I paused his updates altogether until both were fixed and properly wired in. It's where one of my working rules comes from: done means wired up and working, not 'implemented'. The lawyer in me likes evidence.

Late June: the version that works

The fixed version landed on 24 and 25 June. The email assistant now proposes drafts in his own mailbox for him to read and send, and it runs the right way on Windows. He has used the system daily since 26 June.

July: what his system actually did

In the month that followed, his system ran his daily briefs against his calendar and helped launch the new Future Finance website on 7 July. It moved his commercial filing into Google Drive, finished on 20 July.

On 24 July alone it prepared 29 personalised emails for him to check and send, turned out a standards form and a committee email for motor finance work, and wrote a summary of an FCA report for the website. The emails waited as drafts for Jack to read and send himself. That's the point: the system does the preparation, and he makes the calls.

The human side

Jack is a researcher and programme lead, not a developer. The point from day one was that he'd understand his system well enough to grow it, so I explained what I was doing as I went. He now extends it himself, which was the outcome he asked for at the start and the one I'm proudest of.

If you're thinking about a system like this for your team

Start with the person's day. Jack's four wants came from how his week actually ran, and every piece we built traces back to one of them.

Insist on seeing the real result. Both of our early failures said they had worked. Open the inbox, read the brief, and only then call it done. And plan for the handover to be the start of the work, because the month after it is when the system meets real use.

Where it is now

Future Finance is spinning out as its own company, and the system is part of how Jack runs it. The next phases are the daily operational view and taking more of the programme delivery off his plate.

In their words

“Adrian's support with setting up an OS for a new venture has been hugely beneficial in enabling me (as part of a small team) to significantly increase the administrative workload that I am able to manage as part of running a small business and regularly communicating with clients. The daily briefs are useful for setting up the day and proactively getting me to tick off tasks as required, this is connected in with our communications plan, client relationships and meetings and ensures that I am as prepared as I can be going into meetings and developing comms where time is tight.”

Jack Stanbury, Future Finance

Questions people ask

What does an AI operating system do day to day for a small team?

For Jack it prepares a daily brief against his calendar, drafts emails for him to check and send, and helps with the documents a growing company needs. On one day in July it prepared 29 personalised emails for him to review.

Does the person using it need to be technical?

No. Jack is a researcher and programme lead, not a developer. I explained what I was doing as I built it, and he now extends the system himself.

What went wrong?

Two parts reported success when they hadn't done the work: the email assistant left no drafts, and the morning brief logged empty runs as complete. I paused his updates in June until both were fixed, and the fixed version landed on 24 and 25 June.

Does it work on Windows?

Yes. Jack runs it on his Windows laptop. Getting there meant making the system's background checks work across platforms before the handover.