Why I said yes to building AI for the people who actually need it to work

By Tim Bornholdt, Head of Technology, Creatively Focused

Hi, I'm Tim. I build software that helps people help people. I got my start in third grade making websites on Geocities, and I've been building more complex applications professionally for the past decade and a half. Recently, I’ve been focused on finding ways to leverage large language models to solve practical problems.

As I've shared my new role with friends and family, I inevitably end up in a nuanced discussion about artificial intelligence. It's refreshing to see so many people take an interest in the technology, many armed with well-considered concerns and a healthy skepticism of AI's usefulness.

People are frustrated by AI tools built to grab attention or cut headcount, without much thought for the person actually using them. It makes sense that my friends and family, as well as teachers and administrators, are tired of hearing that AI will magically fix everything.

I've spent my career on the opposite kind of project. I co-founded a software consultancy that built tools for organizations like UnitedHealthcare and Sanford Health, and for startups solving very human problems like on-demand legal advice and dental staffing. I later ran engineering for a corporate wellness platform, where my job was less about writing flashy code and more about making sure the systems people depended on every day actually held up. The common thread, whether I was leading a team or writing the code myself, was always the same: find the part of someone's job that's needlessly hard, and make it easier.

That's what pulled me toward artificial intelligence, and it's what brought me to Creatively Focused. I started here on a contract basis, building out the AI side of the platform alongside the team. It didn't take long to see how much it mattered: teachers and staff getting a straight answer instead of digging through a policy binder, directors getting time back instead of losing it to the same procedural questions over and over. Once I saw the potential for this tech in helping special education departments help their students, saying yes to joining full-time wasn't a hard decision.

What I like about this team is that nobody here is trying to use AI to replace a teacher's judgment or a director's experience. The goal is smaller and simpler: give the people doing this work an answer they can trust, right when they need it, so they're not running on memory, interruptions, and guesswork. That's a version of AI I'm genuinely excited to build, and one I think educators deserve.

I've built a career out of being the person in the room who's optimistic about what technology can do. I'm bringing that same energy here. If you have questions about how any of this actually works, or you want to tell me what's missing for your team, I'd love to hear from you!

— Tim

Tim Bornholdt is the Head of Technology at Creatively Focused. Before CF, he spent 14 years building software as a consultancy co-founder and engineering leader, gave a TEDx talk on AI adoption, and hosted a podcast explaining software development to non-technical audiences.