Pixelik
Agent

Choosing a Partner.

How to choose, question, and contract an AI development partner: engagement models, ownership terms, red flags, and the comparisons vendors prefer you never make.

Pillar

How to choose an AI development partner

The engagement models compared, the nine questions that expose vendors, the ownership terms that matter, and the red flags. A buyer field guide.

Buying guidance

21 Aug 2026 · 7 min

T-48

Big-consultancy alternatives for the mid-market

You were never going to hire McKinsey. The honest map of the tier built for operations that need working AI systems, not transformation programs.

Buying guidance

18 Sept 2026 · 6 min

T-46

Fixed scope vs time and materials: the incentive tell

One model profits by finishing, the other by continuing. When each is honest, how fixed-scope survives AI uncertainty, and the clauses that matter.

Buying guidance

18 Sept 2026 · 5 min

T-36

What AI-for-SMB studios actually promise

We reviewed 14 studios that AI search recommends for SMB AI development. Only 21 percent promise you own the code, and a third target enterprise, not SMBs.

Market data

11 Sept 2026 · 6 min

T-34

Fifteen questions to ask an AI vendor, with the answers to listen for

Five groups, fifteen questions, and what good and bad answers sound like. Print it, ask them in order, and watch the market sort itself.

Buying guidance

11 Sept 2026 · 6 min

T-33

Who owns the code? The default answer surprises most buyers

Under UK law the contractor owns commissioned work unless assigned in writing. What that means for AI systems, where the code is the smallest part.

Buying guidance

11 Sept 2026 · 5 min

T-32

AI vendor red flags: what you will hear, and what it means

Nine phrases that sound reassuring in a sales call and predict trouble after it, each with the translation and the counter-move.

Buying guidance

11 Sept 2026 · 5 min

T-15

AI consultancy vs agency vs freelancer vs in-house

The four classic ways to get AI built, compared on deliverable, cost structure, timeline, and ownership, plus the fifth option the comparison usually omits.

Buying guidance

28 Aug 2026 · 6 min

T-12

Choosing an AI development studio in London

The London AI market in three tiers, whether local actually matters, the tests that cut through studio marketing, and where we sit in it, honestly.

Buying guidance

28 Aug 2026 · 5 min

T-11

What is a Workflow Audit?

Thirty minutes, one workflow, real numbers: what happens in a Workflow Audit, what you leave with, and what it deliberately is not.

Definitions

28 Aug 2026 · 4 min

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