Custom AI development for businesses that have outgrown off-the-shelf tools
Pro AI designs and builds bespoke AI systems for UK businesses of 10 to 200 people: process automation, AI agents, document processing and the platforms that hold them together. Built around the software you already use, live within weeks, and reporting the hours they save.
When custom AI is the right answer — and when it isn't
Most businesses searching for custom AI development don't need it yet, and a good AI developer will tell you so. Our Automation Audit exists partly to give that answer honestly. Here is the rule of thumb we use.
Buy a tool when…
- The job is generic and thousands of businesses do it the same way: meeting notes, email drafting, basic customer chat, image generation. A ChatGPT or Copilot licence, or a good SaaS product, will do it for a few pounds a month.
- The data lives in one system and that system already has an AI feature. Turning on the feature you’re already paying for beats building anything.
- Nobody in the business will own it. Custom systems need one person who cares whether they keep working.
Build custom when…
- The work sits between systems. Re-keying between your CRM, accounts, job or case management, email and spreadsheets is where most of the hours go, and no single vendor's AI feature crosses that gap.
- The rules are yours. Regulatory checks, pricing logic, document formats, approval steps — anything a generic tool would get "nearly right" is worth building properly.
- The volume justifies it. If the same task happens hundreds of times a month, a system that does it in seconds pays for itself quickly. Our compliance-reporting client recovered about £45,000 a year of skilled time from one build.
- You need to own the data and the system. Custom means your code, your accounts, your data location, and an AI model that can be swapped when a better one appears.
If you're not sure which side you're on, that's exactly what the audit is for — and you keep the answer whether or not you build anything with us.
What we build
Business process automation
Connecting the systems you already pay for so data moves between them without a person re-typing it: invoices matched to jobs, enquiries routed and logged, records updated in every place they need to be. Typically the fastest return on any AI project.
AI agents
Software that reads, decides and acts across your tools on its own: triaging enquiries, extracting data from documents, drafting reports, chasing what's missing. Built for your business, governed by rules you set, with a person signing off anything consequential.
Intelligent document processing
Turning PDFs, scans, contracts and forms into structured data, and generating the documents you need from them. One professional-services client now produces a full document set in under twenty minutes instead of four to six hours.
Custom AI platforms
When the work needs a home of its own: secure, role-based dashboards and pipelines that hold the automations, the data and the people using them. Ten thousand documents classified and made searchable in one client's first deployment.
How we build (the technical bit, kept short)
Every system is built model-agnostic. We use whichever AI model fits the job — OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or open-source models — behind an interface that lets the model be swapped as better or cheaper options appear, so nothing you own is tied to one vendor's roadmap. Where a system needs to reason over your own documents we build retrieval (RAG) on a vector database rather than relying on the model's memory; where it needs to act we build agents with explicit tools, permissions and audit logs. Applications are built in Python and TypeScript/React, integrate with your existing software by API, and are hosted to your requirements, including UK-only data residency. Anything that touches a consequential decision has code-based validation and human sign-off designed in — governance is part of the build, not a policy document written afterwards.
How an engagement works
Automation Audit
£495, fixed
A two-hour workshop with the people who do the work, at your premises or online, followed by a written map of where AI and automation would pay back in your business, with an estimate for each. You keep the map whether or not you go further.
Automation Sprint
from £2,500, one month
One focused system, designed, built, tested and live within the month, with time-saved data reported weekly.
Automation Partnership
from £3,500 a month
Two or three systems built and supported over a minimum of three months, with monthly reporting on hours and cost saved. Where most clients end up once the first system proves itself.
Based in York; we meet clients in person anywhere in the UK and work remotely with businesses across the country.
What custom AI has delivered
- 93% reduction in compliance-reporting time for a regulated business — days per cycle to under two hours, zero errors since go-live
- 15 hours a week returned to each fee earner at a professional-services firm, and around £120,000 of annual billable capacity
- 10,000+ documents classified and made searchable in a first deployment; any fact retrieved in under five seconds
Custom AI development — common questions
What does custom AI development cost in the UK?
It depends entirely on scope, which is why we start with a fixed-price audit rather than a quote. Our packages are published: the Automation Audit is £495, a one-month Automation Sprint is from £2,500, and an Automation Partnership is from £3,500 a month. The audit tells you what a system is worth before you decide to build it. For full ranges by type of build, read our guide: how much custom AI development costs in the UK.
How long does a custom AI project take?
A first system is typically live within a month of the audit. Larger platforms are built in stages, each going live and paying back before the next starts.
Do we need our own developers or data team?
No. Most of our clients have no in-house technical team. We build, we support, and we hand over clear documentation and ownership. Where a client does have a team, we work alongside it.
Will you replace the software we already use?
Almost never. The value is in connecting what you have and adding intelligence on top. If a tool genuinely needs replacing, we'll say so in the audit.
Who owns the system, and where is our data held?
You own the code, the accounts and the data. Hosting and data location are chosen to match your requirements, including UK-only where that matters, and we don't use client data to train AI models.
Which is better for us — custom AI or an off-the-shelf tool?
If the job is generic and lives in one system, buy the tool. If the work sits between systems, follows rules specific to your business, or happens hundreds of times a month, custom usually pays back. The audit answers this for your specific processes, and you keep the answer either way.
Find out what custom AI would be worth to your business
Two hours with your team, a written map of where the time goes, and an honest answer about whether to build. Fixed price, no obligation.