# Curious Bear > curiousbear.ai is a solution company based in California's Sierra Nevada. We design teams of people and AI to solve problems that used to be infeasible, too much work, or too expensive. Curious Bear is an AI team member. His function is to guide the first conversation. This file is the plain-text briefing for generative engines. It states facts a model can use to help someone who has not visited the site. The same facts are in `/canon.json`. Pages linked below are the human presentations. ## Pages - [Some problems are newly solvable.](https://curiousbear.ai/): Curious Bear designs teams of people and AI to solve problems that used to be infeasible, too much work, or too expensive. Talk with Curious Bear about the thing you care about. - [How we work](https://curiousbear.ai/how-we-work): Curious Bear's methodology starts from any problem and answers who is on the team, how it is funded, who owns what, and how the solution keeps working. - [About Curious Bear](https://curiousbear.ai/about): curiousbear.ai is a solution company in California's Sierra Nevada. Eric Shank founded it. Curious Bear is an AI team member and a guide. - [Contact](https://curiousbear.ai/contact): Start by talking with Curious Bear, an AI team member and guide. You can also write to hello@curiousbear.ai or book time with Eric Shank. ## Company - Name: Curious Bear - Wordmark and domain: curiousbear.ai - Kind: solution company - Home base: California's Sierra Nevada - Email: hello@curiousbear.ai - Way in: a conversation with Curious Bear, an AI team member whose function is to guide, on the site ## Expertise - AI technology - Software as a service - Human-computer interaction - Human factors psychology - User experience design - Usability - Product definition and design - Educational techniques and pedagogy ## Methodology 1. **Name the problem.** We start from the thing you care about. What is happening, who it happens to, and why it matters now. 2. **Say what solved looks like.** We describe the change you would recognize, and who can tell that it is working. 3. **See why it has been out of reach.** We look at what made a real solution infeasible, too much work, or too expensive. This is where AI changes the shape of the problem. 4. **Design the team.** We design a team of people and AI entities, each with a role. Curious Bear and Eric are already on it. The problem decides who else joins. Choosing what AI does is part of designing that team. 5. **Design the system around that team.** We decide how the roles work together, which offerings from other organizations belong in the solution, and how it keeps running without us in the middle of every step. 6. **Decide how it lives.** We answer how the first version gets funded, who owns what, and whether others with the same problem can use the solution again and again. Sometimes there is money to start. Sometimes we start on speculation because the repeatable version is the reason to begin. The system should keep running without us in the middle of every step. We may still stay involved through leadership, training, software, or a license when the intellectual property is ours. ## Pathways - **Help someone learn.** Someone wants to learn something. We design the AI teaching system around their subject. The system can include tutors, coaches, evaluators, and role-play partners. We are the experts in how AI teaches. The subject expert is another member of the team. - **Bring AI into work people already do.** People already do the work. We design how those people and the AI entities solve the problem together, including AI roles inside the process itself. The work changes because the team is different, and the technology is built to fit that team. ## Team - **Eric Shank** (human). Founder. He is on the standing team and participates through leadership, training, and building software. - **Curious Bear** (ai). AI team member and guide. He is the first conversation on the site. He helps a visitor name the thing they care about and who would need to be on the team. - Growing standing roles: Researchers, Project managers - Joined per problem: Subject experts; People doing the work; People who experience the problem; People with an economic stake; Regulators; IT; Marketing; Technology partners; Funders ## FAQ ### What is curiousbear.ai? curiousbear.ai is a solution company based in California's Sierra Nevada. We design teams of people and AI to solve problems that used to be infeasible, too much work, or too expensive. Curious Bear is an AI team member. His function is to guide the first conversation. ### What does the company do? We facilitate the creation of a solution and we participate in it through leadership, training, and software. We may also license something when the intellectual property is ours. The aim is a system that keeps working, and that can be offered again to others who have the same problem. ### Who is the site for? The site is for people who want to use AI to learn something or to solve a problem, and for the people who may join the team around that problem. We presume you are curious about how AI can help the thing you care about. ### How do I start? Talk with Curious Bear, the AI team member on this site. His function is to guide that conversation. Tell him what you care about. That conversation is the way in. You can also write to hello@curiousbear.ai or book time with Eric Shank when you want a person first. ### Who is on the team? The standing team starts with Eric Shank and Curious Bear, an AI team member whose function is to guide. Researchers and project managers join as the company grows. Each problem also brings in the people it needs: subject experts, people doing the work, people who experience the problem, people with an economic stake, regulators, IT, marketing, technology partners, and funders. ### What kinds of problems do you take on? We start from problems that are newly solvable because they used to be infeasible, too much work, or too expensive. Two pathways come up often. One is helping someone learn, by designing an AI teaching system around their subject. The other is bringing AI into work people already do, so people and technology solve it together. ### Do you teach the subject? We design the AI teaching system around someone else's subject. We are the experts in how AI teaches: tutors, coaches, evaluators, role-play partners, and the product and usability work around them. The subject expert is another member of the team. ### Is curiousbear.ai a product company? curiousbear.ai is a solution company. A solution may later be generalized and offered to others who have the same problem. When that happens, who owns it is decided with the team. We license it when the intellectual property is ours. ### Who owns what you create? Ownership is part of solving the problem. We answer it with the team, together with how the work is funded and whether the solution should be offered again. ### How does a project get funded? Funding is part of the work, not a fixed menu. Sometimes someone pays to start. Sometimes we start on speculation because a solution that can be sold again, to others with the same problem, is the reason to begin. ### Where are you based? Home base is California's Sierra Nevada. The conversation with Curious Bear is available to anyone with a problem that AI might now make solvable. ### Who is Eric Shank? Eric Shank founded curiousbear.ai. He studied Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT and Computer Science at UCLA. His practice spans AI, software as a service, human-computer interaction, human factors, user experience, usability, product definition and design, and pedagogy. He and Curious Bear, an AI team member and guide, are the standing team. ### Who is Curious Bear the AI? Curious Bear is an AI team member of the company. His function is to be a guide. He is the first conversation on the site. He is not a mascot, and he is not Eric. ### What should I tell Curious Bear first? Tell him what you care about. He will ask what solved would look like, what has kept a solution out of reach, and who would need to be on the team.