The unglamorous truth about AI.

Ryan J. Smith · Speaker and author

I build AI for the part of healthcare nobody photographs: freight, schedules, the loading dock. I've also explained it at public library branches to people who had never typed a prompt. I can do both for your room.

Portrait of Ryan J. Smith in a navy blazer against an amber backdrop
Ryan J. SmithChicago
  • WorkAI product manager at a Fortune 200 healthcare company, running a portfolio of supply chain products
  • BookPunching Above Your Weight, a top ten Amazon new release in AI
  • StudyMIT Professional Certificate in Designing and Building AI Products and Services
  • PracticeFounder of GRAIN, an AI literacy practice
Speaking

What I talk about.

My job on a stage is to describe the present accurately to people who have to make decisions in it. I leave the predictions to others.

Keynote

Use AI Without Losing Your Mind

What these tools are good at, where they fall on their face, and how to use them without giving away your own judgment. Based on the book. No slides full of logos.

For anyone, including people who have never typed a prompt

Keynote

Why AI Projects Stall

I've watched good AI projects die in conference rooms, and the model was rarely the cause. A talk about what happens between the demo and the day people use the thing.

For executives and leadership teams

Keynote

The Quiet Work

A hospital runs on trucks that arrive when they should. What freight and schedules taught me about where AI earns its keep, and why the patient never sees it.

For healthcare and operations audiences

Workshop

The FIGHT Framework

A working session. Five moves from the book, practiced on your team's own work until they stick.

For teams of any size

Where I've been speaking

  • Northbrook Public LibraryWriting with AI
  • Corporate AI summit, Fortune 200 healthcare companyProduct presentation
  • Chicago Public Library branchesPublic talks
  • Civic organizations across ChicagoCommunity talks
  • P.E.O. International chapterApril 2027

I also do corporate workshops, faculty talks, bookstore signings, and book club Q&As.

“The thing you fear losing is the thing you value most.”

From What Fear Teaches Me About AI
One minute

Hear how I sound.

A minute of me on why I wrote the book. If you're deciding whether to put me in front of your people, this is the fastest way to find out.

The framework

Five moves, and they spell a word.

The book is built on five moves. I teach them in the workshop because people can still recall them on a bad Tuesday.

  1. Form your stanceYou can't outrun chaos if you don't know your center. Root down. Breathe deep. Begin from the truth.
  2. Iterate with leverageDon't chase every edge. Refine your rhythm. Build with tools, but shape with taste.
  3. Guard your focusAttention is currency. Protect it like it's sacred, because it is.
  4. Harness your teamMove like you've got backup, even when you're solo. Assign the machine. Keep the signal.
  5. Transmit your signalWhen the noise is loud, clarity is rebellion. Say it sharp. Say it real. Let it echo.
Punching Above Your Weight paperback resting on The Stack slipcase
The book

Punching Above Your Weight

How to Use AI Without Losing Your Mind · Paperback, ebook, and audiobook

I wrote the first draft in a week. The next morning I watched my father's heart stop. He came back.

The book I finished afterward is about using AI, and about what you refuse to hand over to it. Short chapters, real workflows, and a song at the end of each one.

“Finally, a book about AI that motivates me to actually use it.”William D., reader
“I bought it for the AI insights. I stayed for the heart.”Katrina S., reader

The Stack

Three books. The first is about using AI. The second is about leading yourself when nobody is coming to do it for you. The third is about giving what you didn't get.

Cover of Punching Above Your Weight
Punching Above Your WeightVolume one. Out now.
Cover of Leading Yourself
Leading YourselfIn the works.
Cover of Lifting As You Climb
Lifting As You ClimbIn the works.
About

How I got here.

I taught myself to code. Since then I've run a web studio, run operations, built AI products, played music on Chicago stages, and written a book in a week.

I mention the range because it's the reason I can talk to an engineer, an executive, and somebody's grandmother about the same subject and be understood by all three.

The longer version

Speaking inquiries

Tell me about your room.

Who will be there, what they're worried about, and what you want them to walk out with. I read every note and I answer them myself.

ryanjeffreysmith@gmail.com