August 27, 2026
Something we talk about at Haavn is BYOAI. For those not on the house party circuit, that’s Bring Your Own AI.
Most products take the opposite approach. Open Instagram or WhatsApp and Meta AI is crammed into the experience to announce: “Look! We have AI!”
But it’s not your AI.
You build trust with your agent. It knows your tastes, your goals and your context. It learns how you work and can use the tools connected through connectors and MCPs. Then you open another product and have to start again with an assistant somebody else chose for you.
That feels increasingly… odd.
A more useful pattern lets people bring their own agent into a product. Their AI connects to the tools it needs, works within clear permissions and helps users get things done without making them adopt a new AI personality every time.
The first instinct with new tech is to add it to your products. The more interesting question is: what would you build from the ground up if people arrived with their own AI?
I think BYOAI is a design pattern worth watching!
This is the kind of question we explore with clients. What tensions have you encountered trying to bring your own AI into the products you use?
