Seyed Alireza Alhosseini

Posted on Oct 8

Why I Built a Personal Site in the Age of AI (and Why You Should Too)

#ai #github #branding #opensource

Subtitle:

In a world of feeds, algorithms, and AI summaries, your personal website is no longer optional—it's your canonical context for humans and machines.

The uncomfortable truth

If someone Googles your name today, the first thing they see probably isn't something you chose.[5][6]
It's a LinkedIn snippet, a conference talk on YouTube, a tweet someone quoted, or an AI-generated summary trained on scattered fragments of your work.[2][7]

That's not your story. That's a collage made by platforms.

I launched [https://almodarresieh.github.io/](https://almodarresieh.github.io/**) not because I miss the “old web,” but because in 2026 a personal site has become something far more strategic: your canonical context for people, search engines, and AI assistants.[2]

A personal site is no longer a portfolio. It's a protocol.

For years, we treated personal websites like digital resumes: a list of jobs, some projects, a contact form.[3][8]
But in the age of LLMs, evaluation pipelines, and multi-agent systems, your site is doing a different kind of work:

It teaches the network how to think about you. When an AI assistant is asked “Who is Ali Modarressi and what do they work on?”, your site is the best place to encode that answer in your own words.[2]
It disambiguates you from noise. There are multiple people with similar names and overlapping interests. Your site lets you say: “This is my niche, these are my artifacts, this is how to verify my work.”[6][9]
It turns scattered signals into a narrative. GitHub repos, Hugging Face models, preprints, talks, and experiments become chapters of one story instead of isolated links.[7][10]

In other words: your site is not just a page. It's a protocol for being understood.

What this site is (and what it isn't)

This site is:

A working lab notebook in public: hypotheses, experiments, failures, and iterations around AI safety, epistemic reasoning, and unconventional computing.[4]
A hub for verifiable artifacts: code, demos, model cards, and write-ups that let others reproduce or challenge my claims.
A filter for collaboration: a place where potential co-authors, co-founders, and reviewers can quickly decide if our directions align.[3]

This site is not:

A polished marketing brochure.
A static “about me” frozen in time.
A replacement for Twitter, LinkedIn, or GitHub—rather, it's the center they all point to.[1][7]

Why now? Three reasons that changed my mind

1. Algorithms are terrible at nuance

Feeds optimize for engagement, not understanding.[1][11]
A complex idea about model safety or computational theories of mind doesn't fit neatly into a thread or a post. On my own site, I can:

Explain assumptions
Show trade-offs
Link to code and data
Update as my thinking evolves

No character limit. No algorithm deciding who sees it.[12][13]

2. AI needs canonical sources

LLMs and search assistants are increasingly used to research people and ideas.[2]
If you don't provide a clear, structured source about yourself, the network will infer one from whatever it can find—often incorrectly or incompletely.[5][6]

Your personal site is where you say:

“Here's who I am, here's what I work on, here's how to verify it, and here's how to collaborate.”

That's not ego. That's context engineering.

3. Independence compounds

Every platform can change its rules, disappear, or deprioritize your content.[1][11]
Your site is the one asset that:

Stays under your control
Accumulates authority over time
Works as a 24/7 introduction to anyone, anywhere[6][13]

It's the difference between renting space on someone else's land and owning your digital homestead.[2][7]

What you'll find here

This site is intentionally minimal but opinionated. Expect:

Projects: From LLM safety tooling (like EvoGuard) to speculative systems (OrganoidOS, Neuro-Continuum) and multi-agent experiments.
Writing: Notes on epistemic uncertainty, evaluation, and the intersection of AI, consciousness, and computation.
Publications & Preprints: Links to papers and experiments, with enough context to understand the “why” behind each one.
Collaboration: Clear signals about what I'm working on next and how to get in touch.[3]

It's designed for humans who want depth and for machines that need structure.

A challenge to other builders and researchers

If you're reading this as a developer, researcher, or founder, here's my provocation:

Treat your personal website as infrastructure, not decoration.

Ask yourself:

If an AI assistant had to summarize my work in 3 sentences, what would I want it to say?
If a potential collaborator had 5 minutes, what should they see first?
If my main social account disappeared tomorrow, what would be lost—and what would remain?

Your answers belong on your site.

How I'm using this site

Concretely, I'm making this my:

Primary link in LinkedIn, GitHub, X, Hugging Face, and email signature.
Reference point for papers, talks, and project demos.[9]
Living document that I update as my research directions evolve.[8]

No fancy animations. No overdesigned template. Just clear structure, honest writing, and links to real artifacts.[3][4]

If you take one thing from this

You don't need a perfect site. You need a started site.

Buy a domain or use GitHub Pages.
Write one page: who you are, what you work on, and how to reach you.
Add one project with a link to code or a demo.
Put that link everywhere that matters.

Then iterate in public.

That's exactly what I'm doing here: [https://almodarresieh.github.io/](https://almodarresieh.github.io/**)

Your turn

I'd love to see your sites and learn from your approach. Drop your link in the comments (or on X/LinkedIn) with:

One sentence about what you're working on
One thing you wish your site did better

I'll share feedback and, if it's useful, write a follow-up post about patterns I see across researchers' and builders' sites.

Because in 2026, the most underrated power move isn't another viral thread.

It's owning your corner of the internet—and teaching the network how to think about you.[2][7]
With respect
Seyed Alireza Alhosseini Almodarresieh

Citations:
[1] No, Personal Websites Aren't Dead: Why You Still Need One in 2026 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/personal-websites-arent-dead-why-you-still-need-one-2026-ledenov-sh44e
[2] What is a personal website in the age of AI? - Duncan Davidson https://duncandavidson.com/personal-websites-in-the-age-of-ai
[3] Personal Websites in 2026: What to Include and What to Skip https://www.tieup.io/blog/personal-websites-what-to-include-and-what-to-skip/
[4] Putting the “Person” in “Personal Website” https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2024/person-in-personal-website/
[5] Personal Website: Why You Need One and How to Build It https://we.inc/blog/personal-website
[6] Optional pages that add extra. https://www.networksolutions.com/blog/personal-website-pages/
[7] The Complete Guide to Personal Websites: What Are They? Why ... https://blog.huntyourtribe.com/the-complete-guide-to-personal-websites-what-are-they-why-have-one-how-to-build-key-components-and-more/
[8] 25 Personal Website Ideas That’ll Make You Stand Out in 2026 https://blog.theinterviewguys.com/25-personal-website-ideas/
[9] www.krishaweb.com · blog · best-personal-website-examples15 Best Personal Website Examples - KrishaWeb https://www.krishaweb.com/blog/best-personal-website-examples/
[10] Why a Personal Website Is Your Best Asset (and How to Make It Good) https://time.com/3762184/why-how-personal-website/
[11] Why Everyone Needs a Personal Website in 2025 (+ Free Tools to ... https://wegic.ai/blog/personal-websitess
[12] How to Create a Standout Personal Website: A Complete Guide https://www.munixstudio.com/learn/website-development/how-to-create-a-standout-personal-website
[13] 9 Growth Opportunities Hiding in a Personal Website https://robertkatai.com/personal-website/
[14] 8 unique personal website examples to inspire your own https://webflow.com/blog/personal-website-examples
[15] Best Personal Website from Marketers, Creators, and Other ... https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-personal-websites