---
title: "AI Development Company UK | Shipshape Data"
description: "A UK AI development company building bespoke AI applications, agents, and chatbots on governed data. From concept to production in weeks, supported past go-live."
canonical: https://shipshapedata.com/services/ai-development/
language: en-GB
---

# AI development

> A UK AI development company building bespoke AI applications, agents, and chatbots on governed data. From concept to production in weeks, supported past go-live.

Section: Home > Services > AI development

Canonical page: https://shipshapedata.com/services/ai-development/

On this page:

- We build the thing
- What our AI development covers
  - AI agent development
  - AI chatbot development
  - Bespoke AI applications
  - AI integration
- Proof it works
  - 60% of tickets
  - 11 languages
  - 4 to 6 weeks
- How a build runs
  - Scope the value
  - Check the data
  - Build and evaluate
  - Integrate where work happens
  - Run and improve
- A custom AI software development company
- AI agents for business
- Questions we hear most
- What happens when you get in touch
  - You tell us what you want to build
  - A scoping conversation
  - A straight answer

## Frequently asked questions

### What does an AI development company do?

An AI development company designs and builds AI software for your business: applications, agents, chatbots, and the integrations that connect them to your systems. At Shipshape Data every build stands on a governed data foundation, which is what keeps the output trustworthy in production.

### Why bespoke AI development rather than an off-the-shelf tool?

Off-the-shelf tools answer from generic data and stop at the edge of your workflows. Bespoke AI development builds on your data, your rules, and your systems, so the result knows your business and works where your team already works. The trade-off is honest: it takes a build, and it depends on your data being ready.

### Do you build AI agents?

Yes. AI agent development is a core service: agents that take real actions in your systems under governance, with humans in the loop where the risk warrants it. See our workflow automation and agents page for how they are deployed.

### How long does AI application development take?

Most bespoke chat and retrieval systems go from concept to production in 4 to 6 weeks. Larger applications take longer; we scope honestly before we start, and we would rather tell you a number now than surprise you later.

### Which models and stack do you build on?

We are model-agnostic: domain-tuned large language models, retrieval-augmented generation pipelines, and classical machine learning where it fits better. The data layer runs on Snowflake, Databricks, Google BigQuery, or Microsoft Fabric, connected through the Model Context Protocol (MCP) where agent access needs governing.

### What does AI development cost?

It depends on what we are building and the state of the data underneath it, so we price per engagement as a fixed, scoped outcome. The scoping conversation is free and ends with a straight answer, including whether we think the build is worth doing at all.

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Shipshape Data is a London AI consultancy: we build the data foundation your AI depends on, then the AI on top. Site guide for agents: https://shipshapedata.com/llms.txt | Contact: hello@shipshapedata.com