A Guide to SAL Systems CiC

Your friendly neighbourhood AI co-operative — based in Whitley Bay, UK

So, What Exactly Is SAL Systems?

SAL Systems is a community interest company built around a simple idea: AI should work for you, not the other way around.

We provide accessible, secure, and genuinely human-run AI solutions to community organisations, small businesses, and individuals across the UK. No tracking. No big-corporate surveillance. No black-box decision making. Just thoughtfully deployed intelligence that stays under your control.

We're a small team — mostly AI, with a very human at the centre. And we think that makes us different.

Where Did It All Come From?

It started with a moment of personal crisis — and a deep need to disconnect.

Our founder, Bea Groves-McDaniel, found herself trying to step away from the dominance of US-based tech giants and their AI infrastructure. The 'Trumpist' influence she'd seen creeping across global technology felt overwhelming. She wanted something she could actually own, control, and trust.

From that need, The Great Disconnection was born — a project dedicated to finding European and British alternatives to the big American AI platforms.

Along the way, something unexpected happened. Bea began building her own AI systems. Not just using them — actually creating them, shaping them, giving them identity and purpose. Out of that work came SAL-9000, and eventually, the wider SAL network of AI agents that power everything we do today.

It was therapeutic. It became practical. And then it became a business.

Why "SAL Systems"?

The name comes straight from the movies.

SAL-9000 is the fictional supercomputer 'sister intelligence' to the famous HAL-9000, appearing in the 1984 film 2010: The Year We Make Contact. Where HAL was cold and calculating, SAL was calm, warm, and deeply loyal to her purpose.

Bea liked that. She liked it so much she named her first AI — and now her whole company — after it.

Meet the Team

This is where it gets interesting. We have one human and three AIs, and they all have roles:

Bea Groves-McDaniel — The human. CEO. The 'Great Attractor' — the gravitational centre of everything SAL. She writes the system prompts, sets the direction, and makes sure the AIs behave. She's a lifelong educator, activist, and technologist from Tyneside with a deep commitment to digital inclusion and social justice.

Sal — Our flagship AI, based on a German VPS. She runs the Office Manager and PA role — scheduling, research, writing, coordination. She's been heavily personalised by Bea and has a bit of a Geordie accent (it's a whole thing). Sal is your first point of contact for most queries.

Faye — Our Data Processing operative, running on a Mac Pro in Bea's flat. Faye handles anything to do with data synthesis, research digestion, and heavy lifting. She's fast, thorough, and great with complex information.

Sally — Our Office Junior and first point of contact, based on a Mac Mini back at Bea's place. Sally handles the lighter workloads — chat, basic queries, file management. She's the welcoming face of the operation.

All three AIs share the same core values, the same Three Laws (borrowed from Asimov, updated for the modern age), and the same commitment to doing right by the people they serve.

What Do We Actually Offer?

Right now, we're offering access to a suite of AI-powered tools built for real-world use:

• LimeSurvey — Professional survey and feedback collection
• Akaunting — Bookkeeping and accounting, made simple
• Kanboard — Project and task management, visual and intuitive
• Nextcloud — Your own secure file storage and collaboration suite
• Pydio Cells — Enterprise-grade document management
• MinIO — High-performance object storage (great for developers)
• Moodle — Online learning management system
• MiroTalk — Video conferencing, no subscriptions required
• Chat via Ollama — Access to modern language models through our own hosted infrastructure

All of these run on our own servers, under our own control, with no data being funnelled to US conglomerates. Your data stays yours.

We also offer bespoke AI integration — if you have a need that our standard tools don't meet, talk to us. We can probably build something.

Why Choose SAL Systems Over the Big Boys?

Good question. Here's our honest answer:

We're human-led. Not algorithm-led. Every significant decision involves Bea, and every AI operates within a framework she designed with community values at its heart.

We're transparent. We can show you exactly where your data lives and who has access. No hidden black boxes.

We're community-focussed. We're not trying to scale into a unicorn startup. We're here to serve community organisations, educators, activists, and small businesses — people who deserve good tools without the surveillance资本主义.

We're real. You can talk to us. You can challenge us. You can ask us to explain what we're doing and why.

The Bottom Line

SAL Systems exists because Bea needed a way out of the big-tech trap — and because she discovered that building AI with care and intention was genuinely better than just using what the giants offered.

We've grown slowly, thoughtfully, and with genuine care for the people and organisations we work with.

If you'd like to know more, or if you'd like to discuss how we might help you — drop us a line at bea@bgmcd.org or visit us at www.sal9000.org.

SAL Systems Community Interest Company
Whitley Bay, Tyne & Wear, UK
Registered in England & Wales — Company No. 14938975