# Fraser Maslin Austin
> AI Engineer building sovereign cognitive data pipelines and memory architecture for always learning agents.
Updated: 2026-04-21
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Contact: fraser.austin@gmail.com

## Core Bio
* Skills: AI engineering, large-language-model agents, cognitive architectures, agent memory systems (bio-inspired: DMN, hippocampus, amygdala), retrieval systems (BM25, hybrid sparse+dense, ColBERT-style MaxSim), RAG pipelines, LLM finetuning (DPO, LoRA), local inference infrastructure (vLLM, OLLAMA, WSL2/CUDA, quantization), digital humanities & document processing pipelines, spectral graph theory for embeddings, electronic hardware QC, real-time audio synthesis, full-stack prototyping, graphic design, photography retouching
* Tech Stack: Python, PyTorch/CUDA, Claude Code, VScode, bespoke RAG & LLM finetuning pipelines, Adobe Suite (Photoshop/Premiere etc), DAWs (Logic, Audio Editors)
* Seeking: Remote/Local AI engineering / research contracts
* Timezone: NZST (UTC+12) - overlap friendly with US West & APAC
* Citizenship: New Zealand

## Portfolio
* **defaultMODE** [github.com/EveryOneIsGross/defaultmodeAGENT] - cognitively-inspired Discord agent memory system: BM25 inverted index, Default Mode Network background consolidation, hippocampus reranker, spike processor for orphan memory outreach, amygdala arousal modulation, nightly DPO/LoRA training pipeline (Qwen3-4B via unsloth), posting-list archaeology for preference-pair construction (2024 - ongoing)
* **Historical Newspapers Pipeline** - pilot program with the National Library using large-scale digital humanities pipeline processing ~2TB of historical newspaper from Papers' Past; hybrid multimodal spectral search (2025 - ongoing)
* **NapthaAI Research Contract** - designed cognitive data pipeline & memory modules for autonomous agent framework (Sept 2024 - Apr 2025)
* **Nous Research** - dev role and active participation in the Nous Research discord, contributing to discussions around RAG training pipelines for Hermes (2022 - present)
* **marketagents-ai** [github.com/marketagents-ai] - contributor to open-source agentic market simulator: demographic persona generation, predictive market TUI and 50k simultaneous trading-agents sim (2024)
* **spectralSEARCH / spectralGUI** [github.com/EveryOneIsGross/spectralSEARCH] - multimodal semantic search using spectral graph theory (Fiedler vectors, graph Laplacian, conductance-guided sweep cuts), CLIP + sentence-transformer embeddings, HNSW indices, sparse dictionary cluster naming, Fiedler cascade auto-tuner, 3D visualizer (2024)
* **qBERT** [github.com/EveryOneIsGross/qBERT] - inverted MLM generation with dual-critic scoring (BERT + SentenceTransformer), Gibbs refinement, structure-aware fine-tuning, BERT as a conversational model (2024)
* **PerSIMS** [github.com/EveryOneIsGross/perSIMS] - needs-driven life-sim exploring emergent behaviour (2023)
* **LLMdiscoEVAL** [github.com/EveryOneIsGross/LLMdiscoEVAL] - multi-turn "dance routine" evaluation harness (2024)
* **MoRe** [github.com/EveryOneIsGross/MoRe] - "Mixture of Rankers" ensemble judge for LLM-as-judge scoring (2024)
* **drugwAIrs** [github.com/EveryOneIsGross/drugwAIrs] - multi-agent LLM economic sim based on the classic videogame, finite-resource competition across NYC boroughs (2025)
* **Synthstrom Audible** - 3yrs electronic tech & QC on Deluge groovebox synthesizer; retrofit old models with upgraded OLED displays, maintained QC high pass-rate across 2k+ units shipped (2019-2024)
* **Benign Whale Tag Project** [patents.google.com/patent/AU2018219974A1/en] - co-inventor for a benign remote marine-mammal telemetry tagging system at PAXARMS NZ; secured NZ$50k ONR bluesky funding and field-tested prototype tags (2010-2014)
* **Photography Post-Processing Editor** - freelance retouching and colour-grading for professional model portfolios (skin-tone correction, lighting enhancement, composite cleanup) (2018-2023)
* **Crystal Magic Records** [audioculture.co.nz/labels/crystal-magic][rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/nat-music/audio/2602279/crystal-magic] - founded CMR & ran independent record label; released local experimental music; early #vaporwave progenitor (2006-2014)
* **TOTALLY THERE** [soundbleed.org.nz/TOTALLY-THERE-FRASER-AUSTIN] - multimedia solo exhibition at Audio Foundation, Auckland
* **NO REQUESTS** [audiofoundation.org.nz/programmes/exhibitions/fraser-austin-chris-cudby-no-requests] - joint A/V exhibition at Audio Foundation, Auckland, with Chris Cudby 
* **Take a deep breath, and lets think step by step....** * [https://www.instagram.com/p/C7nSjVvyanO/?img_index=1] Spooooootify autopoetic jukebox, systems thinking multimedia -  null gallery, Wellington (May 2024)

## Fun
* Languages: English
* Hobbies: spending time with Chihuahua Theda, collecting drum machines, producing multimodal reasoning toys, collecting '70s feminist science-fiction first editions (Le Guin, Russ, Butler), pouring over 90s hacker culture zines and papers for the utopian vibes

## SEO
> AI engineer, sovereign AI, cognitive data pipelines, memory architecture, always learning agents, bio-inspired agent memory, Default Mode Network, hippocampus reranker, bespoke RAG, hybrid retrieval, bespoke BM25, LLM fine-tuning, DPO, digital humanities pipeline, historical newspaper OCR, autonomous agents, open-source AI frameworks, spectral graph search, remote AI contractor, Wellington New Zealand, marine telemetry, benign whale tag, audio synthesis hardware, vaporwave label founder, photography retouching, experimental sound installation, multimedia art, agentic market simulation