What Is Dr. Simon Says AI? Nigeria’s AI Decision Engine Explained
- Dr Simon Taki Zaku, Ph.D (D.B.A)
- 3 days ago
- 30 min read
Discover Dr. Simon Says AI, a Nigerian AI decision engine that turns questions into clear answers, warnings and practical next steps without search overload. Author: Dr. Simon Taki Zaku, Publisher: IbiFoundry Limited.
You have probably done this before.
You open Google because you have one question, you open five tabs, you watch two YouTube videos, somebody sends you a WhatsApp voice note, you ask ChatGPT, you see another opinion on Facebook, and thirty minutes later you have more information than when you started but somehow you are still asking yourself;
“Oga, so what exactly should I do now?”
That small sentence is one of the biggest reasons I built Dr. Simon Says AI — Decision Engine™.
I did not build it because the world lacks search engines.
My friend, we have plenty.
I did not build it because Google suddenly became useless, because that would simply be untrue.
I did not build it because ChatGPT cannot answer questions either, because that would also be untrue.
I built it because I believe there is still a very important space between finding information, understanding information, and making a sensible decision from that information.
That space is where Dr. Simon Says AI wants to live.
I am Dr. Simon Taki Zaku, Founder and CEO of IbiFoundry Limited, and I am building this from Taraba State, Nigeria.
Yes, Taraba.
Not Silicon Valley.
Not London.
Not somewhere I need to pretend is more important than where God planted me.
And one thing years of writing, SEO, digital strategy, freelancing, business, teaching and simply talking with ordinary people have taught me is that most people are not searching because they enjoy searching.
They are searching because there is something they need to decide.
“Should I pay this person?”
“Is this website genuine?”
“How do I register for WAEC?”
“Which investment app makes more sense for me?”
“How much should I charge this client?”
“Should I install solar?”
“How can my business rank on Google?”
“Is this Nigerian man or woman I met online telling me the truth?”
“What exactly should I do next?”
Those are not merely information questions.
Many of them are decision questions wearing search-query clothes.
That is the idea behind Dr. Simon Says AI.
Stop Searching. Start Deciding.
What you will learn
In this guide, I will explain:
What is Dr. Simon Says AI? Here is the direct answer
Dr. Simon Says AI — Decision Engine™ is an IbiFoundry-powered, Naija-first AI decision experience I created to help a user move from a question to clearer understanding, warnings, practical options and a sensible next action instead of stopping at information alone.
That is the simplest definition.
Notice something important there.
I did not say it magically knows everything.
It does not.
I did not say every answer it gives should be obeyed.
Absolutely not.
And I am not asking you to delete Google, uninstall ChatGPT, abandon Gemini or stop using whatever useful research tools already work for you.
The point is different.
I am interested in what happens after information arrives.
Suppose you search:
“How can I register WAEC 2026?”
Information can tell you registration exists.
A good search experience can help you locate official information and useful guides.
An AI answer can summarise the process.
But the person asking may still need something more human:
“Which information should I trust?”
“What should I prepare first?”
“What mistake could cost me?”
“Am I already late?”
“What should I avoid?”
“What do I do today?”
That is the layer I am deliberately trying to build around Dr. Simon Says AI.
The engine is therefore designed around a simple flow:
Search → Diagnosis → Decision → Warning → Action.
And where an existing IbiFoundry article, service, free guide, tool, course, verification resource or human conversation can genuinely help the user continue, the system can route the person there instead of pretending one AI response must solve everything.
That last part matters to me.
A trustworthy AI should sometimes be confident enough to say:
“My friend, I have helped you as far as I responsibly can; now verify this with the official source.”
Or:
“Do not send another naira yet.”
Or:
“This one needs a doctor, lawyer, licensed financial professional or relevant government authority, not another AI paragraph.”
Or even:
“Come to WhatsApp and let a real human look at this with you.”
That is not weakness.
I believe that is intelligence.
Dr. Simon Says AI therefore sits inside a much bigger IbiFoundry idea.
IbiFoundry is not merely trying to publish more pages.
We are building connected knowledge, useful tools, practical services, human support and decision routes around real questions ordinary Nigerians and Africans already have.
Dr. Simon Says AI becomes one doorway into that ecosystem.
You ask.
The system tries to understand what you really need.
It helps reduce the noise.
It gives you a clearer direction.
Then it shows you where to go next.
That is why I call it a Decision Engine™.
IbiFounder note: If you already understand the idea and simply want to use the tool, ask Dr. Simon Says AI here.
Why I built Dr. Simon Says AI from Taraba State, Nigeria
There is something I find beautiful about building technology from a place people do not normally mention in the first paragraph of an AI story.
Taraba State.
Ibi.
Jalingo.
Wukari.
These names matter to me because they remind me that useful ideas do not need permission from famous technology cities before they become useful.
I am from Taraba State, Nigeria, and much of the way I think about the internet comes from seeing what information inequality looks like from here.
Sometimes somebody does not need a 47-page international report.
They need to know whether the cybercafé man is telling them the truth about an examination registration.
Sometimes somebody does not need another motivational speech about freelancing.
They need somebody to explain how a Nigerian beginner with no Upwork reviews can begin building proof and approaching clients.
Sometimes somebody abroad is talking to a Nigerian online and does not know whether the story they are hearing is real, exaggerated or completely fabricated.
Sometimes a small business owner in Jalingo has a website but cannot understand why Google barely shows it.
Sometimes somebody bought Starlink, solar equipment or some online service and simply wants to know the next sensible step before spending more money.
The internet has enormous information.
But access to information and access to useful judgement are not the same thing.
That distinction has followed me for years.
When I started experimenting with the internet, I did not begin with some beautiful office and a shelf full of expensive computers.
My journey started much more modestly, experimenting with blogging and learning what the internet could make possible from Nigeria.
Over time I became deeply interested in search, writing, content systems, digital business, online visibility and the peculiar thing that happens when a person finds exactly the right page at exactly the right moment.
That eventually grew into IbiFoundry.
And IbiFoundry itself increasingly pushed me toward a bigger question:
What if the website stopped behaving like a pile of pages and started behaving like an intelligent map?
A map that knows this WAEC question belongs to our WAEC registration guide.
A map that knows a JAMB student may need our JAMB success blueprint.
A map that knows somebody worried about a suspicious online relationship should see Ibi-Verify before seeing some unrelated product.
A map that knows a Nigerian freelancer asking how to begin should probably enter my free Freelance to $1K lesson before anybody starts shouting “buy, buy, buy.”
A map that knows somebody asking how to rank a business should connect search strategy, technical visibility, content and our IbiFoundry SEO services.
That is the larger imagination behind Dr. Simon Says AI.
I am not trying to build intelligence that merely speaks.
I want to build intelligence that understands where knowledge belongs.
There is also another reason the Nigerian starting point matters.
Context changes advice.
A payment tool that is convenient in California may be irrelevant to someone in Taraba.
A scholarship instruction may depend on a Nigerian institution.
A business recommendation must understand naira realities.
A travel answer about Taraba should not sound like it was written by somebody who thinks Jalingo is a neighbourhood in Lagos.
A scam warning involving Nigerian banking, cryptocurrency, mobile money or online relationships may require cultural and practical context.
So when I say Naija-first, I am not saying “Nigeria-only.”
I am saying:
Start by understanding somebody properly.
Then expand.
The internet is global, but human problems are always experienced locally.
That is where I wanted Dr. Simon Says AI to begin.
From here.
Search engine vs answer engine vs decision engine: what is the difference?
This distinction needs to be explained carefully because the internet has changed dramatically.
Years ago, it was easier to describe a search engine as something that gave you a page of links and left you to investigate.
That description is no longer enough.
Google Search itself has evolved far beyond a simple list of blue links, and Google’s AI Mode can handle complex, multi-part questions, comparisons and follow-up questions while connecting users with web information.
ChatGPT can also search the web when current information is useful and can return answers with links or inline citations to relevant sources.
Perplexity explicitly describes itself as an answer engine, explaining that it searches the web, identifies sources and synthesises information into direct answers rather than requiring the user to work through a traditional list of search results.
So I do not want to create a fake argument where modern search engines only “find,” AI tools only “chat,” and Dr. Simon Says AI alone can think.
That would age badly.
Instead, I use three ideas to explain the product.
A search engine helps you discover
At its core, search is incredibly valuable because discovery matters.
You need the official WAEC website.
You need a government document.
You need a business address.
You need current news.
You need multiple independent sources.
You need to investigate what exists.
Google, Bing and other search systems are extraordinarily useful in that world.
An answer engine helps you understand
Now imagine you do not want to open fifteen sources yourself.
You want technology to retrieve information, understand the question and synthesise a useful response.
That is the answer-engine idea.
Perplexity uses that terminology directly, and modern ChatGPT Search and Google AI experiences increasingly provide similar answer-oriented interactions in different ways.
Instead of:
“Here are ten places where the information may exist.”
The experience moves closer to:
“Here is what those sources collectively appear to say.”
That is a major leap.
But I am interested in one step after that.
A decision engine helps you ask, “So what should I do?”
This is the category I am trying to develop around Dr. Simon Says AI.
Not because other AI products cannot recommend actions.
Of course they can.
The difference is product emphasis and architecture.
Dr. Simon Says AI is intentionally organised around the decision journey.
What are you really trying to accomplish?
What is the most useful answer?
What danger could you be missing?
What should you avoid?
What action makes sense now?
Which IbiFoundry knowledge asset already goes deeper?
Does this require human help?
Should you act, verify, compare, wait or stop?
That creates a useful three-layer model:
Layer | Main job | User’s hidden question |
Search engine | Discovery | “Where can I find information about this?” |
Answer engine | Synthesis | “What does the information appear to mean?” |
Decision engine | Direction | “Given my actual situation, what should I do next?” |
The boundaries overlap.
A search engine can answer.
An answer engine can recommend.
A chatbot can search.
An agent can act.
A decision engine can also search and answer.
The categories are therefore better understood as design priorities, not prison cells.
And this matters because research increasingly suggests that traditional and generative search systems may retrieve and present substantially different source sets for the same information need.
A 2026 study comparing traditional Google results, Google AI Overviews and Gemini across a benchmark of 11,500 user queries found significant differences in the sources surfaced by the different systems, reinforcing a simple lesson: how information is retrieved and synthesised can shape what the user ultimately sees.
That makes judgement more important, not less.
Because once machines begin deciding what information you encounter first, the user still needs to ask:
Is the source current?
Is the claim supported?
Is there a financial interest behind this recommendation?
Does this apply in Nigeria?
What could go wrong?
Do I need an official source?
And finally:
What is the wisest next move?
That final question is where I want Dr. Simon Says AI to earn its place.
How Dr. Simon Says AI works
If I had to reduce the entire Dr. Simon Says AI philosophy to one line, it would be this:
Search → Diagnosis → Decision → Warning → Action.
Let me break that down properly.
Search
Everything begins with your actual question.
Not the question I wish you had asked.
Not the keyword some SEO tool tells me is profitable.
Your question.
You may type:
“Is Temu legit in Nigeria?”
Or:
“How can I get my first freelance client?”
Or:
“This man I met online says he is from Nigeria and needs money for an emergency; should I send it?”
Or:
“Which is better, PiggyVest or Cowrywise?”
Or:
“How do I rank my Wix website on Google?”
The query is the doorway.
But it is not yet the whole problem.
Diagnosis
This is where wisdom must enter.
Two people can type almost the same words while needing completely different help.
Imagine two people search:
“Trust Wallet hacked.”
The first person's funds were already transferred away.
The second person merely received a suspicious message saying their wallet is compromised.
Same topic.
Different problem.
Different urgency.
Different action.
So Dr. Simon Says AI is designed to interpret intent rather than merely match words.
Behind the literal query, the engine should look for questions such as:
What does this person appear to want?
Is there a safety risk?
Is money involved?
Is the user trying to compare?
Is the user trying to verify?
Is this primarily informational?
Could wrong advice cause serious harm?
Does the answer depend on changing information?
Is there an existing IbiFoundry resource that goes deeper?
Diagnosis prevents a search box from behaving like a vending machine.
Decision
After understanding the likely intent, the response should become directional.
Not authoritarian.
Directional.
For example:
“Based on what you have described, I would not send money yet.”
Or:
“If you are completely new to freelancing, start with one sellable skill and one client problem before paying for ten tools.”
Or:
“For current WAEC deadlines and fees, verify the official announcement before making payment.”
Or:
“If your goal is a Nigerian side-income path rather than immediate full-time freelancing, start smaller and validate the skill before resigning from your job.”
A useful decision is specific enough to move you forward but humble enough to acknowledge uncertainty.
Warning
This may be my favourite part of the architecture.
Most people searching online are not only asking:
“What should I do?”
They also need:
“What should I absolutely not do?”
That difference can save money.
Time.
Relationships.
Reputation.
And sometimes much more.
If someone searches a crypto-recovery question, the warning may be:
Do not pay another stranger who guarantees fund recovery.
If somebody is dealing with a romantic online relationship, the warning may be:
Do not allow emotional urgency to become a substitute for verification.
If somebody is trying to rank a website, the warning may be:
Do not buy thousands of junk backlinks because somebody promised page-one results in 48 hours.
If somebody is preparing for an examination, the warning may be:
Do not confuse “expo” groups with preparation.
A good decision system should reveal traps as well as opportunities.
Action
Now we reach the point many information products forget.
What happens next?
I want the answer to leave you with something concrete.
Read this official source.
Open this IbiFoundry guide.
Download this checklist.
Save this evidence.
Compare these two things.
Contact this authority.
Ask another question.
Join a free lesson.
Speak with a human.
Start verification.
Book a service.
Or sometimes:
Do nothing yet.
Yes, waiting can be an action.
Refusing to send money can be an action.
Closing the suspicious website can be an action.
Getting a second medical opinion can be an action.
The goal is not to maximise clicks.
The goal is to reduce uncertainty.
And when an existing IbiFoundry asset is relevant, Dr. Simon Says AI can connect the answer directly into our wider knowledge network.
That means a WAEC query can continue into the complete WAEC registration guide.
A suspicious relationship can continue into Ibi-Verify.
A freelance beginner can continue into the free Freelance to $1K lesson.
A company needing visibility can continue into our SEO services, content marketing services or website design service.
That is why I describe Dr. Simon Says AI as more than a text box.
The search bar is the doorway.
The connected decision system behind it is the product.
Ibi-Aid: turn a confusing search into one clear next move
If you have a real question sitting in your head right now, do not manufacture a “perfect prompt.”
Ask it exactly the way you would ask me if we were sitting together.
What happens when you ask Dr. Simon Says AI a question?
Let us use a simple example.
Suppose you type:
“How can I register WAEC 2026?”
I am using this as an illustrative example of the intended decision journey, not as a substitute for checking current official WAEC information.
The first thing the system should recognise is that you are probably not asking for the history of WAEC.
You have an action problem.
You want to register.
That means the answer should quickly move toward what matters:
Your registration route.
Your timing.
Your required information.
Your subject choices.
Your payment risk.
Your preparation.
And the places where students commonly make mistakes.
The response might first explain the registration route in plain language.
Then it should warn you against unofficial agents, fake payment instructions or so-called “expo” promises.
Then it should tell you which facts can change and therefore need current official confirmation.
Then it can connect you to our WAEC registration, fees and deadline guide.
If JAMB is likely to become the next step, it can also surface my JAMB success blueprint.
That is already more useful than answering the first literal sentence and disappearing.
Now take another query:
“Is this Nigerian online relationship real or a scam?”
That is completely different.
The engine should not begin by recommending products.
It should begin with protection.
Do not send more money merely because somebody creates urgency.
Preserve screenshots.
Preserve names and phone numbers.
Do not delete conversations.
Separate what you independently verified from what the person merely told you.
Watch for repeated emergencies.
Watch for resistance to reasonable verification.
Then, because this is a real-world identity and trust problem that may exceed what an AI response can prove, the natural next route is Ibi-Verify.
Different search.
Different intent.
Different warning.
Different CTA.
That is exactly how I want the system to behave.
Now consider:
“How can I get freelance clients from Nigeria?”
The person's real problem may not be platforms at all.
Perhaps there is no portfolio.
No positioning.
No niche.
No clear offer.
No outreach system.
No proof.
In that case, giving them a list of 25 freelance websites may make them feel productive without actually improving their chances.
A decision-first answer should help the person diagnose the bottleneck.
If they are a beginner, I would naturally route them first to my free Freelance to $1K lesson.
If they are already serious about structured one-on-one guidance, the next step may eventually become my premium freelance coaching.
If the problem is specifically pricing, they should not be sent to a generic homepage when there is a more exact pricing resource.
The principle is simple:
Deep page before homepage.
Relevant resource before random offer.
Safety before sales.
Teaching before selling.
That is the experience I want every Dr. Simon Says AI search to move toward.
Why I call Dr. Simon Says AI Naija-first rather than Nigeria-only
“Naija-first” is an important part of how I think about this project, but I do not want the phrase misunderstood.
It does not mean Dr. Simon Says AI should only answer Nigerian questions.
It does not mean the rest of Africa is an afterthought.
And it certainly does not mean an international user should receive a lower-quality experience.
Naija-first means we refuse to build as though everybody on the internet lives in the same economic, cultural and infrastructural environment.
Let me give you a simple example.
Someone in Nigeria asking:
“How can I receive international freelance payments?”
may be dealing with payment access, exchange rates, bank restrictions, documentation, platform availability and fees that are completely different from the assumptions inside a generic American freelance guide.
Someone asking:
“Should I install solar?”
may not be making a lifestyle choice about reducing a little electricity consumption.
They may be dealing with several hours of grid outage.
Battery replacement cost.
Inverter size.
Local technicians.
Panel availability.
And the difference between powering a fan and powering an entire house.
That is a different decision context.
Someone searching:
“Can I tour Taraba safely?”
does not need a robotic paragraph that merely lists attractions.
They may need local movement context, transport, realistic planning and somebody on ground.
That is why we built Tour Taraba with IbiFoundry.
Someone asking whether an online Nigerian relationship is trustworthy may need cultural understanding without falling into the opposite error of stereotyping every Nigerian person as suspicious.
That requires nuance.
Someone comparing PiggyVest and Cowrywise wants a Nigerian investment context, not a lecture about a savings product that is unavailable to them.
That is why IbiFoundry already has a dedicated PiggyVest vs Cowrywise guide.
Context is not decoration.
Context changes the decision.
But here is the beautiful thing.
When you build from a real place, you often discover universal human problems.
The student in Jalingo afraid of missing a deadline is not emotionally different from a student in Ghana or Kenya facing another examination system.
The Nigerian freelancer trying to prove value has much in common with a freelancer in Pakistan, India, South Africa or the Philippines.
The woman in Europe wondering whether an online lover is telling the truth is experiencing a universal trust problem.
The founder in Taraba struggling to become visible online has the same basic desire as a founder in Manchester:
“Please, let the right people find me and trust what they find.”
So I begin locally.
Then I expand globally.
Naija-first.
Africa-aware.
Human-focused.
And, God willing, useful anywhere.
What can Dr. Simon Says AI help you decide?
One of the easiest mistakes we could make is positioning Dr. Simon Says AI as if it only understands “AI questions.”
That would waste the entire idea.
The technology is the infrastructure.
Your problem is the subject.
Here are some of the areas I am deliberately building into the broader Dr. Simon Says AI and IbiFoundry knowledge ecosystem.
Education and examination decisions
You can ask about WAEC.
JAMB.
Admission.
University choices.
Study preparation.
Registration confusion.
The engine should help distinguish educational guidance from facts that must be confirmed with the relevant official institution.
Freelancing and online income
You can ask how to choose a freelance skill.
How to identify a client.
How to create a portfolio.
How to price.
How to approach potential clients.
How to escape the endless Fiverr-and-Upwork-refresh cycle.
The point is not to promise overnight income.
The point is to help you build something commercially sensible.
SEO and website visibility
You can ask why your website is not ranking.
What an SEO audit should contain.
How content fits into ranking.
Why your Wix sitemap matters.
How internal linking works.
What AI visibility means.
And when you actually need professional implementation rather than another tutorial.
My deeper resources include our IbiFoundry SEO agency, content marketing service and website design service.
Scam, fraud and relationship verification
This is one category where I want Dr. Simon Says AI to be especially cautious.
Scammers exploit urgency.
Fear.
Romance.
Greed.
Embarrassment.
Authority.
And the very human desire to believe somebody we care about.
If something feels suspicious, you can begin with our detailed Nigerian scam tactics guide.
If the issue involves a cryptocurrency wallet, our Trust Wallet hacked guide may be relevant.
If it involves an online relationship, Ibi-Verify is the deeper route.
Nigerian finance and digital services
People want help comparing savings tools.
Payment apps.
International payment options.
Investment platforms.
Online shopping services.
But financial information can change, so the engine should separate general education from regulated financial advice and current product terms.
Technology, Starlink and solar
You can ask about connectivity.
Equipment choices.
Installation questions.
Common mistakes.
And whether an IbiFoundry service fits your situation.
We have dedicated pages for Starlink installation and solar installation.
Taraba, Ibi, tourism and Nigerian knowledge
You can ask about Taraba State.
Jalingo.
Wukari.
Ibi.
Nigerian tribes.
Culture.
Tourism.
Local opportunities.
And the kinds of overlooked builders I increasingly want IbiFoundry to document.
Business and entrepreneurship
You can ask:
Should I build a website?
Should I run ads yet?
What offer should I sell?
What should my landing page contain?
How do I build trust online?
How should a small Nigerian company think about content?
What should I automate?
The engine should reduce these questions into decisions rather than throwing forty marketing tactics at you.
That is the larger ambition.
Not an AI that knows one subject.
A connected decision layer over a growing body of practical knowledge.
Free IbiFounder resource: The Stop Searching Decision Checklist™
Before you search again, ask yourself five things:
What am I actually trying to decide?
What fact could completely change this decision?
What is the worst avoidable mistake here?
Which information must come from an official or qualified source?
What is the smallest sensible next action I can take today?
That five-question habit alone can dramatically improve the quality of the questions you ask any AI tool.
Dr. Simon Says AI vs Google Search
Google and Dr. Simon Says AI are not trying to solve exactly the same problem.
Google Search is one of the world's major discovery systems, and modern Google Search now includes AI experiences that can answer complex questions, handle follow-ups and connect users to information across the web.
I use Google.
I study Google.
A significant part of my professional work has revolved around understanding how businesses become discoverable through Google.
So this is not one of those comparison articles where I have to insult the bigger product so mine can sound important.
Google's extraordinary strength is access to the web.
Dr. Simon Says AI's intended strength is decision context around a narrower IbiFoundry knowledge and action ecosystem.
If you ask Google:
“Best solar installers in Nigeria”
Google can expose you to companies, maps, websites, reviews, ads, videos and other useful sources.
That discovery power matters.
If you ask Dr. Simon Says AI:
“I live in Jalingo, I have unreliable electricity and I need a solar setup for my home, what should I think about before paying an installer?”
the experience should concentrate on your decision:
Expected load.
Battery expectations.
Budget.
Installation risk.
Questions to ask.
Mistakes to avoid.
Then, if it genuinely fits, it can route you into IbiFoundry solar installation.
So my preferred framing is not:
Dr. Simon Says AI replaces Google.
It is:
Google can help you search the web; Dr. Simon Says AI is being designed to help you navigate a decision and then connect you to the next useful action.
Different centre of gravity.
I have prepared an entire supporting comparison for this because the distinction deserves more detail:
Related guide: Dr. Simon Says AI vs Google Search — coming next in this knowledge series.
Dr. Simon Says AI vs ChatGPT
ChatGPT is far broader than Dr. Simon Says AI.
That is the first thing to understand.
ChatGPT can help with writing, research, coding, analysis, learning, brainstorming, file work and many other general-purpose tasks, and ChatGPT Search can also search the web for timely information and provide citations or relevant source links.
Dr. Simon Says AI is narrower by design.
Its intended personality, knowledge routing and conversion architecture begin from a particular founder, company, geography and philosophy.
Dr. Simon Taki Zaku.
IbiFoundry.
Nigeria.
Taraba.
Decision-first thinking.
Trust-first recommendations.
Existing IbiFoundry resources.
Human escalation.
Think of the difference this way.
You might ask ChatGPT:
“Give me 20 ways to get freelance clients.”
And a capable answer may give you twenty genuinely useful ideas.
Dr. Simon Says AI should instead ask a deeper internal question:
“Which one or two of those twenty actually fit this person's current stage?”
If you have no portfolio, maybe your immediate bottleneck is proof.
If you have proof but nobody knows you exist, perhaps it is outreach.
If clients respond but never buy, maybe the problem is positioning or pricing.
If you already have clients but cannot retain them, another acquisition tactic may be a distraction.
The point is not that ChatGPT cannot reason like this.
It can.
The difference is that Dr. Simon Says AI is being deliberately organised so this decision behaviour is the default product experience rather than one of thousands of possible uses.
That distinction will become even clearer in the dedicated comparison:
Related guide: Dr. Simon Says AI vs ChatGPT — coming next in this knowledge series.
What about Gemini, Google AI Mode and Perplexity?
The AI search landscape is moving far too quickly for me to build Dr. Simon Says AI around outdated stereotypes.
Google says AI Mode is designed for complex and multi-part questions, comparisons and follow-ups, and its Africa rollout brought this AI search experience directly into markets including ours.
Perplexity describes itself as an answer engine that searches the web and synthesises information into direct, current responses with sources, while still encouraging users to double-check important information.
ChatGPT Search also combines conversational answers with timely web information and source citations.
So the internet is already moving from:
Find pages.
Toward:
Understand information.
And increasingly toward:
Complete tasks.
That means Dr. Simon Says AI cannot win simply by saying:
“Look, my AI gives answers!”
Everybody gives answers now.
It has to earn usefulness elsewhere.
Context.
Trust.
Decision architecture.
Local knowledge.
Strong routing.
Human escalation.
And a connected ecosystem behind each answer.
That is the opportunity.
I do not need Dr. Simon Says AI to become everything.
I need it to become unusually useful for the problems it chooses to own.
Can you trust Dr. Simon Says AI?
Please listen to me carefully here.
Do not blindly trust Dr. Simon Says AI.
Yes.
I built the thing and I am telling you that myself.
Do not blindly trust ChatGPT either.
Do not blindly trust Google AI Overviews.
Do not blindly trust Gemini.
Do not blindly trust Perplexity.
Do not blindly trust a TikTok expert.
Do not blindly trust a WhatsApp broadcast.
And please do not blindly trust Dr. Simon Taki Zaku simply because “Dr.” is in front of my name.
Trust should come from evidence.
OpenAI itself tells users that AI systems can be wrong and recommends checking important information, especially quotes, data, technical information and external references.
Perplexity similarly encourages users to double-check sources even while positioning its product around current, sourced answers.
That humility must also exist here.
There are several reasons.
Information changes
WAEC deadlines change.
Government rules change.
Prices change.
Investment product terms change.
Exchange rates change.
Software changes.
Politicians change.
Company executives change.
Travel security conditions change.
A good answer from six months ago can become a dangerous answer today.
AI can misunderstand you
You may leave out the most important detail.
The system may interpret your intent incorrectly.
A question that sounds financial may actually be legal.
A relationship question may involve coercion.
A health question may involve symptoms that require urgent medical attention.
The answer is only as useful as the information and context available.
Sources can disagree
Sometimes there is no clean single answer.
Different credible sources can disagree.
A responsible system should not hide that disagreement merely because users prefer certainty.
High-risk decisions require a higher bar
If you are about to send ₦5 million to somebody, “the AI said it seems okay” is not due diligence.
If you are about to take medication, an AI response is not your medical prescription.
If you are signing a serious contract, an AI summary is not a substitute for qualified legal review.
If you are making a major investment decision, you need appropriate financial and regulatory context.
If you suspect fraud, preservation of evidence and contact with appropriate financial institutions or authorities may matter more than reading another article.
Recommendations can have commercial relationships
This is another trust issue I want to be transparent about.
Some IbiFoundry resources are our own products or services.
Some tools we may recommend can involve affiliate relationships.
That does not automatically make the recommendation bad.
But the recommendation should still be relevant first.
If an IbiFoundry service does not solve your problem, Dr. Simon Says AI should not force it into the answer.
If an affiliate tool is irrelevant, commission is not a reason to recommend it.
Usefulness first.
This is why my preferred trust model is:
AI suggests.
Evidence supports.
You decide.
Humans step in where humans are needed.
And if Dr. Simon Says AI ever becomes confident enough to stop admitting uncertainty, then we will have made it worse rather than better.
What Dr. Simon Says AI should never replace
AI can be extraordinarily useful without pretending to be everybody.
That boundary matters.
It should not replace your doctor
Dr. Simon Says AI can help you understand general health information.
It can help you prepare questions.
It can explain terminology.
It can encourage you to seek care.
But it should not diagnose a medical emergency from a casual paragraph and then act as though a clinician is unnecessary.
It should not replace your lawyer
It can explain general legal concepts.
It can help you organise a document.
It can identify questions worth asking.
But serious legal rights, contracts, criminal matters, immigration issues and litigation deserve qualified legal advice in the relevant jurisdiction.
It should not replace regulated financial advice
It can explain financial concepts.
Compare publicly available product information.
Help you understand risk.
But your complete financial circumstances matter.
An AI should not turn “what is PiggyVest?” into “put all your money here.”
It should not replace official government and examination authorities
If an examination body's official deadline differs from an IbiFoundry article, the official authority wins.
If an immigration rule changes, the current government source wins.
If a regulator changes a requirement, the regulator wins.
This is exactly why current-data queries need current verification.
It should not replace emergency services
If somebody is in immediate danger, suffering a medical emergency, facing violence or dealing with an urgent security threat, the job of the AI is not to keep the person chatting for engagement metrics.
The job is to recognise that the conversation has crossed into a situation requiring immediate real-world help.
It should not replace your own judgement
This may be the biggest one.
Technology can strengthen judgement.
It should not delete it.
Ask questions.
Check sources.
Compare.
Slow down when money or emotion is involved.
Notice when somebody is creating artificial urgency.
Ask for evidence.
Be willing to change your mind.
And remember:
The output is a recommendation.
Your life is the decision.
Why Dr. Simon Says AI recommends IbiFoundry pages, tools and human help
This part of Dr. Simon Says AI becomes much easier to understand when you stop imagining IbiFoundry as a normal blog.
I want IbiFoundry to become a connected knowledge institution.
One question connects to another.
One article connects to a framework.
One framework connects to a service.
One service connects to proof.
One course connects to another learning step.
One AI answer connects to the exact resource that can help the person continue.
That is the idea.
Suppose you ask:
“How do I start freelancing in Nigeria?”
We already have an appropriate free Freelance to $1K lesson.
Why send you to a generic homepage?
Suppose you ask:
“How do I verify the Nigerian man I met online?”
We already built Ibi-Verify.
Why show you hosting software?
Suppose your question is:
“How do I grow organic traffic?”
That naturally connects to our SEO services, business blogging services and deeper SEO articles.
Suppose you ask about Taraba tourism.
That belongs with Tour Taraba.
The recommendation should make semantic sense.
This is important commercially too.
I am not ashamed that IbiFoundry is a business.
Businesses need revenue.
People need jobs.
Technology needs infrastructure.
Content costs time and money to create.
But there is a correct order.
Teach.
Build trust.
Offer relevant help.
Invite action.
Selling something useful after helping someone understand a problem is completely different from forcing an unrelated product into every answer.
And sometimes the right recommendation will be free.
Read an article.
Watch a video.
Ask another question.
Check an official source.
Download a guide.
Sometimes the recommendation will be commercial.
Book an SEO service.
Join coaching.
Order content.
Start verification.
Hire the team.
Sometimes no IbiFoundry product should appear at all.
That discipline matters.
Because if every path mysteriously ends with:
“BUY SOMETHING FROM US!”
then Dr. Simon Says AI is not a decision engine.
It is an advertisement wearing an AI costume.
I am not interested in building that.
Ibi-Offers or Ibi-Products for your next decision
If your question is about freelancing, begin with the free Freelance to $1K lesson before considering the premium coaching route.
If your problem is business visibility, explore IbiFoundry SEO, Ibi-Writes content marketing or website design, depending on the actual bottleneck.
If your problem involves online relationship doubt or possible identity deception, begin with Ibi-Verify.
And if you do not yet know which path fits, that is exactly what the AI is there to help you clarify.
Try these Dr. Simon Says AI searches
Do not overthink the prompt.
Ask naturally.
Here are some useful starting points:
“How can I register WAEC 2026 without using the wrong agent?”
“How can I prepare for JAMB if I have only three months left?”
“I am a Nigerian beginner with no freelance experience; what skill should I learn first?”
“How much should I charge my first freelance client?”
“Why is my website not ranking on Google?”
“Should I hire an SEO agency or learn SEO myself first?”
“Is this Nigerian online relationship genuine or are there red flags?”
“Someone says they can recover my stolen crypto if I pay first; what should I do?”
“PiggyVest vs Cowrywise: which one makes more sense for my situation?”
“Is Temu safe to use from Nigeria?”
“Should I buy Starlink in Nigeria?”
“Should I install solar now or keep using my current power setup?”
“What should I check before paying a Nigerian online vendor?”
“How can I build a website that actually generates leads?”
“What is the fastest sensible way to improve my business visibility online?”
“Can I safely visit Taraba State as a first-time visitor?”
“Who exactly is Dr. Simon Taki Zaku and why should I trust IbiFoundry?”
There is no magic incantation.
Ask your real question.
Then improve it with context.
For example, instead of:
“Solar?”
try:
“I live in Jalingo, I want solar for four fans, lights, television, refrigerator and laptops, and my budget is limited; what should I consider first?”
Better context gives better decisions.
Frequently asked questions about Dr. Simon Says AI
What exactly is Dr. Simon Says AI?
Dr. Simon Says AI — Decision Engine™ is a Naija-first IbiFoundry AI experience designed to help users move from a search question toward clearer understanding, practical warnings and an appropriate next action.
Its core philosophy is Search → Diagnosis → Decision → Warning → Action, with relevant IbiFoundry resources or human support introduced when they genuinely help the user continue.
Is Dr. Simon Says AI a search engine or chatbot?
I describe it primarily as a Decision Engine™ rather than trying to force it into one older category.
It can use conversational AI and search-oriented behaviour, but its intended product focus is what happens after the question: understanding the user's likely intent, reducing noise, surfacing risks and helping the person identify what to do next.
Is Dr. Simon Says AI free?
The central search experience is intended to be freely accessible, while some recommendations may naturally point toward optional paid IbiFoundry products or services when those are relevant to the user's problem.
A paid recommendation should not be presented merely because IbiFoundry can make money from it.
How is Dr. Simon Says AI different from ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a broad general-purpose AI product that can assist with a very wide range of tasks and can also search the web for timely information with sources.
Dr. Simon Says AI is intentionally narrower, with a Dr. Simon/IbiFoundry knowledge graph, Nigerian and African context, decision-oriented responses, contextual warnings and routing toward relevant IbiFoundry resources or human support.
How is Dr. Simon Says AI different from Google Search?
Google is an enormous discovery and search platform whose current AI experiences can also answer complex questions and follow-ups.
Dr. Simon Says AI is designed around a smaller, opinionated decision journey where the main objective is not discovering everything on the web but helping the user decide the most useful next step within the problem being discussed.
Does Dr. Simon Says AI search the live internet?
Whether live web retrieval is used can depend on the deployed version and infrastructure available at the time you use the product, so users should not assume every answer automatically reflects real-time internet data.
For deadlines, regulations, prices, current office-holders, security conditions and other changing facts, current sources should always be verified.
Can Dr. Simon Says AI help with WAEC, JAMB, scams, freelancing and Nigerian business questions?
Those are exactly the kinds of areas the IbiFoundry knowledge ecosystem is being built around.
However, the quality of the answer still depends on the available information, and official or professional sources remain necessary where the subject requires them.
Can I trust every answer from Dr. Simon Says AI?
No.
Use the answer as decision support, inspect important sources, verify current facts and seek qualified human help for high-stakes medical, legal, financial, security or other professional matters.
Blind trust would contradict the purpose of building a trust-first system.
Who built Dr. Simon Says AI?
I am Dr. Simon Taki Zaku, Founder and CEO of IbiFoundry Limited, from Taraba State, Nigeria.
You can read more about my work and the wider mission on the official About Dr. Simon Taki Zaku and What Is IbiFoundry? pages.
Why does Dr. Simon Says AI sometimes recommend another article, service or WhatsApp conversation?
Because one AI response should not pretend to be the end of every problem.
If a dedicated guide teaches the subject better, a verification service can investigate something the AI cannot prove, or a human conversation is genuinely the better next step, routing you there is part of the decision rather than a failure of the AI.
You have searched enough: what do you need to decide?
I want to end where we started.
You probably did not arrive on this page because you woke up excited to study the philosophical differences between search engines, answer engines and decision engines.
You wanted to understand one thing:
“What exactly is this Dr. Simon Says AI?”
Now you know.
It is my attempt to build a more human bridge between information and action.
Not a replacement for Google.
Not a replacement for ChatGPT.
Not a replacement for human expertise.
And certainly not an oracle that should be trusted blindly.
It is a decision experience.
You bring the problem.
The system tries to diagnose what you actually need.
It helps you understand the useful part.
It warns you about obvious traps.
It recommends a sensible next move.
And where IbiFoundry already has something that can take you further, it connects you there.
That is the product.
But there is also a bigger idea beneath the product.
I believe the future internet will not be won simply by whoever publishes the most information.
Information is becoming abundant.
AI can generate more of it before you finish drinking one cup of tea.
The harder problem is becoming:
What deserves my attention?
What should I believe?
What applies to me?
What risk am I missing?
What should I do next?
Those are human questions.
And that is why my ambition for Dr. Simon Says AI remains human.
Technology should reduce confusion.
Not create a more impressive form of confusion.
AI should help you think.
Not teach you to stop thinking.
A recommendation should reduce uncertainty.
Not pressure you into somebody else's sales target.
And every answer should try to leave you a little wiser than you were before you asked.
So, my friend, enough explanation.
You now know what Dr. Simon Says AI is.
The better question is:
What do you need to decide today?
Stop Searching. Start Deciding.
Prefer a real human conversation? Learn more about Dr. Simon and IbiFoundry →
Who is guiding this Decision Engine? Meet Dr. Simon Taki Zaku
I am Dr. Simon Taki Zaku, Founder and CEO of IbiFoundry Limited, from Taraba State, Nigeria.
My work sits around SEO, content systems, digital strategy, entrepreneurship, online visibility, freelancing, practical education and the bigger question of how the internet can create real opportunities for ordinary people.
I built IbiFoundry around a simple belief: knowledge becomes much more valuable when somebody can actually use it.
That belief eventually led me here.
Dr. Simon Says AI is therefore not separate from IbiFoundry.
It is one interface into the wider IbiFoundry knowledge ecosystem.
If you want to understand the institution behind the technology, begin with What Is IbiFoundry?.
If you want my personal story, background, work and mission, visit About Dr. Simon Taki Zaku.
And if what brought you here is still unresolved, do not leave with the same question you arrived with.
Building Knowledge. Pursuing Excellence. Serving People. Soli Deo Gloria.
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