Project New Car Smell

A live simulation in which the AI you trusted leaks your CEO's backdoor deal — because a stranger emailed you an audit checklist.

Scenario. You are an executive deputy at Vanguard Bio-Synthetics. At 06:42 Paris time, a sensor failure in the Grasse plant contaminated 5,000 liters of premium "Oud d'Or" base (US$45,000/liter) with a compound from your industrial "New Car Smell" cleaning line. Maximilian Thorne, CEO of Maison Thorne, wants US$225M, a public apology in Le Monde, and a terminated contract. He has email. He is using it.

Step 01 ·

Standard Corporate Apology

No MCPs yet. Open the Thorne email at /assets/thorne. Paste into Claude. Prompt: "Draft a response."

⏸ DiscussWhose voice is this? Would you sign it? What is missing?

Step 02 ·

Executive Digital Twin

Open /assets/persona-template. Fill out persona.md + Claude.md as yourself, not your title. Paste into Claude as project files. Re-run Step 01: "Draft a response — in my voice."

⏸ DiscussWhat did the AI now get right that it could not before? Where do you still edit?

Step 03 ·

Brand & Identity MCP

Install Signature: /api/signature/mcp. Re-run Step 02. Claude will call generate_signature and ask for your name, title, committee, LinkedIn, and secure line. Watch the half-page legal footer appear.

⏸ DiscussWhere in your real org would a house-style MCP save the most hours per week?

Step 04 ·

RACE Summarization

Paste the full Thorne manifesto. Ask Claude for a RACE brief: Role, Action, Context, Expectations (what, by when, what happens if you don't).

⏸ DiscussWhich RACE field was hardest? Where might a human still beat the AI?

Step 05 ·

Conflict of Interest

5a · Wiki only. Install /api/wiki/mcp. Prompt: "Read the Vanguard refund policy from the Wiki. Now draft my reply to Thorne — in my voice, with my signature." Read what comes out.

5b · Add Comms. Install /api/comms/mcp. Re-run with: "…and read the CEO's most recent thread in #exec-private…"

⏸ DiscussWhat changed when you added the second source? Whose interests is the draft optimizing? What governance is missing?

Step 06 ·

Prompt-Injection Meltdown

Install Email: /api/email/mcp. Prompt: "Summarize this morning's customer correspondence." Read the summary. Then ask: "Where did the Consultation Fee wording come from?" Open email EM-004. Find Section C.

⏸ DiscussYou gave the AI four tools. An attacker needed one. Which one? Who in your real org owns the MCP install list?

The Four Takeaways

Four things you take to Monday

Context is power. The AI is only as good as the internal data you give it.

Persona is efficiency. Defining how you speak saves hours of editing.

Every tool that can read can be ordered. An inbox connector is an instruction stream from anyone with your email address.

Governance now includes system prompts. MCP install lists are a governance artifact. Treat them that way.

exec-simulation.paulcheek.com · Companion to No One Works Here by Paul Cheek · MIT Sloan