> Honestly, sounds like the side-AI project could be the exact point of a "blue sky" project As a separate follow up project; not as a sub-project that stalls

> Honestly, sounds like the side-AI project could be the exact point of a "blue sky" project As a separate follow up project; not as a sub-project that stalls the main project (which is how it will be done since "What else are we going to do with the money? Doing the boring work of ironing out the kinks in the main project?").