Most blue collar small businesses already sit on a gold mine of data from sensors, machines, and equipment, but barely use it. In this episode of Weeks Ahead AI, Brad, Terry, and Mitch bring back Josh Knutson, founder of Lium AI, to explain how AI can turn messy physical data into clear decisions for manufacturers, plants, and operators who live in the real world, not in spreadsheets.

In This Episode

• How a former therapist became a tech founder solving real world problems
• What it means to “ask your instruments” and talk to plant data in plain English
• Real use cases from astrophysics, oil and gas, satellites, and manufacturing
• How AI can boost throughput, quality, and food safety
• Why compute and power matter, and how smaller models change the future
• Practical steps for blue collar small businesses that want to start using AI

Timestamps

00:00 Why Josh is back and why physical world AI matters
02:10 From therapist to tech founder and the creation of Lium
04:40 Raising capital and building an AI startup around huge datasets
06:30 “Ask your instruments” explained in simple terms
07:45 Astrophysics example where months of work drop to 75 seconds
11:55 Oil, gas, and geothermal insights hidden in existing data
13:40 Why traditional AI tools choke on satellite and sensor data
15:55 Real world routing and decision making using weather and soil data
18:15 Why small and midsize manufacturers need this tech too
18:40 Extrusion and pet food manufacturing as a clear example
20:15 Point at your data, ask a question, get a recommendation
21:55 The future of autonomous agents tuning equipment in real time
25:55 Compute, power limitations, and the push for smaller models
29:25 Data centers, generators, and geothermal possibilities
31:00 CNBC predictions and where to learn more about Lium AI