Founder's Thoughts with Robert Parker

The next generation of Artificial Intelligence has arrived, and it’s disrupting how brands across all industries do business.

We talked to Robert Parker, one of BrightAI’s founders, about how AI has evolved, and what that means for innovating new business solutions.

Robert shared his thoughts on how AI can empower human productivity, reduce margins of error, and alleviate privacy concerns. He also highlighted how BrightAI is doing things a little differently from other leaders in the tech industry.

How has first generation AI evolved into next generation solutions?

The first generation of AI was groundbreaking at the time because it helped companies identify problems standing in the way of their growth. Identifying these problems is interesting, but it's not all that challenging—or helpful. Solving these problems is the next level of difficulty. That is second generation AI.

Today, AI has so much more to offer companies. But it also requires more courage and conviction from brands who truly want to disrupt their industry; because if you are going to deploy a solution that's vertically integrated with your company, it’s likely you’ll need to implement some changes in your application, your cloud, or your physical environments.

BrightAI makes it really simple for our clients to achieve this. We have tools we can deploy side-by-side with whatever a company is already using. We can install our controller boards in under 20 seconds, and customize everything so we're able to deliver amazing outcomes in a non-disruptive way.

How does BrightAI harness the power of sensors to help businesses that rely on machines run better?

We’ve developed “better than human” sensing that provides our clients with the type of data they need to avoid expensive mishaps. Physical spaces are almost always more complex than meets the human eye, so seemingly simple tasks such as taking accurate measurements for installation are often fraught with human error. That’s the first place our better than human sensing comes in.

Where a human can only rely on their five senses, BrightAI can get a much more accurate assessment by using ultrasound technology or laser scanners that can give you sub millimeter precision. Humans just aren’t capable of that type of spatial awareness.

Our better than human sensing also pinpoints the specific cause of any machinery malfunction. Take, for example, our client who runs a national laundry business. It’s really common for dryers to overheat and stop working. This was costing our client a lot of money in both customer service calls and refunds to people who weren’t able to fully dry their clothes. So we deployed our sensors into their laundry rooms. Now we can instantly see when a dryer overheats mid-cycle. When this happens, we send a quick message to the customer telling them to switch to a new machine.

Not only does this keep the customer happy and eliminate the request for a refund, it also cuts down on unnecessary servicing. Had we not been able to intercept the problem, the customer would likely have called customer service to report a broken machine. This could trigger a technician to be sent out, when really the machine just needed some time to cool down. So our better than human sensing dramatically reduces our client’s business costs. Plus, it helps create satisfied and loyal customers.

What makes BrightAI unique?

We thrive on complexity. The more complicated a company's problem, and the more interaction required between people and machines, the better our solutions work.

BrightAI uses a unique combination of resources to harness multiple data points. I don’t think there are many—or any—other AI companies that combine cloud, mobile, devices, sensing, and edge. This, plus our better than human sensing, is what makes us thrive. Our thorough, detailed approach enables us to deliver next-level solutions for complex hybrid businesses.

What is the edge AI hub?

This is BrightAI’s local AI hub. It’s a huge differentiator because it allows our customers to bypass the cloud. That’s especially vital for clients who need technology that works in basements and other places where connectivity is often an issue—like our laundry machine providers. Our edge AI hub allows us to customize service for each individual client location, so we can locally optimize every project.

Another huge benefit of our edge AI hub is that our clients don’t have to bear the cost of data. When using the cloud, IoT companies end up getting charged for all the data their sensors pick up. These costs add up quickly, and become really expensive. With the edge AI hub, that is never an issue.

Plus, our edge AI hub adds another layer of privacy and security for our clients. Since nothing is getting transferred to the cloud, there’s zero risk sensitive data will be accessible to anyone outside of their company.

How does BrightAI ensure privacy while it collects data?

Bright AI takes privacy and security very seriously. Because BrightAI collects so much data, we’re sensitive to both the type of data we pull and how that data will be used. We've built in a number of automatic safeguards that ensure sensitive information never gets shared.

For example, we only install cameras that blur out pixels right when an image is captured. That guarantees privacy, since it’s impossible for a customer’s face to get loaded to the cloud.

Interested in hearing more from BrightAI’s thought leaders? Discover how our other founders are helping transform multiple industries through next generation AI. If you have any questions, or if you’d like to schedule an interview with any one of our founders, email us at info@bright.ai.