October 24, 2025 • 28 mins
A smarter path to AI starts with a simple idea: the best help feels like calling a friend who knows your world. We sit down with Derek Krager, founder of Practical AI and creator of Pocket Mentor, to unpack how voice-first guidance can deliver the right knowledge at the right time. Instead of flooding teams with generic answers, Pocket Mentor captures a company’s way of working and serves it back as clear, compassionate coaching. It’s not AI that tells you what to think; it’s a mentor that thinks with you, in your language, at your pace.
Derek shares the origin story behind building Amazon’s highest-rated training program and why a conversation beats keystrokes for speed, nuance, and confidence. We dig into the platform’s domain-focused design—one craft at a time, curated to reflect real standards and culture—so learners get the brand’s best practices, not random internet advice. A highlight is Neurocompanion, a specialized track that supports neurodivergent employees and gives managers practical, judgment-free help to prepare better one-on-ones, reduce friction, and build trust across diverse teams.
We also explore practical uses beyond the enterprise: from formulating natural products to scaling nonprofit programs like therapeutic horticulture, pilots can turn a vision into a repeatable, voice-guided workflow. Derek explains why human-first AI is the fork in the road that matters now: augment people to become indispensable problem-solvers, or risk a future of rigid processes with no room for creativity. If you want AI that mirrors your expertise and helps your team act with clarity, this conversation shows what’s already working—and what’s next.
Want more? Grab the free first chapter of Human First AI at humanfirstai.net, visit practicalai.app to connect, and share this episode with someone who needs a smarter mentor on speed dial. Subscribe, rate, and leave a review to help others find the show.
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SPEAKER_01 (00:02):
Well, hello, and welcome back to the Healthy
Living Podcast.
I'm your host, Joe Grumbine, andtoday we've got a very special
guest.
His name's Derek Krager.
And uh, Derek is the founder andCEO of Practical AI and creator
of Pocket Mentor, author ofHuman First AI, is a visionary
tech founder and AI thoughtleader, and he bridges the
(00:24):
cutting-edge innovation withhuman-centric purpose.
Um, he built Amazon'shighest-rated employee training
program in company history andcreated the Pocket Mentor, first
voice-based AI mentor forin-air, hands-free, eye-free,
real-time support on the jobthat magnifies learning 30
(00:46):
times.
Um, he's got an upcoming book,Human First AI.
Derek is spearheading a timelytribe-building initiative to
keep technology human-centered.
And uh, you know, Derek, withoutjumping too further into it,
this is very interesting.
And I'm looking forward tohearing all about your
technology and the work you'redoing.
(01:07):
Welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_00 (01:09):
Well, thank you, Joe, and thank you to all the
listeners here.
I uh I'm grateful you brought meon.
SPEAKER_01 (01:14):
Well, and as always, um, as we get into this
conversation, our listeners andmyself especially, we like to
hear about, you know, how'd youget here?
What brought you to this placethat you're at right now?
SPEAKER_00 (01:29):
Yeah, certainly.
So uh I think life, uh a lot ofsuccess in life is about having
the right information at theright time.
You know, it's it's uh I think Ikicked myself in the butt a time
or two over my course of my lifewhere I it's like, oh, I wish I
would have said this, or I wishI would have known that.
And don't want to live withregret.
So uh the pattern of successthat I've had in life is that uh
(01:51):
when I've had the knowledge withme when I needed it is when I
was most successful.
So where I'm at today, I'veafter leaving Amazon with the
success that I had there and thetraining methodologies that I
had developed, um, I leveragedthis uh new thing called AI.
You might have heard of it.
SPEAKER_01 (02:09):
Yeah, yeah.
It seems to be a little bitcatching on out there.
SPEAKER_00 (02:13):
Yeah, absolutely.
So uh I uh I'm leaning on EI,not to think for the user, but
to think with the user veryconversationally.
And I really believe that thisis the um the value that AI can
bring us.
And the way I deliver that isthrough a voice interface, which
(02:33):
means it's it's no harder thanthan phoning a friend.
It's no harder than calling Joeup and saying, hey, Joe, you've
done this before.
Can you talk me through it?
And and that's how we get there.
So that's that's what this isall about.
It's about being able to givepeople access to the right
information at the right time sothey can take control of their
own future as they move forwardin life.
SPEAKER_01 (02:55):
Nice.
And, you know, I've I've had anumber of guests that are
working on AI type projects, andthey vary from uh one guy who's
working on uh a doctor'snetwork, and there's all these
different, you know, practicaluses when you refine this thing.
Um of course, you know, it's gotits limitations, at least today,
(03:21):
and it's got its weaknesses, andyeah, people are afraid of it in
some cases, and and there's allkinds of you know obstacles in
our way.
Meanwhile, it's it's you knowmarching forward at breakneck
pace.
And um what what is your target,you know, demographic for this?
Who are you looking to uh buildthis business around?
SPEAKER_00 (03:45):
Well, I uh I'm glad you use the term practical in AI
use.
That's uh coincidentally that'sthe name of my company,
practical AI.
And everything that we build ishas a practical mindset.
We're not looking for headlines,we're not looking to say, hey,
we're the cool kids on theblock, because I was never the
cool kid on the block.
I was just the one kind of leftholding the bag and trying to
(04:07):
make resolution and and solvethings.
So, who are we building thisfor?
So essentially, what I've builtis the platform.
It's kind of like uh Gutenbergwhen when the Gutenberg Press
was invented.
It's a tool, but what's thevalue of the tool unless you
have the information?
So at its raw core, Joe, um,what I've built is an interface
(04:31):
that can you can plug in anyknowledge domain in the world.
And it's important that we talkthat we're only working on one
knowledge domain at a time.
It could be for a uh maybe likea um a product manager role at
Amazon where I worked.
Maybe it could be as anelectrician at the Ford Motor
Company.
And um we build those outspecial with that specialized
(04:56):
knowledge.
But um something that's verypassionate uh to me and our team
here is uh what we callneurocompanion.
So it's it's pocket mentor, butthis specific chapter is uh
written into helping those thatare neurodivergent at work.
And it there's two sides of thiscoin.
(05:17):
There's the side that uh, hey,I've always been the weird kid,
let me hit the easy button, callit pocket mentor, uh,
neurocompanion, and just bear myheart, uh, which I wouldn't do
with another human.
I mean, really, most peopledon't.
But if I'm talking to a machineand I get back this voice
(05:38):
conversational, it sounds human,um, it's uh it's compassionate,
it's supportive, and it'spatient, and it's available to
me 24/7.
Well, me onboarding to a newcompany, and that's that's the
feather of my cap at Amazon, wasan onboarding program that
helped onboard 35,000 employeesin one year back in 2021 and and
(06:03):
beyond.
But it's about giving that newhire a friend, or maybe you
know, any employee a friend whenthey need one, 247, 365.
And it might be, hey, how do Ichange the toner again?
Or it's like, what is I have animportant decision to make, what
is the mission or visionstatement of the company applied
(06:24):
to my role or this decision?
And just like uh you would callup your best friend in the world
and say, Hey, I just need asoundboard right now, right?
SPEAKER_01 (06:34):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (06:34):
And that's that, yeah, that's what Pocket Mentor
does.
It's a soundboard.
Yeah, absolutely.
So it's on the uh theneurodivergent side, and really
I I really fall into thisneuroagnostic because at its
root, all of us thinkdifferently.
Sure.
So there's there's no two peoplealike.
So we can soundboard as anemployee to get us through our
(06:55):
day.
And on the flip side, how aboutthat manager?
You know, we lean hard intomanagers and supervisors saying
how bad they are.
They're in the headlines, peopledon't quit jobs, they quit
managers or they quitsupervisors.
And the big part of it is thatthose managers and supervisors,
they're not prepared properlybecause it's impossible to
(07:17):
prepare somebody for everycircumstance, every perspective
uh of employees and situations.
So the flip side of this is thatthe manager or supervisor can
call up pocket mentor,neurocompanion, and say, Hey,
I've got this guy named Derek.
He tells me he's autistic andhe's got ADHD.
And I'm not really sure whatthat even is.
(07:39):
I I heard about these words, butI've I've been scared to even
talk about it.
So, how do I engage this person?
We're coming up on our firstone-on-one conversation.
How do I follow through?
And then just like Joe, justlike you would consult me in a
conversation, pocket mentor,neurocompanion does the same
thing to that manager and itsets them up for success.
(08:00):
Is it going to give them all theanswers?
No, but it's going to put themin the right direction so they
have the best chance ofsucceeding in that conversation.
SPEAKER_01 (08:09):
Interesting.
So, you know, most of ourlisteners, uh, you know, again,
we have worldwide listeners withevery possible situation you
could imagine from, you know, uhchronic and terminal diseases
all the way to mild, you know,Asperger's, whatever it is that
(08:30):
you want to think of, you know,maybe I got an itch on my nose.
Well, that's a health issue,right?
And so you've got people thatare looking to solve their own
problems.
You got people that are just inhere trying to uh live longer,
you know, biohackers trying to,you know, solve the longevity uh
quiz.
Um aside from people in theworkplace specifically with the
(08:56):
target that you have, how wouldour listeners look to this and
say, oh wow, I could see myselfusing this in a practical way
beyond, you know, maybe I'mretired or maybe I have my own
business and I'm not I don'thave employees or whatever.
Maybe there's like not the thingthat it was specifically
(09:16):
designed for, but it seems likea pretty handy tool.
How would you see that um youknow this community could uh
embrace this technology?
SPEAKER_00 (09:25):
By all means, reach out to me and ask.
I'd I'd love to set up pilotprograms and much using you know
that metaphor of the uhGutenberg Press.
You know, the Gutenberg Press,you know, the first year or
century or two, right, it it putout the Gutenberg Bible.
So it was printing one thing.
So it's important for my companyfrom a business standpoint to
(09:49):
you know follow a niche, startthere until we dig in deep, and
then we expand.
We we uh we can't be the cureall for everybody, right?
But it's like we invented thebook, we invented a new
technology.
So we're looking for this togrow organically in the need.
So people that are raising theirhands and saying, Hey, Derek,
(10:11):
have you thought about this?
And it's like, you know what?
I like that idea.
Talk me through it a little bit.
And then if there's a use case,then we'll come up and we will
uh create uh at no cost, youknow, a pilot program for the
use case, and we will work withyou and uh get it, uh, give you
a chance to uh use it andutilize it.
(10:33):
And then if you find value init, we say, okay, you know, how
can we uh how can we expandthis?
How can we uh help your market?
How can we help yourorganization, whether it be for
profit?
SPEAKER_01 (10:47):
You know, the first is real simple.
I'm a formulator, um, I makenatural products, and certainly,
you know, um there's so muchinformation out there today in
developing formulas that, youknow, I use a little AI in my
research, but a lot of it islooking at things that work and
ingredients and all of that.
That would be certainly oneapplication I'd be interested in
(11:09):
looking at.
But the second is um I have anonprofit um that's a couple of
years old.
We're working on securingfunding, and and you know, we've
gotten a couple of littlegrants, and um we have a two and
a half acre botanical gardenwhere we use uh these gardens
for what we call therapeutichorticulture and developing
(11:33):
programs, working with uhspecial needs kids and adults,
um even uh mental health therapysessions.
I would think that there wouldbe a way to use a tool like this
to take an idea into fruition orto find funding sources or to
find partners or or clients oryou know, resources of any kind.
(11:58):
I would think that somethinglike that might be a really
interesting and potential usefor something like this.
SPEAKER_00 (12:05):
Yeah, absolutely.
And you have your brand, andyour brand is your perspective
on life and what you do.
So I was asked earlier today,said uh Derek, you know, why
Pocket Mentor, whyNeurocompanion, why why this
specialized tool if I can justtalk to Chat GPT?
Sure.
Well, the difference is that uhtalking to Chat GPT is like
(12:29):
talking to um, I don't know, uha billion Legos that they're all
in in their individual pieces.
Right.
Yeah, it's all there, but what Iwant, I want to speak and I want
to hear the perspective of ofthe chef, right?
That that's following them.
I want to hear the Joe'sperspective on how Joe does it
because I like the way Joe doesit.
(12:51):
And this is where we take thatknowledge and we put it in a
container, and we make sure thatour the conversation is is uh
curated around your knowledge,nobody else's, just yours in
your flavor at the pace you giveit.
Um, you know, I know my uh mymom had, I think I counted one
(13:13):
time, eight different recipesfor brownies, but there was only
there was only one brownie Ireally liked.
And mine, it's got to havewalnuts in it.
So in in this example, it wouldbe like, okay, let's wrap this
around how to make the bestbrownie in the world, like Derek
would do it, or like Derek'sgrandmother did.
And I don't want to know athousand different ways.
I mean, if we Googled, you know,I guess that was last year's
(13:35):
term Googling, but today we wechat GPT something, sure.
SPEAKER_01 (13:39):
It's working its way into the lexicon for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (13:43):
It is for sure, absolutely.
So I don't want to know just arecipe for brownies, I want to
know the recipe, or I don't wantto know, you know, how do I, you
know, till a garden, how do Iplant, how do I uh use
pesticides or or organicpesticides or pest control that
(14:03):
doesn't use pesticides, and andhow do I do it Joe's way, or how
do I do it Derek's way, or justput your name there.
That's where we specialize.
We we replicate your way and wemake sure that um whoever is
talking to your virtual selfgets your answers only the way
you would deliver them in thatflavor.
SPEAKER_01 (14:25):
Oh, okay.
So so I I'm starting to maybewrap my head around this a
little bit better than what Ithought it was doing.
So it would basically be almostlike the old days.
I don't know if you remember wayback when the voice recognition
software was new, and you hadthis uh dragon software where
(14:46):
you had to put this headphone onand read to it over and over and
over again, and eventually itwould start to learn your
dialect a little bit better, andit took forever and it was
clunky and slow, and it messedup worse than Siri does today.
But it was it learned your voicepatterns and your um whatever,
(15:08):
your choice of words, and it andeventually sort of was able to
translate what you were sayinginto a printed word pretty well.
SPEAKER_00 (15:17):
Yeah, yeah, that dragon dictate.
I think I had version 14 of it,was my last one.
And to be honest, I think it'sstill sitting on the CD or DVD
in my basement.
Probably unwrapped.
Probably, yeah.
So that's our fascination withconversations, is that we know
that our voice uh throughconversation mode is the
(15:39):
quickest way to interact, right?
You and I, right now, we couldhave this camera on, we could be
looking at each other, and wecan either talk like we are, and
you can hear my words, mytonality, uh, you can see my
body language, and you can gleanso much from the conversation
just outside of the words andhow quick they're delivered,
(16:00):
versus we could also be herejust typing, you know, yeah, no
audio, and it's just a completedifferent experience.
It's sanitized when it goesthrough key clicks.
SPEAKER_01 (16:10):
There's a real good reason why I do my interviews
this way, and it's not just thespoken word over the written
word, but it's the it's theeye-to-eye micro expression, the
reading each other's tones, allof that is critical to actually
transfer one thought to anothereffectively.
(16:32):
You know, you got to be a reallygood writer to communicate
through written word.
SPEAKER_00 (16:37):
Well, true that.
True that.
And that's what our softwaredoes.
And I say software, but it'sit's only software in the sense
that there's some ones and zerosthat are put together.
But uh the way we do theinterface is that you can just
pick up your telephone and hitspeed dial or tap your earbud,
and you're connected to thisauthentic uh human proxy that's
(17:00):
every bit as compassionate, ormaybe more so than uh than than
humans are, because humans haveanxiety and priorities and
limited time per day.
Um, but if we could imprint Joeuh on his best day and give
everybody access to that, uh tothe information that you wanted
(17:21):
to share, then they're alwaysgoing to be connecting with Joe
on his best day from here uh toeternity.
And that's that's what we'rewe're proposing.
SPEAKER_01 (17:30):
Or things like putting together a training or a
workshop or uh presenting somekind of a program or anything
like that, this could beinvaluable.
SPEAKER_00 (17:42):
Absolutely, it's it's a big helper.
So anytime that you'd want to uhsoundboard, and sometimes you
know, I just try to soundboardwith myself, right?
And so just talking through ithelps me understand.
SPEAKER_01 (17:56):
And if I have somebody absolutely 100%, and
you know, I'm I'm a visionaryand an innovator, and you know,
I blow people apart with myconversation sometimes, you
know.
I get excited and start to uh,you know, go into a passionate
uh delivery of explaining athought that I have that I see
(18:19):
from you know a universalperspective, and they're looking
at it from the front door, andI'm like trying to take them
back to where they canunderstand it all.
And before you know it, you seethe eyes glaze over and like, ah
crap, I lost another one, youknow.
And so, you know, certainly tohave a sounding board when
you're walking through tocoalesce ideas and to break it
(18:41):
down into something that'sdeliverable where people, the
general population can consumeit without you know having
sensory overload.
Um, that sounds, you know, veryinteresting and and enticing.
So it sounds like based on thedemographic and the way you've
described its practicalapplication, this is available
(19:07):
or primarily made available tobusinesses and um executives and
people that are um people thatare in an operation where they
could use this in multiple unitsor whatever.
Is that the case, or is a singleindividual have access to this?
(19:29):
And if so, how does that work?
SPEAKER_00 (19:31):
Well, our uh our focus right now, and the
marketing team tells me, youknow, we got to sharpen that
spear to focus and articulateour goal, right?
Some cool, you know, businessterminology, I guess.
Um, but uh yeah, so right nowour driving focus is uh
enterprise level, uh, becauseyou know they're the ones with
the deep pockets, and honestly,they're the ones that uh we
(19:54):
could help the most people inthe shortest amount of time.
We're looking at a uh kind of afreemium option um on ways to do
that.
Uh we're kicking around someideas ourselves, and um, I know
when we get our the first onethat we're going to turn loose
on that would be the PocketMentor Neuro Companion, which is
(20:14):
just to help people through, youknow, sometimes the roughest
days in in the world.
They just need somebody to talkto.
And and if it's 2 a.m.
on a Saturday, you know, theircompany EAP program isn't
available, or their um theirbest friend might not be
available, and a professional'snot going to be available until
Monday.
So what could we do just to helpthem through their days?
(20:36):
So uh we're looking at models.
So if somebody has uh somesuggestions and ideas,
otherwise, I would say, youknow, come to our website, uh,
you know, jump on, you know,click the little newsletter or
remind me when uh button thatall websites have today.
And uh as we develop and releaseto the individual, uh, we'll
certainly make you aware ofthat.
SPEAKER_01 (20:57):
Fantastic.
So um, you know, this is aproduct that's still in
development.
It's um, you know, you're you'reyou're working at this and on
this.
What is the status of yourrollout?
Like um, when would a company oran individual, you know,
obviously you got two differentthings.
One is this version for the forthe company or the, you know,
(21:20):
like you're talking about yourtarget.
Um, and then second, you'retalking about this pocket um
version that would be more of anindividual tool.
What's what's your rolloutlooking like or or your
projection or your thoughts?
SPEAKER_00 (21:36):
Yeah, the uh the freemium consumer model is uh
still on the roadmap.
Uh, we haven't uh launched thatat this point, but the
enterprise uh project uh andproduct has been launched.
And we're all yeah, we're we uhwe've we have successful
implementations, we're in theprocess of implementing more and
onboarding uh more companies andorganizations.
(21:59):
So uh yeah, it's it's a provenmodel, um, and we're happy that
it is.
And the reason that I'm I'mbehind this uh driving force so
much, uh you mentionedhuman-first AI.
I truly believe that uh we needto put the humans first when AI
is involved because we're atthis fork in the road.
And uh to uh you know uh leaveYogi Berra quote aside, right?
(22:22):
Right, um, we're at this fork inthe road where we can either
augment humans to be the besthumans they've ever been in
life, which that would be themental side of our health,
right?
To make us as better people,better humans.
Or the flip side is everybody'sseen the headlines.
AI is uh replacing workforces,and that's not what we're
(22:44):
looking to do.
We want to make sure that we'reusing AI to improve that human,
to make them irreplaceable,indispensable.
Uh, because if otherwise we'regonna lose that outside the box
thinking, and it's the humanfactor.
We've all seen enough sci-fi outthere when we take the human
element out of a situation thatwe get locked in to just rote
(23:09):
process and nothing new everhappens.
So uh I really am pushing thishuman first AI, let's augment
the humans.
Uh, you know, sure, improve theproduction for the company, but
make sure that the individualsuh that are that are building
and creating have moreopportunity to build and create,
(23:29):
and they have those answers whenthey need them.
Otherwise, we're gonna go down adark path and that's not gonna
be good for anybody.
SPEAKER_01 (23:37):
Exactly.
We don't want to see that T100coming down the road for any
good reason, right?
Um, well, Derek, as always, um,this has been a very interesting
conversation.
I look forward to hearing thefuture as this thing rolls out,
especially uh for an individuallike me to have access to
something like this.
Um, I always like to give you anopportunity to kind of wrap your
(23:58):
thoughts up into a central uhparting shot for everybody, and
then uh let us know the best wayto get a hold of you and to
learn more.
And uh maybe uh some of ourbusiness owners would be
interested in uh learning moreabout your enterprise system.
SPEAKER_00 (24:17):
Yes, absolutely.
Thank you.
So uh my thought on AI ingeneral is don't be afraid of
AI.
You know, it's uh kind of likethe internet.
The internet was uh launched in1989 publicly, but it really
didn't hit the tipping pointuntil 2006.
So that was 17 years that of theinevitability.
(24:37):
And if all of us would havejumped on that wave in the
earliest, we all could havebenefited the most.
Right.
Not necessarily implementing it,but at least understanding it.
And the same way with AI here,you know, be cautious, ask your
questions, you know, pro, makesure that things are being done
the right way, but let's notbury our head in the sand.
(24:58):
So that's that's the big part.
And as far as what we're doinghere, our human-first AI
augmentation, um, we're we'redriving this.
It's our platform.
We want everybody to benefit inin every way possible.
Uh, our company is practicalai.
I think our domain, you can findus at practicalai.app.
(25:18):
That's dot app.
And uh you can find my name onLinkedIn and feel free to reach
out and make a connection there.
And you mentioned uh my bookthat I have come out, Human
First AI.
Yeah, uh, everyone here, I'llgive you the first chapter for
free.
Just go to uh humanfirstai.netand uh you can read that first
(25:41):
chapter for free and getnotified when it uh gets
released on uh Amazon and otherplatforms.
SPEAKER_01 (25:47):
Beautiful.
Well, Derek, this has been anintriguing conversation.
I'm looking forward to learningmore.
Um, I'd like to welcome ourguests back if you've got
updates and and more informationto share in the future.
And uh just want to thank youfor being here.
SPEAKER_00 (26:02):
Well, Joe, thank you and uh your audience uh so much.
It's uh been my privilege.
Appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01 (26:08):
Beautiful.
This has been another edition ofthe Healthy Living Podcast.
I'm your host, Joe Grumba, and Iwant to thank all of our
listeners that make this showpossible, and we will see you
next time.
Well, hello, and welcome back to the Healthy
Living Podcast.
I'm your host, Joe Grumbine, andtoday we've got a very special
guest.
His name's Derek Krager.
And uh, Derek is the founder andCEO of Practical AI and creator
of Pocket Mentor, author ofHuman First AI, is a visionary
tech founder and AI thoughtleader, and he bridges the
(00:24):
cutting-edge innovation withhuman-centric purpose.
Um, he built Amazon'shighest-rated employee training
program in company history andcreated the Pocket Mentor, first
voice-based AI mentor forin-air, hands-free, eye-free,
real-time support on the jobthat magnifies learning 30
(00:46):
times.
Um, he's got an upcoming book,Human First AI.
Derek is spearheading a timelytribe-building initiative to
keep technology human-centered.
And uh, you know, Derek, withoutjumping too further into it,
this is very interesting.
And I'm looking forward tohearing all about your
technology and the work you'redoing.
(01:07):
Welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_00 (01:09):
Well, thank you, Joe, and thank you to all the
listeners here.
I uh I'm grateful you brought meon.
SPEAKER_01 (01:14):
Well, and as always, um, as we get into this
conversation, our listeners andmyself especially, we like to
hear about, you know, how'd youget here?
What brought you to this placethat you're at right now?
SPEAKER_00 (01:29):
Yeah, certainly.
So uh I think life, uh a lot ofsuccess in life is about having
the right information at theright time.
You know, it's it's uh I think Ikicked myself in the butt a time
or two over my course of my lifewhere I it's like, oh, I wish I
would have said this, or I wishI would have known that.
And don't want to live withregret.
So uh the pattern of successthat I've had in life is that uh
(01:51):
when I've had the knowledge withme when I needed it is when I
was most successful.
So where I'm at today, I'veafter leaving Amazon with the
success that I had there and thetraining methodologies that I
had developed, um, I leveragedthis uh new thing called AI.
You might have heard of it.
SPEAKER_01 (02:09):
Yeah, yeah.
It seems to be a little bitcatching on out there.
SPEAKER_00 (02:13):
Yeah, absolutely.
So uh I uh I'm leaning on EI,not to think for the user, but
to think with the user veryconversationally.
And I really believe that thisis the um the value that AI can
bring us.
And the way I deliver that isthrough a voice interface, which
(02:33):
means it's it's no harder thanthan phoning a friend.
It's no harder than calling Joeup and saying, hey, Joe, you've
done this before.
Can you talk me through it?
And and that's how we get there.
So that's that's what this isall about.
It's about being able to givepeople access to the right
information at the right time sothey can take control of their
own future as they move forwardin life.
SPEAKER_01 (02:55):
Nice.
And, you know, I've I've had anumber of guests that are
working on AI type projects, andthey vary from uh one guy who's
working on uh a doctor'snetwork, and there's all these
different, you know, practicaluses when you refine this thing.
Um of course, you know, it's gotits limitations, at least today,
(03:21):
and it's got its weaknesses, andyeah, people are afraid of it in
some cases, and and there's allkinds of you know obstacles in
our way.
Meanwhile, it's it's you knowmarching forward at breakneck
pace.
And um what what is your target,you know, demographic for this?
Who are you looking to uh buildthis business around?
SPEAKER_00 (03:45):
Well, I uh I'm glad you use the term practical in AI
use.
That's uh coincidentally that'sthe name of my company,
practical AI.
And everything that we build ishas a practical mindset.
We're not looking for headlines,we're not looking to say, hey,
we're the cool kids on theblock, because I was never the
cool kid on the block.
I was just the one kind of leftholding the bag and trying to
(04:07):
make resolution and and solvethings.
So, who are we building thisfor?
So essentially, what I've builtis the platform.
It's kind of like uh Gutenbergwhen when the Gutenberg Press
was invented.
It's a tool, but what's thevalue of the tool unless you
have the information?
So at its raw core, Joe, um,what I've built is an interface
(04:31):
that can you can plug in anyknowledge domain in the world.
And it's important that we talkthat we're only working on one
knowledge domain at a time.
It could be for a uh maybe likea um a product manager role at
Amazon where I worked.
Maybe it could be as anelectrician at the Ford Motor
Company.
And um we build those outspecial with that specialized
(04:56):
knowledge.
But um something that's verypassionate uh to me and our team
here is uh what we callneurocompanion.
So it's it's pocket mentor, butthis specific chapter is uh
written into helping those thatare neurodivergent at work.
And it there's two sides of thiscoin.
(05:17):
There's the side that uh, hey,I've always been the weird kid,
let me hit the easy button, callit pocket mentor, uh,
neurocompanion, and just bear myheart, uh, which I wouldn't do
with another human.
I mean, really, most peopledon't.
But if I'm talking to a machineand I get back this voice
(05:38):
conversational, it sounds human,um, it's uh it's compassionate,
it's supportive, and it'spatient, and it's available to
me 24/7.
Well, me onboarding to a newcompany, and that's that's the
feather of my cap at Amazon, wasan onboarding program that
helped onboard 35,000 employeesin one year back in 2021 and and
(06:03):
beyond.
But it's about giving that newhire a friend, or maybe you
know, any employee a friend whenthey need one, 247, 365.
And it might be, hey, how do Ichange the toner again?
Or it's like, what is I have animportant decision to make, what
is the mission or visionstatement of the company applied
(06:24):
to my role or this decision?
And just like uh you would callup your best friend in the world
and say, Hey, I just need asoundboard right now, right?
SPEAKER_01 (06:34):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (06:34):
And that's that, yeah, that's what Pocket Mentor
does.
It's a soundboard.
Yeah, absolutely.
So it's on the uh theneurodivergent side, and really
I I really fall into thisneuroagnostic because at its
root, all of us thinkdifferently.
Sure.
So there's there's no two peoplealike.
So we can soundboard as anemployee to get us through our
(06:55):
day.
And on the flip side, how aboutthat manager?
You know, we lean hard intomanagers and supervisors saying
how bad they are.
They're in the headlines, peopledon't quit jobs, they quit
managers or they quitsupervisors.
And the big part of it is thatthose managers and supervisors,
they're not prepared properlybecause it's impossible to
(07:17):
prepare somebody for everycircumstance, every perspective
uh of employees and situations.
So the flip side of this is thatthe manager or supervisor can
call up pocket mentor,neurocompanion, and say, Hey,
I've got this guy named Derek.
He tells me he's autistic andhe's got ADHD.
And I'm not really sure whatthat even is.
(07:39):
I I heard about these words, butI've I've been scared to even
talk about it.
So, how do I engage this person?
We're coming up on our firstone-on-one conversation.
How do I follow through?
And then just like Joe, justlike you would consult me in a
conversation, pocket mentor,neurocompanion does the same
thing to that manager and itsets them up for success.
(08:00):
Is it going to give them all theanswers?
No, but it's going to put themin the right direction so they
have the best chance ofsucceeding in that conversation.
SPEAKER_01 (08:09):
Interesting.
So, you know, most of ourlisteners, uh, you know, again,
we have worldwide listeners withevery possible situation you
could imagine from, you know, uhchronic and terminal diseases
all the way to mild, you know,Asperger's, whatever it is that
(08:30):
you want to think of, you know,maybe I got an itch on my nose.
Well, that's a health issue,right?
And so you've got people thatare looking to solve their own
problems.
You got people that are just inhere trying to uh live longer,
you know, biohackers trying to,you know, solve the longevity uh
quiz.
Um aside from people in theworkplace specifically with the
(08:56):
target that you have, how wouldour listeners look to this and
say, oh wow, I could see myselfusing this in a practical way
beyond, you know, maybe I'mretired or maybe I have my own
business and I'm not I don'thave employees or whatever.
Maybe there's like not the thingthat it was specifically
(09:16):
designed for, but it seems likea pretty handy tool.
How would you see that um youknow this community could uh
embrace this technology?
SPEAKER_00 (09:25):
By all means, reach out to me and ask.
I'd I'd love to set up pilotprograms and much using you know
that metaphor of the uhGutenberg Press.
You know, the Gutenberg Press,you know, the first year or
century or two, right, it it putout the Gutenberg Bible.
So it was printing one thing.
So it's important for my companyfrom a business standpoint to
(09:49):
you know follow a niche, startthere until we dig in deep, and
then we expand.
We we uh we can't be the cureall for everybody, right?
But it's like we invented thebook, we invented a new
technology.
So we're looking for this togrow organically in the need.
So people that are raising theirhands and saying, Hey, Derek,
(10:11):
have you thought about this?
And it's like, you know what?
I like that idea.
Talk me through it a little bit.
And then if there's a use case,then we'll come up and we will
uh create uh at no cost, youknow, a pilot program for the
use case, and we will work withyou and uh get it, uh, give you
a chance to uh use it andutilize it.
(10:33):
And then if you find value init, we say, okay, you know, how
can we uh how can we expandthis?
How can we uh help your market?
How can we help yourorganization, whether it be for
profit?
SPEAKER_01 (10:47):
You know, the first is real simple.
I'm a formulator, um, I makenatural products, and certainly,
you know, um there's so muchinformation out there today in
developing formulas that, youknow, I use a little AI in my
research, but a lot of it islooking at things that work and
ingredients and all of that.
That would be certainly oneapplication I'd be interested in
(11:09):
looking at.
But the second is um I have anonprofit um that's a couple of
years old.
We're working on securingfunding, and and you know, we've
gotten a couple of littlegrants, and um we have a two and
a half acre botanical gardenwhere we use uh these gardens
for what we call therapeutichorticulture and developing
(11:33):
programs, working with uhspecial needs kids and adults,
um even uh mental health therapysessions.
I would think that there wouldbe a way to use a tool like this
to take an idea into fruition orto find funding sources or to
find partners or or clients oryou know, resources of any kind.
(11:58):
I would think that somethinglike that might be a really
interesting and potential usefor something like this.
SPEAKER_00 (12:05):
Yeah, absolutely.
And you have your brand, andyour brand is your perspective
on life and what you do.
So I was asked earlier today,said uh Derek, you know, why
Pocket Mentor, whyNeurocompanion, why why this
specialized tool if I can justtalk to Chat GPT?
Sure.
Well, the difference is that uhtalking to Chat GPT is like
(12:29):
talking to um, I don't know, uha billion Legos that they're all
in in their individual pieces.
Right.
Yeah, it's all there, but what Iwant, I want to speak and I want
to hear the perspective of ofthe chef, right?
That that's following them.
I want to hear the Joe'sperspective on how Joe does it
because I like the way Joe doesit.
(12:51):
And this is where we take thatknowledge and we put it in a
container, and we make sure thatour the conversation is is uh
curated around your knowledge,nobody else's, just yours in
your flavor at the pace you giveit.
Um, you know, I know my uh mymom had, I think I counted one
(13:13):
time, eight different recipesfor brownies, but there was only
there was only one brownie Ireally liked.
And mine, it's got to havewalnuts in it.
So in in this example, it wouldbe like, okay, let's wrap this
around how to make the bestbrownie in the world, like Derek
would do it, or like Derek'sgrandmother did.
And I don't want to know athousand different ways.
I mean, if we Googled, you know,I guess that was last year's
(13:35):
term Googling, but today we wechat GPT something, sure.
SPEAKER_01 (13:39):
It's working its way into the lexicon for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (13:43):
It is for sure, absolutely.
So I don't want to know just arecipe for brownies, I want to
know the recipe, or I don't wantto know, you know, how do I, you
know, till a garden, how do Iplant, how do I uh use
pesticides or or organicpesticides or pest control that
(14:03):
doesn't use pesticides, and andhow do I do it Joe's way, or how
do I do it Derek's way, or justput your name there.
That's where we specialize.
We we replicate your way and wemake sure that um whoever is
talking to your virtual selfgets your answers only the way
you would deliver them in thatflavor.
SPEAKER_01 (14:25):
Oh, okay.
So so I I'm starting to maybewrap my head around this a
little bit better than what Ithought it was doing.
So it would basically be almostlike the old days.
I don't know if you remember wayback when the voice recognition
software was new, and you hadthis uh dragon software where
(14:46):
you had to put this headphone onand read to it over and over and
over again, and eventually itwould start to learn your
dialect a little bit better, andit took forever and it was
clunky and slow, and it messedup worse than Siri does today.
But it was it learned your voicepatterns and your um whatever,
(15:08):
your choice of words, and it andeventually sort of was able to
translate what you were sayinginto a printed word pretty well.
SPEAKER_00 (15:17):
Yeah, yeah, that dragon dictate.
I think I had version 14 of it,was my last one.
And to be honest, I think it'sstill sitting on the CD or DVD
in my basement.
Probably unwrapped.
Probably, yeah.
So that's our fascination withconversations, is that we know
that our voice uh throughconversation mode is the
(15:39):
quickest way to interact, right?
You and I, right now, we couldhave this camera on, we could be
looking at each other, and wecan either talk like we are, and
you can hear my words, mytonality, uh, you can see my
body language, and you can gleanso much from the conversation
just outside of the words andhow quick they're delivered,
(16:00):
versus we could also be herejust typing, you know, yeah, no
audio, and it's just a completedifferent experience.
It's sanitized when it goesthrough key clicks.
SPEAKER_01 (16:10):
There's a real good reason why I do my interviews
this way, and it's not just thespoken word over the written
word, but it's the it's theeye-to-eye micro expression, the
reading each other's tones, allof that is critical to actually
transfer one thought to anothereffectively.
(16:32):
You know, you got to be a reallygood writer to communicate
through written word.
SPEAKER_00 (16:37):
Well, true that.
True that.
And that's what our softwaredoes.
And I say software, but it'sit's only software in the sense
that there's some ones and zerosthat are put together.
But uh the way we do theinterface is that you can just
pick up your telephone and hitspeed dial or tap your earbud,
and you're connected to thisauthentic uh human proxy that's
(17:00):
every bit as compassionate, ormaybe more so than uh than than
humans are, because humans haveanxiety and priorities and
limited time per day.
Um, but if we could imprint Joeuh on his best day and give
everybody access to that, uh tothe information that you wanted
(17:21):
to share, then they're alwaysgoing to be connecting with Joe
on his best day from here uh toeternity.
And that's that's what we'rewe're proposing.
SPEAKER_01 (17:30):
Or things like putting together a training or a
workshop or uh presenting somekind of a program or anything
like that, this could beinvaluable.
SPEAKER_00 (17:42):
Absolutely, it's it's a big helper.
So anytime that you'd want to uhsoundboard, and sometimes you
know, I just try to soundboardwith myself, right?
And so just talking through ithelps me understand.
SPEAKER_01 (17:56):
And if I have somebody absolutely 100%, and
you know, I'm I'm a visionaryand an innovator, and you know,
I blow people apart with myconversation sometimes, you
know.
I get excited and start to uh,you know, go into a passionate
uh delivery of explaining athought that I have that I see
(18:19):
from you know a universalperspective, and they're looking
at it from the front door, andI'm like trying to take them
back to where they canunderstand it all.
And before you know it, you seethe eyes glaze over and like, ah
crap, I lost another one, youknow.
And so, you know, certainly tohave a sounding board when
you're walking through tocoalesce ideas and to break it
(18:41):
down into something that'sdeliverable where people, the
general population can consumeit without you know having
sensory overload.
Um, that sounds, you know, veryinteresting and and enticing.
So it sounds like based on thedemographic and the way you've
described its practicalapplication, this is available
(19:07):
or primarily made available tobusinesses and um executives and
people that are um people thatare in an operation where they
could use this in multiple unitsor whatever.
Is that the case, or is a singleindividual have access to this?
(19:29):
And if so, how does that work?
SPEAKER_00 (19:31):
Well, our uh our focus right now, and the
marketing team tells me, youknow, we got to sharpen that
spear to focus and articulateour goal, right?
Some cool, you know, businessterminology, I guess.
Um, but uh yeah, so right nowour driving focus is uh
enterprise level, uh, becauseyou know they're the ones with
the deep pockets, and honestly,they're the ones that uh we
(19:54):
could help the most people inthe shortest amount of time.
We're looking at a uh kind of afreemium option um on ways to do
that.
Uh we're kicking around someideas ourselves, and um, I know
when we get our the first onethat we're going to turn loose
on that would be the PocketMentor Neuro Companion, which is
(20:14):
just to help people through, youknow, sometimes the roughest
days in in the world.
They just need somebody to talkto.
And and if it's 2 a.m.
on a Saturday, you know, theircompany EAP program isn't
available, or their um theirbest friend might not be
available, and a professional'snot going to be available until
Monday.
So what could we do just to helpthem through their days?
(20:36):
So uh we're looking at models.
So if somebody has uh somesuggestions and ideas,
otherwise, I would say, youknow, come to our website, uh,
you know, jump on, you know,click the little newsletter or
remind me when uh button thatall websites have today.
And uh as we develop and releaseto the individual, uh, we'll
certainly make you aware ofthat.
SPEAKER_01 (20:57):
Fantastic.
So um, you know, this is aproduct that's still in
development.
It's um, you know, you're you'reyou're working at this and on
this.
What is the status of yourrollout?
Like um, when would a company oran individual, you know,
obviously you got two differentthings.
One is this version for the forthe company or the, you know,
(21:20):
like you're talking about yourtarget.
Um, and then second, you'retalking about this pocket um
version that would be more of anindividual tool.
What's what's your rolloutlooking like or or your
projection or your thoughts?
SPEAKER_00 (21:36):
Yeah, the uh the freemium consumer model is uh
still on the roadmap.
Uh, we haven't uh launched thatat this point, but the
enterprise uh project uh andproduct has been launched.
And we're all yeah, we're we uhwe've we have successful
implementations, we're in theprocess of implementing more and
onboarding uh more companies andorganizations.
(21:59):
So uh yeah, it's it's a provenmodel, um, and we're happy that
it is.
And the reason that I'm I'mbehind this uh driving force so
much, uh you mentionedhuman-first AI.
I truly believe that uh we needto put the humans first when AI
is involved because we're atthis fork in the road.
And uh to uh you know uh leaveYogi Berra quote aside, right?
(22:22):
Right, um, we're at this fork inthe road where we can either
augment humans to be the besthumans they've ever been in
life, which that would be themental side of our health,
right?
To make us as better people,better humans.
Or the flip side is everybody'sseen the headlines.
AI is uh replacing workforces,and that's not what we're
(22:44):
looking to do.
We want to make sure that we'reusing AI to improve that human,
to make them irreplaceable,indispensable.
Uh, because if otherwise we'regonna lose that outside the box
thinking, and it's the humanfactor.
We've all seen enough sci-fi outthere when we take the human
element out of a situation thatwe get locked in to just rote
(23:09):
process and nothing new everhappens.
So uh I really am pushing thishuman first AI, let's augment
the humans.
Uh, you know, sure, improve theproduction for the company, but
make sure that the individualsuh that are that are building
and creating have moreopportunity to build and create,
(23:29):
and they have those answers whenthey need them.
Otherwise, we're gonna go down adark path and that's not gonna
be good for anybody.
SPEAKER_01 (23:37):
Exactly.
We don't want to see that T100coming down the road for any
good reason, right?
Um, well, Derek, as always, um,this has been a very interesting
conversation.
I look forward to hearing thefuture as this thing rolls out,
especially uh for an individuallike me to have access to
something like this.
Um, I always like to give you anopportunity to kind of wrap your
(23:58):
thoughts up into a central uhparting shot for everybody, and
then uh let us know the best wayto get a hold of you and to
learn more.
And uh maybe uh some of ourbusiness owners would be
interested in uh learning moreabout your enterprise system.
SPEAKER_00 (24:17):
Yes, absolutely.
Thank you.
So uh my thought on AI ingeneral is don't be afraid of
AI.
You know, it's uh kind of likethe internet.
The internet was uh launched in1989 publicly, but it really
didn't hit the tipping pointuntil 2006.
So that was 17 years that of theinevitability.
(24:37):
And if all of us would havejumped on that wave in the
earliest, we all could havebenefited the most.
Right.
Not necessarily implementing it,but at least understanding it.
And the same way with AI here,you know, be cautious, ask your
questions, you know, pro, makesure that things are being done
the right way, but let's notbury our head in the sand.
(24:58):
So that's that's the big part.
And as far as what we're doinghere, our human-first AI
augmentation, um, we're we'redriving this.
It's our platform.
We want everybody to benefit inin every way possible.
Uh, our company is practicalai.
I think our domain, you can findus at practicalai.app.
(25:18):
That's dot app.
And uh you can find my name onLinkedIn and feel free to reach
out and make a connection there.
And you mentioned uh my bookthat I have come out, Human
First AI.
Yeah, uh, everyone here, I'llgive you the first chapter for
free.
Just go to uh humanfirstai.netand uh you can read that first
(25:41):
chapter for free and getnotified when it uh gets
released on uh Amazon and otherplatforms.
SPEAKER_01 (25:47):
Beautiful.
Well, Derek, this has been anintriguing conversation.
I'm looking forward to learningmore.
Um, I'd like to welcome ourguests back if you've got
updates and and more informationto share in the future.
And uh just want to thank youfor being here.
SPEAKER_00 (26:02):
Well, Joe, thank you and uh your audience uh so much.
It's uh been my privilege.
Appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01 (26:08):
Beautiful.
This has been another edition ofthe Healthy Living Podcast.
I'm your host, Joe Grumba, and Iwant to thank all of our
listeners that make this showpossible, and we will see you
next time.
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