It’s the 13th anniversary of IT in the D!

Andy Saldaña, founder and CEO of Denovo Studios, is this week’s guest. He here to discuss the use of AI at small and mid-size manufacturers. First, we talk about the what the businesses lack—usually it’s the time, money, and/or expertise required to build or refine their processes. We also talk about the challenges that these businesses need to overcome to implement AI successfully.

This week, we welcome Adam Youngblood, AI strategist, to discuss how AI and agentic AI are becoming pervasive, why early “super Google” use is giving way to assistants that perform work, and how non-technical users can start by asking AI questions when they don’t know where to begin.

The conversation covers Claude (including Cowork) for research, costing, and spreadsheet creation; the lack of effective onboarding and growing privacy concerns; and frustration with AI bots conducting first-round job interviews. Adam describes agentic tools like OpenClaw and emerging offerings from Google, Amazon, and others, plus practical business opportunities (reducing waste, after-hours call handling, predictive maintenance, and camera-based visual inspection), while also addressing job displacement, data center power/water demands, and calls for ethics and guardrails.

Bob’s coworker Rayfield Johnson, US Data & AI Leader at Avanade, joins us to discuss all things data. He’s been in the industry for almost two decades, so he has a lot of insight into the data landscape. We explore how data moved from basic BI to a foundation for AI, emphasizing the need for trusted, governed data before advanced AI initiatives succeed. The conversation highlights manufacturing-focused applications such as quality improvements using IoT/streaming data, mixing IT and OT machine data, safety monitoring with sensors and alerts, and more proactive “agent” experiences that provide recommendations without user prompts. We also cover capturing veteran plant-floor expertise to address workforce turnover, plus vendor delay prediction and supply planning, and briefly touch on automation trends like lights-out factories and self-driving Waymo rides.

We are joined by two folks from Neuroaigent: Bob Skinner, and Justin Coleman to have a conversation about where AI is actually delivering ROI right now. Topics include the “it’s just a macro” debate, the manufacturing brain drain crisis, agentic AI and what agents actually are, getting found inside AI tools (AEO vs. SEO), the token bill nobody warned enterprises about, and who’s liable when AI gets it wrong.

We also get into Neuroaigent’s air-gapped private knowledge layer, the ClawCon competition where seven AI agents awarded a $50K investment with zero human involvement, AGI vs. domain-specific intelligence, and a live on-air moment where Claude confidently hallucinated a co-host named Doug Muth.

Astronomicon is back for another year! Find the convention April 10 through April 12, 2026 at the Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest. We’re joined by founders and organizers Mike and Dustin to hear about the history, how the con is going, and what to look forward to this year.

Christina Fair has lots of titles: Founder of Reconnect, Co-founder of Hum, Entrepreneur in Residence at Ann Arbor SPARK, Executive Director of Detroit Executives Association, and board member of Bees in the D. She joins us this week to talk about her work across Detroit’s startup and community ecosystem, including Ann Arbor Spark, Michigan Founders Fund, and the Detroit Executives Association. Christina explains Bees in the D’s urban rooftop hives, Meijer honey distribution, and Detroit City Distillery collaborations. She describes common startup challenges—especially people and leadership gaps—contrasting Midwest “nice” with Silicon Valley’s fail-fast culture, and emphasizes finding complementary co-founders. They cover revenue vs exit-focused business models, AI-driven process automation in real estate, Hum’s pivot from move-event ISP strategy to an embedded internet-shopping widget, Detroit’s digital divide efforts, and the speed of AI-enabled prototyping.

Our guest this week is Pete Martin, Director of Portfolio Management at Michigan State University Research Foundation. We talk about Michigan technology startups, including pitching and funding. Pete talks about his origin and some of the startups he finds interesting. We also take a look at why companies and people leave or ignore Michigan. Of course, we had to touch on the impact AI is having on startups. Finally, if you’re looking for a new gig, check out the MSU Research Foundation job board.

Andrew Koper joins us this week to talk about Moregetsdone.com, his online collaborative task management tool. We talk about why he decided to build it, how it works, and the ways it can work for various types of organizations. We also brainstorm ideas for future improvements including AI-enhanced workflows.