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Kester Younis and Peter Ludwig, co-founders of Applied Intuition, discuss their mission to make a billion machines intelligent. They explain that physical AI, which involves AI interacting with the real world through hardware, presents unique challenges compared to digital AI, such as safety criticality and real-time constraints.
Peter Ludwig differentiates physical AI from digital AI, noting that physical AI impacts real-world systems, with significant economic implications. Kester Younis adds that physical AI makes difficult jobs easier, citing examples like farming and mining where AI is needed due to labor shortages and safety concerns.
Kester Younis and Peter Ludwig describe Applied Intuition as a technology provider that sells intelligence for machines, similar to how Nvidia sells chips. They offer both development tools for companies to build their own intelligent machines and complete intelligence solutions.
Peter Ludwig explains that their new agentic platform, Dana, is designed to significantly reduce the barrier to entry for building and deploying physical AI. He envisions Dana becoming the 'operating system of the autonomous world,' enabling the widespread adoption of intelligent machines.
Kester Younis and Peter Ludwig share their deep family ties to the automotive industry, with multiple generations working at General Motors. This background influenced their early decision to focus on robotaxi companies, though they ultimately concluded the technology and business models were not yet mature.
Kester Younis explains that their vision of the 'Tesla-fication' of the automotive industry—making machines smart and software-first—applies to other sectors like defense, construction, mining, and agriculture. Applied Intuition aims to abstract hardware from software, similar to how Android works across various devices.