🔙 Highlights from Last Week

I was the first Guest Writer for the Midwest House newsletter:

You can read my post here on why being a transplant to Chicago has become an advantage 👇🏽

We held our 17th AI Tinkerers Chicago meetup:

Four standout demos last week, including tools for epilepsy support and smarter surveys. Plenty of fresh faces in the room too. If you’re interested in sponsoring Chicago’s top AI meetup learn more here 👇🏽

Spoke at the 1871 Emerging Tech Innovation Summit on the intersection of AI and Web3:

We talked about how AI can make Web3 easier to use + how blockchain can help secure data and ownership in an agent-led future. Big thanks to ETHChicago for hosting a great discussion 👇🏽

Abbott is expanding its Illinois footprint:

One of Chicago’s most iconic healthcare companies, Abbott is adding 200 new R&D roles, which will strengthen our region’s rep as a hub for life sciences innovation and high-skilled jobs 👇🏽

Inside the Illinois Lab Using AI to Run Reactors

In a lab just outside Chicago, Argonne scientists are giving AI the ability to understand nuclear reactors from the inside out.

The project, PRO-AID, uses explainable AI and automated reasoning to bring aging reactors into the digital era. As AI demand increases and plants grow older, I believe LLM use-cases like this are key to keeping critical infrastructure online.

A few weeks back, I wrote about why Argonne exists. Now, let’s get into the details of their latest AI-powered nuclear project:

How PRO-AID Works

Most US nuclear reactors were built over 40 years ago, long before digital systems. PRO-AID (short for Parameter-Free Reasoning Operator for Automated Identification and Diagnosis) is built for this challenge.

It reads plant diagrams, builds a digital twin, and monitors real-time sensor data. If something goes off, it flags the issue and diagnoses it using logic-based reasoning.

No human intervention needed.

Argonne plans to offer PRO-AID to new, tech-forward nuclear builds. As companies like Amazon and Microsoft look to reactivate older plants to power data centers, smarter monitoring will be essential.

With global data center energy use expected to more than double by 2030, systems like PRO-AID can help these plants stay online and operate safely.

What makes PRO-AID different is its ability to explain itself. It mimics the thought process of veteran operators, tracing problems through cause and effect, and uses LLMs to translate that logic into plain language.

Solving the Nuclear Workforce Shortage

The nuclear industry is facing a talent crunch. Nuclear engineering degrees have dropped 27% since 2016. Many skilled workers are retiring, and not enough are entering the field.

Midwest schools like UIUC, Michigan, and Purdue are still producing strong talent, but it's not enough.

PRO-AID helps fill the gap. It turns decades of expertise into software that trains new workers and keeps plants running smoothly. For older reactors, this is a necessary future.

Here’s a cool video explaining more on PRO-AID:

📆 Events Around the City

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The Composable Conference by the MACH Alliance

• Monday and Tuesday

• RSVP

Event Marketing University

• Tuesday

• RSVP

Energy and Sustainability Tech Meetup

• Tuesday

• RSVP

Beyond the Algorithm - The Environmental Impact of AI

• Tuesday

• RSVP

The Future of Diagnostics

• Tuesday

• RSVP

Building Agentic AI: The Future of Autonomous Business

• Tuesday

• RSVP

Facilitation Lab Chicago

• Tuesday

• RSVP

Chicago Data Night

• Hosted by Drive Capital and UChicago

• RSVP

1 Million Cups Chicago

• Wednesday

• RSVP

FaithTech Chicago Relaunch

• Thursday

• RSVP

🗞 Previous Newsletter Editions:

#104 - How Chicago’s Data Ecosystem is Powering the Next Wave of AI

#103 - Why Illinois has Two National Labs

#102 - How Chicago Startup Compensation Compares to the Coasts

#101 - The Internet Started in Illinois

👋 See you next week!

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