Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share AI Spotted What Doctors Couldn't: Annette Andersen and Andrew Ballard
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
AI Spotted What Doctors Couldn't: Annette Andersen and Andrew Ballard
Two Australian AI founders. Two very different problems. One conversation about what it actually takes to build AI startups here right now.
Annette Andersen is the founder of Axe AI. She's an autistic founder, and her 21-year-old son Axel has very complex disabilities. When he became severely unwell and nobody could find the cause, Annette uploaded his data into AI. It flagged porphyria. Testing confirmed elevated coproporphirin levels. A phytochemical called sulfurophane resolved his symptoms in 48 hours. That moment pushed her to build a multi-framework reasoning engine for complex care decisions, plus DSX, a cooperative platform for small to medium NDIS providers.
Andrew "AB" Ballard is the founder of Spatiotemporal. He rides a motorbike, and he noticed that humans read motion in other drivers without thinking. AB is turning that into a foundation model for robots and self-driving cars. Small models. Train overnight. Run on a phone.
Hosts Andrew Lai and Amir Nissen take both founders through their tools (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini), their methodology for shipping production code with AI, their take on local models, and what the medical community really thinks when AI flags a diagnosis. Plus AB's robot-with-a-knife thought experiment about what kitchens look like when robots become part of the family.
Both guests are alumni of AI Pathfinder, SMEC AI's free 8-week accelerator for early-stage Australian founders.
ROI from AI is the podcast for Australian SME owners, founders, and anyone curious about practical AI adoption.
Links:
- Axe AI: axeai.com.au
- SMEC AI: smecai.au
- AI Pathfinder: smecai.au
- Email: [email protected]
- AI Hotline: 1800 517 403
Hosts:
- Andrew Lai, Managing Director, Boab AI and SMEC AI
- Amir Nissen, Head of Programs, SMEC AI
Chapters:00:00 Intro03:00 The CGT question04:30 From crisis to Axe AI09:00 Motion as a safety signal13:00 The AI coding stack18:00 5 million lines of code23:00 Local models are about to change everything26:00 The medical community's reaction30:00 Talking about AI with stakeholders36:00 What's next41:00 The AI Pathfinder program46:00 Final words
View all episodes
By SMEC AITwo Australian AI founders. Two very different problems. One conversation about what it actually takes to build AI startups here right now.
Annette Andersen is the founder of Axe AI. She's an autistic founder, and her 21-year-old son Axel has very complex disabilities. When he became severely unwell and nobody could find the cause, Annette uploaded his data into AI. It flagged porphyria. Testing confirmed elevated coproporphirin levels. A phytochemical called sulfurophane resolved his symptoms in 48 hours. That moment pushed her to build a multi-framework reasoning engine for complex care decisions, plus DSX, a cooperative platform for small to medium NDIS providers.
Andrew "AB" Ballard is the founder of Spatiotemporal. He rides a motorbike, and he noticed that humans read motion in other drivers without thinking. AB is turning that into a foundation model for robots and self-driving cars. Small models. Train overnight. Run on a phone.
Hosts Andrew Lai and Amir Nissen take both founders through their tools (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini), their methodology for shipping production code with AI, their take on local models, and what the medical community really thinks when AI flags a diagnosis. Plus AB's robot-with-a-knife thought experiment about what kitchens look like when robots become part of the family.
Both guests are alumni of AI Pathfinder, SMEC AI's free 8-week accelerator for early-stage Australian founders.
ROI from AI is the podcast for Australian SME owners, founders, and anyone curious about practical AI adoption.
Links:
- Axe AI: axeai.com.au
- SMEC AI: smecai.au
- AI Pathfinder: smecai.au
- Email: [email protected]
- AI Hotline: 1800 517 403
Hosts:
- Andrew Lai, Managing Director, Boab AI and SMEC AI
- Amir Nissen, Head of Programs, SMEC AI
Chapters:00:00 Intro03:00 The CGT question04:30 From crisis to Axe AI09:00 Motion as a safety signal13:00 The AI coding stack18:00 5 million lines of code23:00 Local models are about to change everything26:00 The medical community's reaction30:00 Talking about AI with stakeholders36:00 What's next41:00 The AI Pathfinder program46:00 Final words