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brianletort.aiD. Brian Letort, Ph.D.

AI Transformation Library

See how AI changes the work.

105 real-world cases. What changed, what improved, and where people still decide.

CardsTable

30 cases

1–24

CaseIndustryFunctionTypeAI valueBefore → AfterEvidenceOpen
An editorial scene for Swiss Plasma Center at EPFL and Google DeepMind contrasts designs a controller for a predefined plasma state and configuration. with specifies plasma shape, current, and location objectives. in the deep-reinforcement-learning magnetic control on the tcv tokamak workflow.Swiss Plasma Center at EPFL and Google DeepMindScience & researchEngineering designAutonomous + backstopAcross the full 0.1-1.0 second interval, RMSE was 0.62 kA for plasma current and 0.75 cm for shape.ManualAutonomousverified evidenceverified
An editorial scene for Waymo contrasts perceives the road, plans maneuvers, and controls the vehicle for each passenger trip. with perceives, predicts, plans, and controls the vehicle with no human in the driver seat. in the fully autonomous waymo one driving workflow.WaymoTransportation & logisticsEngineering designExceptions only9 Waymo claims, an 88% reduction.Handle allExceptionsverified evidenceverified
An editorial scene for American Airlines contrasts manually evaluates arrivals and assigns among 136 dfw gates. with combines real-time flight and operational data to assign the nearest available gate with the shortest taxi time. in the smart gating machine-learning gate assignment workflow.American AirlinesTransportation & logisticsEngineering designStep before the decision20% shorter, about two minutes per flight and more than 11 taxi hours saved daily.PrepareDecidereported evidencereported
An editorial scene for Google DeepMind and EMBL-EBI contrasts search the much smaller experimental structure corpus or initiate a bespoke structure-determination project. with serves a precomputed predicted structure and confidence metrics for a queried protein sequence. in the alphafold protein structure database precomputed structure access workflow.Google DeepMind and EMBL-EBIScience & researchEngineering designContinuous decisioningMore than 214 million predicted structures, covering nearly the full UniProt databasePeriodicContinuousverified evidenceverified
An editorial scene for Audi Neckarsulm contrasts uses ultrasound to inspect a random sample of resistance spot welds. with analyzes process data for approximately 1.5 million welds across 300 vehicles each shift. in the wps analytics full-population inspection workflow.Audi NeckarsulmOtherEngineering designThreshold is the controlAI analyzes about 1.5 million welds on 300 vehicles each shiftCase by caseHuman thresholdreported evidencereported
An editorial scene for Be My Eyes contrasts contacts a sighted volunteer or trusted person and shares a camera view. with captures an image and asks be my ai for a description or follow-up detail. in the conversational multimodal visual assistance through be my ai workflow.Be My EyesTechnology & softwareEngineering designCreator to judgeFourteen users described Be My AI support across personal and social contexts.CreateReviewverified evidenceverified
An editorial scene for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley contrasts select a target and design a synthesis recipe from literature and thermodynamics. with propose recipes and execute powder dosing, heating, and xrd characterization. in the a-lab closed-loop autonomous materials synthesis workflow.Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, BerkeleyScience & researchEngineering designAutonomous + backstop36 of 57 target compounds synthesized, a 63% success rateManualAutonomousverified evidenceverified
An editorial scene for Google contrasts predict cooling-energy effects and recommend operating changes. with every five minutes evaluates sensor data and selects energy-minimizing actions that satisfy safety constraints. in the deepmind autonomous cooling control workflow.GoogleTechnology & softwareEngineering designAutonomous + backstopAround 30% average energy savings after nine months, improving from 12% at launchManualAutonomousmixed evidencemixed
An editorial scene for Google Research Flood Hub contrasts uses gauge-calibrated or global physical models to produce river forecasts. with transfer learning from open data to produce river-flow and inundation forecasts up to seven days. in the ai forecasts for ungauged basins workflow.Google Research Flood HubGovernment & public servicesEngineering designContinuous decisioningSimilar or better reliability at up to five daysPeriodicContinuousverified evidenceverified
An editorial scene for NASA JPL contrasts use orbital and rover imagery to define route goals and commanded drive segments. with builds local terrain maps, checks collision/slip risk, and selects paths onboard. in the perseverance enhanced autonomous navigation workflow.NASA JPLScience & researchEngineering designCreator to judgeAbout 90% of 32.1 km used ENavCreateReviewverified evidenceverified
An editorial scene for City of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University contrasts create fixed coordinated timing plans for rush periods and simple actuated control otherwise. with recomputes green-time allocation every one to two seconds from incoming flows. in the surtrac decentralized adaptive traffic-signal control workflow.City of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon UniversityTransportation & logisticsEngineering designCoordination compressed25.79% lower travel time and 40.64% lower wait time; projected emissions 21.48% lowerSequentialTogetherverified evidenceverified
An editorial scene for United States Internal Revenue Service contrasts calls and waits for a live assistor for common collection information or payment-plan help. with answers common questions, authenticates eligible users, and creates or modifies permitted payment plans. in the authenticated and unauthenticated collection voice and chat bots workflow.United States Internal Revenue ServiceGovernment & public servicesEngineering designCreator to judgeMore than 13 million taxpayers received voice/chatbot service without waiting.CreateReviewreported evidencereported
An editorial scene for National Grid Electricity Transmission contrasts captures close-up pylon images. with captures high-definition images near live pylons under central control. in the vicap autonomous drone capture and ai corrosion grading workflow.National Grid Electricity TransmissionEnergy & utilitiesEngineering designAutonomous + backstopNational Grid anticipates about £630,000 in annual savings.ManualAutonomousmixed evidencemixed
An editorial scene for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania contrasts researches, drafts, summarizes, or troubleshoots using conventional tools and manual synthesis. with uses the approved enterprise assistant to brainstorm, draft, simplify, summarize, research, or support it work. in the employee-centered chatgpt enterprise pilot with labor participation workflow.Commonwealth of PennsylvaniaGovernment & public servicesEngineering designCreator to judgeParticipants reported an average 95 minutes saved per day of use.CreateReviewreported evidencereported
An editorial scene for Rio Tinto contrasts drives heavy haul truck along mine roads and intersections. with navigates trucks on predefined gps courses using fleet position, speed, and direction data. in the autonomous haulage system for iron-ore operations workflow.Rio TintoIndustrial & manufacturingEngineering designExceptions onlyIn 2018 each autonomous truck was estimated to operate 700 more hours on average with 15% lower costs.Handle allExceptionsreported evidencereported
An editorial scene for Taiwan Food and Drug Administration contrasts submitted the import inspection application, product information, import declaration copy, and required supporting. with submits the same import application and documentation through the national import food information workflow. in the risk-based screening for imported food inspection selection workflow.Taiwan Food and Drug AdministrationGovernment & public servicesEngineering designExceptions onlyEL-recommended inspected batches had unqualified rates of 5.10% in 2020, 6.36% in 2021, and 4.39% in 2022; each comparison to 2019 was reported as p < 0.001.Handle allExceptionsverified evidenceverified
An editorial scene for MIT randomized professional-writing study contrasts drafts a press release, report, analysis plan, or sensitive email from an occupation-specific prompt. with prompts the model for a draft or revision during the same occupation-specific task. in the chatgpt-assisted drafting with human submission workflow.MIT randomized professional-writing studyProfessional servicesEngineering designAutonomous + backstopAverage time decreased 40%; output quality increased 18%ManualAutonomousverified evidenceverified
An editorial scene for New York City Fire Department contrasts select and schedule inspectable buildings from policy requirements and local information. with scores and ranks buildings from fire history, characteristics, violations, complaints, and other risk factors. in the firecast risk-ranked inspection lists through rbis workflow.New York City Fire DepartmentGovernment & public servicesEngineering designExceptions onlyAverage violations increased 19% in the first 30 days and remained 10% higher after 60 daysHandle allExceptionsmixed evidencemixed
An editorial scene for MODEC contrasts monitors equipment and addresses maintenance needs without a machine-learning early-warning layer. with analyze vessel operating data to detect deteriorating equipment performance and identify processing-plant problems. in the sensor, digital-twin, and machine-learning predictive maintenance on fpso mv29 workflow.MODECEnergy & utilitiesEngineering designAutonomous + backstopMODEC reported a 65% reduction in downtimeManualAutonomousreported evidencereported
An editorial scene for Pacific Gas and Electric Company contrasts detect faults from alarms, outages, or reports after conditions escalate. with scans sensor and smart-meter patterns for abnormal precursors. in the continuous monitoring center machine-learning risk triage workflow.Pacific Gas and Electric CompanyEnergy & utilitiesEngineering designExceptions onlyPG&E reported 17 potential ignitions intercepted, 12 million unplanned customer-outage minutes avoided, 2,620 emergency response hours reduced, and about $6 million savedHandle allExceptionsmixed evidencemixed
An editorial scene for BMW Plant Regensburg contrasts visually inspects painted vehicle surfaces and identifies areas needing treatment. with uses reflected stripe patterns to locate, size, map in 3d, and classify paint deviations on all surfaces. in the ai surface inspection and robotic processing workflow.BMW Plant RegensburgOtherEngineering designAutonomous + backstopAll vehicle surfaces inspected in an automated standard-production processManualAutonomousreported evidencereported
An editorial scene for Copenhagen Emergency Medical Services contrasts listen to the caller, recognize suspected cardiac arrest, and initiate the protocol. with listens to ongoing calls and flags suspected cardiac arrest. in the real-time ml listening and dispatcher cardiac-arrest alerts workflow.Copenhagen Emergency Medical ServicesOtherEngineering designCreator to judge93.1% with the alert, P=.15; no statistically significant improvementCreateReviewverified evidenceverified
An editorial scene for European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts contrasts runs physics-based numerical weather prediction from operational analyses. with generates deterministic global forecasts four times daily from ecmwf analyses. in the aifs single operational ml forecast production workflow.European Centre for Medium-Range Weather ForecastsScience & researchEngineering designContinuous decisioning4–6% overall skill improvement; up to 12% precipitation improvement in v1.1.0PeriodicContinuousverified evidenceverified
An editorial scene for University of Liverpool contrasts chooses formulations, prepares samples, operates instruments, records results, and decides the next experiment. with selects the next batch from prior measured outcomes. in the mobile robotic chemist with bayesian experiment selection workflow.University of LiverpoolScience & researchEngineering designAutonomous + backstop688 experiments in eight days; best mixture six times more activeManualAutonomousverified evidenceverified
Curated collections →Evidence methodologyPublication history
Transformations | Brian Letort