Imagine a brain on a computer chip. Jack Kendall, founder of Rain Neuromorphics has figured out how to connect artificial neurons in “neuromorphic hardware,” a brain scaffolding useful for artificial intelligence. He hopes it will make A.I. cheaper and faster for all types of applications. A fan of the Crocodile Hunter, Jack grew up in the tiny town of Belleview, Florida.

TRANSCRIPT:

Intro: 0:01

Inventors and their inventions. Welcome to Radio Cade, the podcast from the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention in Gainesville, Florida. The museum is named after James Robert Cade who invented Gatorade in 1965. My name is Richard Miles. We'll introduce you to inventors and the things that motivate them. We'll learn about their personal stories, how their inventions work, and how their ideas get from the laboratory to the marketplace.

Richard Miles: 0:01

A brain on a chip. That is what we are going to be talking about today on Radio Cade and today on the phone I have as my guest Jack Kendall. Welcome, Jack.

Jack Kendall: 0:47

Hey, how are you?

Richard Miles: 0:48

So Jack, normally how we start this is if you could just tell the listeners what the technology is that you're working on and what it does and we'll talk later about the applications and the business model. So just tell us what is it that you're working on, what does it do?

Jack Kendall: 1:02

Yeah, we're building a new type of processor for artificial intelligence that's inspired by the brain.

Richard Miles: 1:08

Okay. So let me ask a clarifying question just for listeners who sort of aren't familiar with the AI world or the very concept of artificial intelligence, what's a useful thumbnail description of artificial intelligence.

Jack Kendall: 1:20

So AI powers a lot of things these days. I'm sure you've all heard of Siri. So Siri is powered by a type of artificial intelligence called neural networks. Google's reverse image search, a lot of really powerful recommendation engines, just like Amazon and Netflix that help you find similar products also use AI.

Richard Miles: 1:38

So AI is sort of the direction the IT industry is going in terms of making everything easier to use. Is that more or less fair?

Jack Kendall: 1:45

Absolutely.

Richard Miles: 1:45

Okay. So we're going to come back later in the show and talk about what you're doing with Rain and the overall business model, but first let me get some information about you. You know, what were you like as a kid, where did you grow up, that sort of stuff. And then maybe if you want to share about your formal education before getting into your current business. So let's start with where are you from and how would you describe yourself or how would others have described you as a kid?

Jack Kendall: 2:10

So I grew up in a small town called Belleview, Florida. It's about an hour south of Gainesville. Lot of cows and horses there.

Richard Miles: 2:17

Were either of your parents in a technical field or information technology or anything like that?

Jack Kendall: 2:22

Uh, no. My Dad was a mason. He actually started his own business doing masonry, and that sort of inspired me to create my own business as