Derek Crager is an industrial innovation leader, founder of Practical AI, and creator of Pocket Mentor—the world’s first voice-based AI mentor for real-time, hands-free workplace support. With a background in reliability, maintenance, and training, Derek bridges the gap between human expertise and AI capability. His neurodivergence—autism, ADHD, and dyslexia—enhances his ability to design pattern-driven, intuitive systems that empower every worker. Through Practical AI, Derek helps organisations capture tribal knowledge and deliver it through natural conversation—no apps, no screens, no logins. His work is transforming how industries train, troubleshoot, and grow, ensuring every technician has access to expert guidance at the moment they need it.

Your Voice Matters

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What if you could turn every phone call into a training session?

In this episode of Talking with the Experts: Business Insights, host Rose Davidson sits down with Derek Crager, founder of Practical AI and creator of Pocket Mentor—a revolutionary Voice AI tool designed to make training accessible, hands-free, and human.

Derek’s journey from industrial reliability expert to AI innovator is rooted in lived experience and neurodiversity. Diagnosed with autism, ADHD, and dyslexia, he sees patterns others miss—translating complex systems into intuitive voice guidance. His innovation empowers technicians to troubleshoot, repair, and learn while they work, transforming downtime into growth time.

Voice AI represents the future of workforce development: no screens, no logins, just natural, on-demand learning. It captures and scales “tribal knowledge,” helping organisations retain expertise even as experienced staff retire.

If your team struggles with inconsistent training or skill gaps, this episode reveals a smarter, more human approach to AI-powered learning.

🔑 Listen to discover:

• How Voice AI turns tasks into teachable moments
• What traditional training misses—and how AI fills the gap
• Why hands-free learning could be your company’s next advantage

Discover more conversations that amplify innovation and impact at talkingwiththeexperts.com.

🎓 Three Key Takeaways

1. Voice AI transforms training—every call becomes a moment to teach and learn.
2. Traditional methods fail because they separate learning from doing—AI reunites them.
3. Accessible AI empowers workers, scaling expertise without expanding teams.

• Derek Crager – Voice AI in Training founded Practical AI and created Pocket Mentor, the world’s first voice-based AI mentor providing hands-free real-time industrial support accessible through just a phone call without requiring apps or logins.
• Pocket Mentor operates on the principle that humans can accomplish anything if they have the right answer at the right time, designed as AI that thinks with humans rather than for them.
• Voice AI enables workers to access expertise through simple earbud taps, allowing conversational troubleshooting for tasks ranging from changing printer toner to diagnosing 480-volt electrical motors with specific error codes.
• Traditional training follows the 70-20-10 philosophy where 70% of learning happens on the job, 20% through peer interactions, and only 10% through conventional classroom methods.
• Pocket Mentor supports hands-free learning by eliminating the need to stop work and consult tablets or manuals, maintaining workflow momentum while providing real-time guidance.
• Traditional training fails due to the forgetting curve discovered by scientist Ebbinghaus, which shows humans forget 50% of learned information within 20 minutes of stopping the learning process.
• Voice AI democratizes expertise by capturing knowledge from subject matter experts, SOPs, maintenance manuals, and undocumented tribal knowledge, making it accessible to entire teams regardless of expert availability.
• Companies can distribute expertise to all employees for pennies on the dollar, eliminating dependency on single go-to persons who may be unavailable during weekends, vacations, or after-hours emergencies.
• Pocket Mentor operates within controlled knowledge boxes to prevent AI hallucinations, only accessing company-authorized information from subject matter experts to ensure safe and efficient procedures.
• Multiple specialized Pocket Mentors can be deployed using QR codes or NFC tags on different production lines, allowing workers to access specific expertise for each operation or piece of equipment.
• Currently 18 companies are working with Pocket Mentor through pilot programs, with adoption slowed by typical change management processes associated with new technology implementation.
• Voice interface technology requires active brain engagement during two-way conversations, preventing the copy-paste mentality that MIT identified as causing student dumbing down with traditional AI tools.
• Derek recommends identifying team skill gaps and addressing root causes rather than adding more training, emphasizing the importance of removing outdated training content alongside adding new materials.