166
AMA with Steve Reinharz, CEO of AITX and Robotic Assistant Devices, Discussing the Robotic Revolution in Security Industry and More!
Hello Reddit!I am Steve Reinharz, the CEO of Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions, Inc. (AITX) and its subsidiary, Robotic Assistance Devices (RAD). We are at the forefront of the robotic revolution, providing innovative AI-driven solutions for complex security challenges and improving productivity across various industries.
Our mission is to empower organizations with cutting-edge robotic and AI-based technologies, enabling new insights and fueling fresh business ideas while significantly reducing costs123.Here's a bit about what we do:Innovative Security Solutions: RAD develops world-class security robot devices, software, and robotic security services aimed at enhancing facility security and safety while lowering overall costs.
Our lineup includes a variety of offerings like ROSA, RIO, ROAMEO, RADDOG and RAD light my way, each tailored to address different security and operational needs.
Disrupting the Security Industry: We are redefining the $25 billion (US) security and guarding services industry through our AI-driven Solutions-as-a-Service business model.
Our solutions are designed to provide substantial cost savings to businesses, ranging between 35%-80% when compared to traditional manned security services4.Growing Impact: As of last year, we had 30 paying customers representing 39 distinct end users, including three Top 25 Global corporations ranked by revenue.
The sales pipeline includes over 350 distinct opportunities that have the potential to represent thousands of unit orders, and we are continuously working towards expanding our client base and deployments.
Global Presence: With a growing team and units deployed across the USA and Europe, we are making strides in the global market. Our RAD Excellence Center in Ferndale, Michigan, and other facilities across North America are hubs for our development and operational activities, serving a diverse range of industries such as enterprises, government, transportation, critical infrastructure, education, and healthcare.
Future Aspirations: We are constantly evolving with new product developments, patent filings, and strategies to shorten sales cycles, which aids quicker conversion to sales and revenue. Our journey towards reshaping the security services industry is ongoing, and there's much more to come!Feel free to ask me anything about the robotic revolution, the security industry, or any other topics you're curious about.
I'm here to answer your questions and share our vision for a safer and more efficient future enabled by robotics and AI!Make sure to follow me on Twitter u/SteveReinharz for the latest updates on AITX and RAD!
MaxGainzzz2 karma
Being that I don't hold very long, I am usually green with my purchases.
Steve_ReinharzAITX0 karma
Sure. Plenty of investors have made big money during the time I've managed AITX. And, I invented everything. So, 2 things.
Raisin_the_dog3 karma
You’ve done nothing for your investor base other than steal money to line your own pockets. Lol you didn’t even invent your stupid rad dog. China and unitree did lol. Imbecile
Raisin_the_dog3 karma
I can’t wait to watch this shit stock slide into the .002s. Then then .001s. Then trips. Then the class actions will pile up. Then bankruptcy. Oh 2024 is going to be so much fun. But watch out for that juicy Q folks 🤪🤦♂️ And watch out for my parody AITX YouTube channel coming out soon!!
Steve_ReinharzAITX0 karma
That fits. A miserable human with a miserable joke b spreading miserable fud predictions. I pity you.
Raisin_the_dog2 karma
You and your funny FUD spreading basher bs. Lol it’s the weakest bs ever dude. You can’t deny about 99% of what is said about you. How about you post that video of roameo charging autonomously at the scot like you tweeted about over 2 years ago??? Lol because it doesn’t exist 🤪🤦♂️
Steve_ReinharzAITX0 karma
Hey idiot... Things change. It's called being flexible. But again you're only interested in wasting my time and sharing fud. Bye
thanksforyourstream7 karma
When do you think AITX share price will be worth one full cent again?
Steve_ReinharzAITX3 karma
Well that's speculation which as CEO I'm not allowed to do :(. I can say I want 1c+ ASAP, frustrated with how the microcaps/small caps are performing and I'm expecting a general cycle shift at some point. . . as it always does. . . but ya I want lots of pennies so badly!
AriesLives04073 karma
Outside of your professional endeavors, do you engage with Robotics or AI in any hobbies or personal projects?
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
Lol not really! Like the vast majority of my time/efforts go into $AITX. What time I have left is for la familia and hockey. Sad but true. So little time of anything else.
pennyauntie3 karma
What will happen to society when all the jobs are done by AI and robots and people are all homeless and starving? We are well on our way today. Could you maybe set up a place where we could just be put to sleep humanely, by robots?
Asking for a friend...
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
In all seriousness, it's a good question. And in all seriousness I'll share I'm worried we humans, as a species, will handle it badly. We handle a lot badly right now, as an overall species. So yea... Hopefully they'll take care of us...
cptgibbs2 karma
Do you think it’s responsible to charge ahead without accounting for ethical considerations, even basic-ass ethics 101 questions like that one.
I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that the overwhelming reason why ethical concerns aren’t further explored is that they have almost zero financial ROI (unless you count the money you’d be saving not having to deal with regulators, but why would you) - yet even you admit you personally share the concern and your best response is basically ‘yeah we have shown there’s reason for concern, oh well, here’s hopin! 🤷🏻♂️’
Can you explain why someone reading your above response, even someone that doesn’t work in an adjacent field, shouldn’t think you’re just another selfish, money-grubbing, (sorry) asshole for ignoring the things we’re all concerned about? Someone that actually has a chance to make a difference but is instead throwing up their arms and saying ‘yeah but damn think of all the MONEY.’
I’m posting this because everything here and in my experience tells me you need to stop selling, like fucking immediately, and you need to do the difficult but responsible work of setting a good precedent by developing a fulsome product. And I don’t mean this to sound cynical or presumptive, but please do not point to another company and say ‘well just look at what they’re doing though.’
Steve_ReinharzAITX0 karma
Yea so obviously not going to stop selling. We'll aware of the ethical concerns and much rather would be part of the mix than be a bystander. We already have a policy of zero bio identifying collection (which I believe is unique for an ai company) as well as a no-militarization policy. Additionally I'm a board member of SIA and a leader on the ai committee. So I'm plugged in. Yes money will be made. Yes there will be risks. Yes we'll be responsible. Reminder... We live here on earth too...
cptgibbs3 karma
It’s pretty disingenuous to infer that if you’re not involved and considering ethics, that you’re a bystander in the market. You’re literally selling a product that’s incomplete by your own admission—and not even tangibly, but on a conceptual, drawing-board level—which means your audience is people that are primarily looking to make money, and secondarily care about AI. There’s nothing wrong with this, but you look like a fool trying to have your cake and eat it too by coming off like you’ve got any handle on ethical aspects whatsoever.
Non-bio and non-militarization are laughable guardrails when the vast majority of industry-standard software contracts that promise de-identification of personal data collected don’t even have a standard by which to objectively measure it (ie, it’s stupid easy, and getting easier, to reidentify data more because of technology precisely like yours).
Obviously you’re not open to others’ opinions on this exactly as you said in your first sentence, but every time you see a headline about how we’re falling further down a slippery slope with AI, you better damn well not fool yourself into thinking you’re not 100% part of the problem. You are literally ignoring an organic, personal concern of yours in order to make more money at the expense of other people. You can dress it up however you like, but at the end of the day that’s the only truth that matters here.
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
And your comments are brutally idealistic, unrealistic and largely incorrect. I just don't have the time or interest to debate your nonsense. You can on our train or off - your choice. But it's leaving the station with or without you.
MaxGainzzz3 karma
Hi Steve, can you expand on your deployments in Europe? Like what region and what vertical?
Steve_ReinharzAITX0 karma
Handful of deployments for our large logistics client is about it :). We'll see what inroads we make in Europe in 2024 but we've barely scratched the surface in the US. . . lots of growth to do!
tsh-statham3 karma
Hey Steve! Big fan of yours since the early WALLY and SCOT days. What was your reasoning for putting those product lines out to pasture so to speak? I've often wondered if there's almost a sunk cost fallacy with companies such as Cobalt and Knightscope and their refusal to terminate unpopular or underperforming product lines
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
An OG!!! Good to connect! Well I can't talk specifically to Cobalt or Knightscope but I can say a few things from a general sense: Funding sources dictate flexibility. If you're VC funded and your mandate is X. . . You'd better do X at any cost. Similarly if you've blown through all your money creating Y. . . you'd better try to sell some Y.
For AITX we've built core tech that has evolved. It start with the first scot, then wally, but largely it's the same code base that's been heavily evolved and developed that goes into ROSA/AVA, etc. SCOT/Wally (and all our physical forms) are just 'bodies' that we built as our first thoughts on how to deliver services.
Wally evolved (or spawned?) ROSA and AVA. SCOT has lead us to other things that I may be able to announce now or in November if it works out.
We won't be beholden to forms that haven't proven to sell. Best example ROSA: Sold a bunch of cnc'd ROSA and ROSA180s. . . then did 1000 injection molding run of ROSA3.x. So I want to see the device proven then we go deep.
Not every firm can do that for the couple reasons (and more) I listed above.
And yes. . . killing a product sux cause there are dollars that float away. Note there are products that we killed before ever announcing publicly. . . gotta be true to the mission at any cost.
kurmor843 karma
Is there an issue with Raddog and unitree and is that why you went to china? if so what is/was the issue? thanks
azvelocat3 karma
Are you happy with the growth of the company?
As an investor I am hopeful to see future investment growth, but I'm ok with mid-term choppiness if you envision future profitability.
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
As the CEO I'm focused on the investment growing! Of that I assure you! I like to remind folks that I'm the greatest equity holder through my preferred shares. No common shares, not/never sold anything. I hope my equity position solidifies so I can reinvest in AITX and go bigger than the aspirations I've previously said publicly.
Right now the focus is simple: positive cash flow. Simple. And we're making moves to focus on the products that are selling.
I see choppiness in the micro/small cap markets and it's critical we establish we do not need public markets to survive - then it'll be interesting to see how investors get rewarded :)
sonnytai3 karma
How do you not have any common stock? It’s a bit bizarre for the founder to not have any common stock.
Steve_ReinharzAITX2 karma
I don't know if it's bizarre. Common stock is for trading. I don't trade the stock. So not really bizarre. I hold my equity in preferred stock. Again, not bizarre.
sonnytai3 karma
?? Maybe I’m ignorant and I’m missing something, but preferred stock is issued to investors and common stock is issued to founders and employees because the liquidity preference is higher for preferred so if the company goes out of business preferred holders can get some proceeds from the remaining assets of the company.
Did all your common convert to preferred when you guys went public?
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
None of the prefs converted when we did the rto and me and a very small group of early investors got prefs early in... When this was barely an idea. I don't really consider bk... Like Arnold says, don't have a plan b. Focus is this company winning.
sonnytai3 karma
Oh you invested in the company then became CEO. I thought you were the original founder. This makes sense then.
Steve_ReinharzAITX2 karma
Kinda. Specifically I started rad and then did a reverse take over of a public company I turned into aitx. So aitx existed as omvs before I took it over. I created rad and effectively aitx. I'm the original founder, investor, etc.
sonnytai3 karma
I have never in my life heard of a founder holding all preferred and no common. It absolutely is strange for your sweat equity to have the same liquidity preference as investors who put money into the company.
https://carta.com/blog/equity-rights-and-liquidation-preferences/
Even if you ended up investing money into the company, that would usually mean that you hold some preferred and some common.
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
Oh. Well look at Google or metas structure. How many stock structures have you reviewed to think you've a qualified opinion? Look at 50 otc companies and tell me if our structure is bizarre.
sonnytai4 karma
Zuck owns another class of common stock that gives him more voting power.
But you’re right, I don’t know anything about OTC companies. All good, I was just curious.
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
Yep. I own another class if prefs that give me voting power. Cheaper than having that class commons. If we hit nazzy we'll see how it flushes out.
VegetableToastFan2 karma
Can you recall a moment or experience that solidified your decision to pursue a career in robotics and AI and as a follow up how has your personal interest in robotics evolved over the years, and how has it influenced the direction of RAD?
Steve_ReinharzAITX0 karma
Yea I feel it was really less a choice and more just following through on how I was programmed. From a young age I was practicing leadership and I wrote my first piece on AI when I was in University at 19 years old. Took me till I was around 44 years old before the pieces came together (had a previous successful exit and a couple less successful ventures) and I was able to put together $AITX. I still feel we're barely scrapping the surface of where I want to take this.
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
Sure. It was a company called Hamilton Pacific that we sold to Securitas for $42m. Systems integrator. My division focused on public works (law enforcement, transportation) and the company focused on banking security.
Necessary_Secret_5622 karma
What advice would you give to individuals looking to follow a similar path in blending personal passion with a career in robotics and AI?
Steve_ReinharzAITX-2 karma
lol. . . don't!!!
True entrepreneurship is more of a compulsion than a desire. Either something is tweaked in you that gives you unlimited drive to work against all the odds or not. No shame in not being CEO. All work is valuable. For me I feel I have no choice but to do what I'm doing. Most of the time I love, all of the time I have a degree of exhaustion and paranoia and so on :). #truth
Bottom line: there's no recipe, no roadmap, no nothing that anyone can really share with you. The constant stream of insta-bs posts of 'you can do it' is an industry into itself and largely useless. Look within and see if you're up to it!
kurmor842 karma
Can you give us deployment numbers? the units and number of them deployed currently? thanks
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
Through public filings or press. Look for the Q2 results coming this month!
kurmor842 karma
what is the RMR for each unit? and how much is the initial purchase price? thanks
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
Yep non-public, largely, as the dealer base prefers we don't share those numbers so they can share their own pricing!
PuzzleheadedDebt1192 karma
Do you see any industries or sectors that are currently under-served by AI and robotic solutions, and are there plans for your company to address these gaps?
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
I think every industry is absolutely underserved by ai solutions and I see every industries adoption to be fast (over the next 5 years). Industry will be waaaaaaaay different in 10 years than it is now. . . cool question! Lots of growth!
Aicu0veev2 karma
What was the driving force behind establishing AITX and RAD? How do you envision the role of robotics and AI in the security sector evolving?
Steve_ReinharzAITX0 karma
Wow great question! I see in security/#proptech/facility management that 'AI' will simply run facilities. It'll do it more efficiently and cheaper than how we do it now. Less property and crimes against people, better power efficiency, small footprints. . . it's fascinating how it will change everything :). But yea in 10-15 years there will be sophisticated machines (hopefully from $AITX) running things. We (AITX) are certainly getting things started with what we have in market now but I equate where we are now to the dark ages. What's coming in the next few years blows my mind.
novUS5012 karma
This happens on all new inventions! It comes out and as the months and years pass one see many changes and upgrades in everything that way! I was mixed up in farm equipment sales over the years! When the Steiger 4 wheel drive tractor was introduced its turning ability was done by a hydraulic valve! Push it in you turned right pull it out 2 clicks and it turned left then you pulled it back one notch and it steered straight! It had 2 drive shafts with one set of drive gears put in it turned over a clutch and 2 drive shafts going into a gear case! That’s the first 4 wheel drive! Look at them today it has every luxury that your house has! I’ll be leaving to get into a tractor and help top off sugar beets so they can be dug and processed into sugar for the people in the USA! Keep up the good work Steve!
I_Love_Tuscany1 karma
Hi Steve. Thanks for taking questions this evening. Many large universities employ their own police departments in addition to the Blue Light systems. Is AITX/RAD only targeting universities lacking their own police forces, or is there a way to supplement campus PDs? Thank you.
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
I'm hoping that the east coast university that bought 10-15 rosas (po in hand for 10, add'l 5 on verbal waiting for the pwork) will come public and accelerate RLMW's adoption by other large universities.
We're also targeting healthcare campuses :)
h3xpl01t1 karma
Can you discuss any significant partnerships or collaborations RAD has established with other tech providers or industry stakeholders?
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
So far not overly interested in other tech companies as we see our stuff as 4th industrial revolution related while most are 3rd gen. . . but industry stakeholders we're all about, starting with the $23b global behemoth, first RAD dealer and largest RAD dealer Allied Universal Services. :)
Steve_ReinharzAITX0 karma
hahahaha!!!!! that made me laugh :). copy & pasted and didn't give it the extra 5 seconds needed :)
Ok-Feedback56041 karma
How can robotics help in labour job like delivery;driving etc(because if you say it all depends on their sensors than remember,tesla self driving vehichles also are sensor based technic but everybody know how inaccurately their sensor works that resulted into accidents) So how robotics can get succeed in human job skills?(and how you'd made them more accurate and error-proof?)
Steve_ReinharzAITX2 karma
well you're right - the sensors are essential - and how the data is interpreted is the key. So good sensors make it easier. But ultimately it's how we use the data to decide what's accurate and what's an error. Hence. . . R&D $$$
Millionaire_Dreamer1 karma
Why send it out the other months? We know why September was a bust. We know they need 50-75 sales a month to break even in 12-15 months or the AS will be raised again. Yes we guarantee no R/S which is s great deal except raIsing the AS ensures he doesn’t have to do a RS for now. Don’t have to be MBA to figure that out.
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
Mmmm you're speculating 100%. . . and I'd rather you not position your guesses as definitive facts. TIA
Millionaire_Dreamer1 karma
You speculate every time you tell us the next month could be the biggest. Funny how that works.
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
Quite different. One (sales) in involved in have have visibility on and it's based on real data in our sales funnel. Stock action isn't in my control, so speculation is unfounded (for me). So do the world a favor as he maybe think about differences before creating comparative fud.
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
Alright cool questions! Signing off for now, see y'all around and all the best!
Millionaire_Dreamer1 karma
Steve where is September’s rollup with the numbers of units that will hit the RMR? You were quick to put up July and August cause they were good. As Oscar the head discord pumper would say “send it Reinharz”.
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
Oscar is awesome. I've put out 3 pressers this week so far. . . just fyi. . . and the Q coming up. . . and more news to share. . . so ya I'll gauge the messaging and act accordingly in terms of what i want to share and when :)
jrbentley921 karma
What’s up Steve ?!?! JB here, Can you provide update on total units on RMR that have been deployed and then the total number that we have ink on but maybe not deployed ? Looking to get an idea on where we currently stand with RMR and where we are looking to be once current inked contracts are deployed . Not sure if this info (through Oct) will be in the Q .
Steve_ReinharzAITX1 karma
JB! I can't here. But I can see if what I want to include in the Q gets approved by the auditors!
Raisin_the_dog14 karma
You don’t own any common shares. You have diluted this stock from 500m shares to now an AS of 10 billion shares. Every chart that you can view (1 day, 5 day, 1 month, 6 month, 1 year etc) has negative growth. You’ve taken bonuses that exceed the revenue for the companies yearly revenue. Can you name 1 thing you’ve done or something that you plan to do to show investor value? It seems like you’re the only one making money here. Are there any investors that are in the green with any of their purchases?
View HistoryShare Link