For more than three decades, I built and operated Total Response, a company focused on decision-support systems for emergency communications centers. Our software helped 911 professionals process critical calls and guide emergency response in real time. It was mission-critical technology operating inside some of the most demanding environments imaginable.

Most ventures don’t begin with a grand plan. They begin with a moment of recognition—an inefficiency that appears repeatedly, a system that feels unnecessarily complicated, or a problem that people quietly accept because no better alternative exists.

Artificial intelligence is having a moment. New models appear every few months, capabilities improve rapidly, and headlines suggest entire industries are about to be transformed overnight.