Derek Crager

Derek Crager is the founder of Practical AI and the visionary behind Pocket Mentor, the world’s first voice-based AI mentor designed for hands-free, real-time industrial support. A seasoned expert in industrial reliability and training, Derek brings a unique perspective shaped by his own neurodivergence—leveraging autism, ADHD, and dyslexia as a strategic advantage in pattern recognition, systems thinking, and human-centered AI design.

Practical AI: A Founder’s Story

It always started the same way—the line stopped, a machine failed, and someone shouted for the one tech who always had the answer.

That tech? He was brilliant. But he was one person. When he retired, he took 30 years of expertise with him. No documentation. No training manual. Just…gone.

I’d seen it too many times—whole operations stalled over a missing piece of tribal knowledge. One fix that lived in someone’s head. I realized we had built organizations that weren’t resilient. They were dependent. And as the workforce aged or changed, the cracks grew wider.

Here’s the truth leaders won’t say out loud:
Downtime isn’t just a maintenance problem. It’s a knowledge problem.

That’s where Practical AI began

I’m neurodivergent—late-diagnosed with autism & ADHD. That diagnosis explained why I often saw the right answer but struggled to be heard. My language didn’t translate to theirs. My insights weren’t packaged the way the system expected.

That experience shaped everything.
Practical AI isn’t just about artificial intelligence.
It’s about creating practical solutions that work for real people in real time, regardless of how they learn or communicate.

We built Pocket Mentor as our flagship product to embody that vision—a voice-based AI that teaches, troubleshoots, and trains your team through a simple phone call. No app. No login. Just answers.

It speaks the language of the floor tech and the engineer and the manager—instantly turning tribal knowledge into something scalable, searchable, & available 24/7.

We believe:
*Knowledge should never retire.
*Training should happen in the moment of need.
*And artificial intelligence should serve human intelligence—not replace it.

Practical AI exists to bridge the gap between people and the knowledge they seek. Whether your team is installing, maintaining, selling, or supporting complex systems, we’re there—through your phone, at your side, ready to talk you through it.

And we’re just getting started.

The Superpower of Pocket Mentor
It’s like having your smartest teammate in your pocket, ready to help 24/7, 365 days a year — no internet, no fancy computer, just a phone call.
Even better? It doesn’t get tired, doesn’t go on vacation, and doesn’t care if you need to hear the instructions twice (or five times!).