Episode Summary:
What if we could simulate extreme weather before it strikes, and use AI to prevent billions of dollars in damage?
In this episode of In the Blink of AI, Georgie Healy sits down with Jack Curtis, Chief Commercial & Operations Officer at Neara, the startup building digital twins of critical infrastructure like electricity grids. Together, they unpack how AI is reshaping energy, data centers, and even Australia’s role in the global technology race.
From the true drivers of rising energy bills to why “climate tech is far from dead,” Jack shares a candid inside look at the intersection of AI, infrastructure, and policy. You’ll hear why digital twins are more than just a buzzword, what governments are getting right (and wrong) on AI, and how Australia can seize its moment to lead.
Episode Sponsors:
Chapters:
02:11 – Meet Jack Curtis and his role at Neara
03:00 – Digital twins: what they are and why they matter
04:45 – Using AI to model cyclone bombs and prevent grid damage
06:00 – AI Hack of the Week: Gong & NotebookLM for extracting insights
11:20 – Replacing manual, error-prone inspections with scalable modeling
14:50 – Why digital twins are critical in high-stakes infrastructure
17:45 – Adoption friction: humans vs. AI in enterprise contexts
18:40 – Breaking down the real drivers of spiralling electricity bills
22:20 – Can smart data centers help lower consumer energy costs?
25:10 – Data center siting: desert or grid-adjacent?
28:35 – Cooling and water trade-offs in data center economics
30:21 – Is Australian government AI adoption too slow?
35:30 – Can Australia win the global AI–data center “space race”?
37:20 – Why “waiting five years to see how AI plays out” is too risky
39:00 – Climate risk in the next decade: why infrastructure is already under stress
41:50 – Is climate tech still relevant or “not sexy”?
43:30 – Jack’s take on Scott Farquhar’s 5-point AI plan for Australia
49:55 – Rapid fire: digital apprenticeships, APIs, and easing AI into government workflows
50:30 – Jack’s sign-off: Neara is hiring ML engineers!
Resources:
⛅️ Neara – https://neara.com/
🙋🏻♂️ Jack Curtis (LinkedIn) – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-curtis-399b182a/
💻 Gong – https://www.gong.io/
🎥 Andrej Karpathy: Neural Networks – Zero to Hero – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAqhIrjkxbuWI23v9cThsA9GvCAUhRvKZ
