How a Founder Uses AI to Improve Hurricane Tracking and Risk Assessment

**Eduardo Siman** (0:01)
When you are using AI, I think it's so important to be upfront about what is being done with AI, what kind of AI, and what you're feeding into. In other words, what are you training it with? And I think that AI ethics is just this huge area that many founders don't think about because they're just so focused on trying to grow revenue, grow users. But for us, with our main goal being, we want to help people, we want to help anyone in the world have a better outcome when faced with severe weather. We have to think about it, right? We don't want to create a situation where our AI models are actually going to make somebody call for an evacuation when there shouldn't be one.

**Brooke Gramer** (0:43)
Welcome to How I AI, the podcast featuring real people, real stories and real AI in action. I'm Brooke Gramer, your host and guide on this journey into the real world impact of artificial intelligence.
For over 15 years I've worked in creative marketing, events and business strategy, wearing all the hats. I know the struggle of trying to scale and manage all things without burning out, but here's the game changer, AI. This isn't just a podcast. How I AI is a community, a space where curious minds like you come together, share ideas because AI isn't just a trend, it's a shift. And the sooner we embrace it, the more freedom, creativity, and opportunities we'll unlock. Hello and welcome back. Today I'm joined by Eduardo Siman. He's the founder and CEO of World Sphere AI. It's a Miami-based company using computer vision and AI to better understand things like hurricanes, improve risk assessment, and support smarter evacuation and disaster response decisions. Eduardo's path into AI is anything but typical. From consulting with the US Navy and working in enterprise software, to private wealth at Goldman Sachs, to angel investing and some of the biggest names in tech. His story is really about curiosity and a deeper desire to build something that truly matters. In today's conversation, we talk about how Hurricane Andrew shaped his mission. What computer vision actually means in layman's terms. We get a bit into vibe coding and the changing future of software. He shares some of his hard lessons from building a self-funded AI company and why things like community matter now more than ever. If you've been curious about how AI is being integrated, especially in industries like climate, insurance, and scientific research, this episode is for you. All right, let's dive in. Eduardo, thank you so much for being here on How I AI. It's such an honor to host you today. And where are you joining from?

**Eduardo Siman** (2:55)
I am in Miami, Florida.

**Brooke Gramer** (2:57)
Oh, okay. So we're both in Miami. Well, perfect place to be if you're in the industry of hurricanes. And this is what I love so much about my podcast. It's such a dynamic group of people that come on the show. I have not had the opportunity yet to speak about AI and weather or disaster prevention and how we're using AI for good in these industries. So let's go ahead and kick it off if you could share a little bit about your background and how you found yourself at the intersection of AI today.

**Eduardo Siman** (3:31)
That's a great question. I mean, my background is quite unusual in terms of people who become AI founders, but essentially you have this kind of overriding arc of becoming obsessed with AI and then also becoming obsessed with hurricanes and weather and trying to figure out how to bring that together. But in general, I had the traditional trying to move up the corporate ladder background. I did my undergrad at University of Miami, focused a lot on mathematics. Then right after that, I spent quite a bit of time as a consultant doing software implementations. I was really lucky because I had an opportunity to work with what's called SAP, which is a very well-known and used software all over the world. That gave me the chance to get a job consulting with the US Navy and working out of Washington, DC. That was an incredible experience implementing an enterprise system for them. That led to where it usually leads. You're at Deloitte Consulting, you've been there a few years, and so you go to business school. I went to Columbia Business School.
Then the typical thing happened, which is everything there is about finance. I got caught up into the whole finance world. It's very mathematical, so I loved the math part of it. I got a job at Goldman Sachs and worked there for a few years doing private wealth, which really didn't match my mathematical inclinations, but it was just such an amazing opportunity to work at Goldman. Then realized, you know what? I should probably go back to the world of IT and software implementations. For about nine years, I was leading IT teams as a CTO, as an IT director, and then eventually got to the point where I was burnt out in the corporate world and just said, I don't want to do this anymore. I had been angel investing in AI. I had been learning so much about AI, and I felt like I'm just not going to be able to do this at work.