OREM — For brothers Ben and Will Wright, artificial intelligence became more than something they studied in class. They started using AI to tackle a problem they knew personally.
Ben Wright, CEO and cofounder of Klyyr said, “Early on in our life, we kind of figured out we’ve got something going on with our teeth that’s maybe different than our friends. Every time we would go to the dentist, it seemed like we were getting some sort of filling or cavity. (We’ve had) root canals, both of us, and what was interesting is, we’re a really healthy family.”
The brothers are part of Utah Valley University’s first applied AI master’s cohort. They say AI helped them research, compare ideas and develop their first product.
Will Wright, CEO and cofounder, said, “AI has really helped us narrow down and hone in on the perfect formula for our toothpaste. We’re working with food scientists and chemists to make sure that it meets all of the requirements and standards and it’s the best it can be. It helped us get the first draft of our formula.”
That first product became a real business — but the brothers say toothpaste is just the starting point.
“We are just so excited. I think we’re just getting started; there’s so many other products that we’ve talked about that we want to do. We feel like toothpaste is a great one to start with because we all use it, every day, a couple times a day. We really felt like what we’ve done here is create a product that is exactly what we want and we’re thinking that there’s going to be a lot of other people that want something just like that,” Ben Wright said.
The brothers say there is one important limit to using AI: It can’t replace human expertise.
“Obviously, we can’t trust AI blindly. It’s important to have a human in the loop so that would be the food scientists or chemists who are having the final say, but it does allow you to do research much quicker.” Will Wright said.
For the brothers, that’s the bigger lesson: AI can speed up the work, but people still make the final call.
The brothers are finishing the program while continuing to build their company. They say they’re already looking for new ways to use AI in whatever they build next.
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