Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann

About Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann

A weekly podcast about the impacts of #digital technologies on the #oil and #gas sector

Publisher

Geoffrey Cann

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

27 Jun 2017

Latest episode

9 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

475 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   9 Sept 2026

   Stick-on Digital Eyes, Ears, and Brain: No Fuss Physical AI for the Field

   Oil and gas companies have invested billions in SCADA, sensors and other technologies to understand what's happening with their equipment. Yet field workers still spend huge amounts of time driving to remote assets simply to inspect them. Experienced operators can see, hear and sense things that conventional instrumentation misses. Those blind spots have consequences. Equipment problems can go unnoticed until they become failures. Workers make unnecessary truck rolls. Maintenance becomes reactive. And with experienced field workers becoming harder to find, the industry needs a better way to understand what's happening across thousands of pieces of equipment. Physical AI offers another approach. New edge computing technologies can continuously interpret sound, vibration, vision, temperature and other signals right at the equipment. Add AI decision-making and the result is much greater visibility into equipment condition, earlier warning of problems, fewer unnecessary field visits and more targeted maintenance. In this episode, I'm in conversation with Alex Hawkinson, founder and CEO of BrightAI. We talk about stick-on AI sensors, edge computing, connected-worker technology, predictive maintenance and robot dogs. We also explore where this could ultimately lead: an oil field that continuously observes its own condition, decides what needs attention and eventually sends robots to take action. 👤 About Alex Hawkinson Alex Hawkinson is the founder and CEO of BrightAI, a Physical AI company focused on the infrastructure and essential services that modern society depends on. Alex previously founded SmartThings, the connected-home technology company acquired by Samsung. With BrightAI, he is applying his experience in connected devices, AI and edge computing to energy, power, water, transportation and other physical infrastructure. BrightAI: https://bright.ai/ BrightAI for Oil & Gas: https://bright.ai/industries/oil-gas/ Stateful OS: https://bright.ai/stateful-os/ Connect with Alex Hawkinson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahawkinson/ ⚒️ Additional Tools & Resources: 🎬 Go backstage and check out my studio: 👉 https://geoffreycann.com/mystudio/ 🎓 Take my one day digital strategy training course for oil and gas: 👉 https://www.udemy.com/course/digital-oil-and-gas/?referralCode=0161D4D49AB75735A185 🔗 Connect with Me: 🖥️ Blog series: https://digitaloilgas.substack.com/ 🎧 Podcast: https://geoffreycann.com/broadcast/ 📇 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/advocate-digital-innovation-for-energy/ 🤬 X: https://x.com/geoffreycann ⚠️ Disclaimer: The views expressed in this podcast are my own and do not constitute professional advice. #PhysicalAI #IndustrialAI #OilAndGas

2. 

   26 Aug 2026

   Can AI Actually Help Us Think? Using Structured AI For High-Stakes Decisions

   AI can help us quickly when we need to make decisions. But when executives are making high-stakes decisions about pipelines, energy infrastructure, capital investments or geopolitical risk, a quick answer isn't necessarily a good answer. Insight into the decision is fragmented across organizations, external information is difficult to assess, and misinformation, competing interests and human bias all complicate the picture. General-purpose AI tools can sort of help solve this problem. I find that they are designed to produce a fast answer, not necessarily to work systematically through a complex problem using rigorous analytical techniques. Strategic decisions need something more thorough: clearly defined problems, credible sources, competing hypotheses, scenario analysis, bias checks, traceable reasoning and the ability to revisit an assessment as circumstances change. Structured AI offers a different approach. Instead of replacing the human analyst, it combines AI with formal intelligence methodologies and human judgement. The result is analysis that can be challenged, explained and refreshed as conditions evolve. It's so much more satisfying than an AI-generated answer. In this episode, I talk with Chris Coupal of Foresight Reports about Nexus, the company's structured intelligence platform. I wanted to know why traditional approaches to intelligence are faring with today's complicated information environment, how structured AI differs from tools such as ChatGPT, why deliberately searching for contradictory evidence matters, the continuing importance of the human analyst, and how this approach could change strategic decision-making across energy and other industries. 👤 About The Guest Chris Coupal is Chief Operating Officer of Foresight Reports. His background includes 16 years in the Canadian military as a signals officer, including service in Afghanistan, as well as experience in mining and oil and gas. At Foresight Reports, Chris works with a team of analysts focused on intelligence and forecasting. The company has traditionally specialized in activism intelligence and social licence to operate and is now applying structured analytical techniques and AI to a broader range of strategic problems through its Nexus platform. 💼 Chris Coupal 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-c-828702/ 🌐 Foresight Reports 👇 https://www.linkedin.com/company/foresight-reports/ https://foresightreports.com 📧 engage@foresightreports.com ⚒️ Additional Tools & Resources: 🎬 Go backstage and check out my studio: 👉 https://geoffreycann.com/mystudio/ 🎓 Take my one day digital strategy training course for oil and gas: 👉 https://www.udemy.com/course/digital-oil-and-gas/?referralCode=0161D4D49AB75735A185 🔗 Connect with Me: 🖥️ Blog series: https://digitaloilgas.substack.com/ 🎧 Podcast: https://geoffreycann.com/broadcast/ 📇 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/advocate-digital-innovation-for-energy/ 🤬 X: https://x.com/geoffreycann ⚠️ Disclaimer: The views expressed in this podcast are my own and do not constitute professional advice.

3. 

   19 Aug 2026

   Defuse These Digital Oil and Gas Time Bombs: There's Still Time

   Digital innovations are creating huge value for oil and gas, but digital landscape is setting the industry up for problems down the track. Think of them as digital time bombs. Quantum computing will expose encrypted data that companies believe is safely protected. Legacy on-premise software is fast becoming difficult and costy to support as investment capital moves elsewhere. And the industry's shrinking talent pipeline will leave companies without enough people, particularly people with the digital skills needed to replace retiring workers. In this episode, I look at four digital time bombs facing oil and gas: decrypting stolen data, hacking live business communications, aging software, and the shrinking talent pool. The exact timing of these problems is uncertain, but that's the nature of a time bomb. Companies that recognize them early still have time to mitigate the impacts, or perhaps defuse them entirely. ⚒️ Additional Tools & Resources: 🎬 Go backstage and check out my studio: 👉 https://geoffreycann.com/mystudio/ 🎓 Take my one day digital strategy training course for oil and gas: 👉 https://www.udemy.com/course/digital-oil-and-gas/?referralCode=0161D4D49AB75735A185 🔗 Connect with Me: 🖥️ Blog series: https://digitaloilgas.substack.com/ 🎧 Podcast: https://geoffreycann.com/broadcast/ 📇 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/advocate-digital-innovation-for-energy/ 🤬 X: https://x.com/geoffreycann ⚠️ Disclaimer: The views expressed in this podcast are my own and do not constitute professional advice.

Who has been a guest on Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Liam Scanlan
• Denis Krysanov
• David Smith
• Richard Naden
• Philip Richard

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

48,588

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

19 ratings

Spotify

4.9 / 5

7 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 83 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

99

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

92

Contact Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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