🪵 This AI helps turn waste wood into usable lumber

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Hi AI Futurists,

This week, we’re exploring how AI is quietly transforming one of the oldest industries—timber. Cambium, a startup backed by $18.5M in fresh funding, is using AI to turn waste wood into usable lumber. But they’re not selling software; they’re embedding AI into existing workflows, digitizing an industry that still runs on phone calls and pen-and-paper transactions.

It’s a smart, pragmatic approach to AI adoption—one that raises a bigger question: Should AI be replacing industries or just making them work better?

Here’s our agenda.

• Hubspot

• Cambium

• Top 3 selected AI tools

• Community comments

• Top news on the AI horizon

Best,
Lex

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How AI is Impacting the World

Cambium uses AI to reduce lumber waste

Every day, trees are cut down in cities, but much of the wood is wasted due to poor coordination. Cambium, founded by Ben Christensen, uses AI to streamline the timber supply chain, turning discarded wood into valuable lumber. Instead of forcing sawmills and tree care companies to adopt complex software, Cambium’s AI extracts transaction data from phone calls and automates record-keeping.

Beyond reducing waste, Cambium’s AI-driven marketplace optimizes supply and demand while cutting carbon emissions. The startup has onboarded 350 industry players, helping them find buyers and suppliers more efficiently. It also produces engineered wood, like cross-laminated timber, in partnership with manufacturers. With $18.5M in funding led by VoLo Earth Ventures, Cambium is betting that AI can modernize the timber industry without disrupting how workers operate.

AI adoption doesn’t always mean automation—it can mean making old systems work better. By integrating AI into existing workflows, Cambium shows that even traditional, pen-and-paper industries can benefit from machine learning. If AI can fix lumber waste, what other inefficient industries could be next?

Key Points

• Most cut-down trees are wasted due to coordination issues.

• Cambium’s AI connects tree services, sawmills, and buyers.

• Instead of forcing software adoption, AI automates record-keeping.

• Raised $18.5M led by VoLo Earth Ventures.

What We Think About It

This is AI at its most pragmatic—fixing inefficiencies in an industry that resists change. Too often, AI startups try to replace existing workflows rather than enhance them. Cambium gets this right by embedding AI where it's least disruptive but most valuable: in the messy, human-driven part of the supply chain. A carpenter doesn't need a dashboard, but he does need customers. A truck driver doesn’t want to log into an app, but he does need to know where his next load is going.

Cambium’s approach highlights an under-explored opportunity for AI: industries where adoption isn’t driven by software enthusiasm but by economic incentives. This isn’t a flashy AI product—it’s an AI-augmented business model that quietly solves real-world problems. There’s a lesson here for AI founders: if your target users don’t want tech, don’t sell them tech. Sell them a better business, powered by AI.

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Community Comments

This week’s featured thought from a reader:

AI is often discussed in the context of cutting-edge research or enterprise solutions, but its impact on accessibility is just as important. Voice interfaces, AI-powered reading assistants, and personalized news feeds could transform how seniors and those with disabilities interact with technology. Yet, most AI products are built with younger, tech-savvy users in mind, leaving many people without tools designed for their needs.

As AI continues to shape daily life, should accessibility-focused AI be a bigger priority? What existing gaps need to be filled? Share your thoughts in our polls—you might see your comment featured next!

On the Horizon

• AI Assistants join the factory floor

• Google’s new AI video model Veo 2 will cost 50 cents per second

• Anthropic launches the world’s first ‘hybrid reasoning’ AI model

• From ChatGPT to Gemini: how AI is rewriting the internet

• Grok blocked results saying Musk and Trump ‘spread misinformation’

• Huginn: New AI model 'thinks' without words

• OpenAI's hunger for growth puts pressure on AI startups

• OpenAI's Stargate pivot highlights rift with Microsoft over future AI computing needs

• Anthropic used Pokémon to benchmark its newest AI model

• This mental health chatbot aims to fill the counseling gap at understaffed schools

That’s all for today, folks!

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