Infinity EDM & Manufacturing (Infinity) president Kyle Crum was recently featured in a national journalism piece published by CUNY's The Invisible Hand, weighing in on one of manufacturing's biggest conversations right now: whether "physical AI" — the push to deploy intelligent robotics and automation across American factory floors — can live up to its hype.
The article, titled "Silicon Valley sees America's factories as AI's next proving ground. Manufacturers say it won't be simple," gathered perspectives from manufacturers, economists, and tech founders across the country. Crum's voice represented a distinctly Midwestern point of view.
"Physical AI" is the tech world's term for machines that don't just follow programmed instructions, they interpret their environment and make decisions on the fly. Think robots that can see, adapt, and problem-solve without a human in the loop. Backed by billions from investors and tech giants like Nvidia and Tesla, the vision is a future where AI-powered factories help reshore American manufacturing at scale. It's a compelling idea. Whether it translates to the shop floor is another question entirely.
"I live in the real world of pragmatism," Crum told the reporter. "How do I serve my customer, at pace, with quality product at a reasonable price?"
That's not skepticism for its own sake — it's the filter every new technology has to pass in a precision job shop. At Infinity, decisions about process and equipment come down to one question: does this actually make us better for our customers? Billion-dollar funding rounds and flashy demos don't answer that. Performance does.
Crum acknowledged that the capital flowing into physical AI will move the needle, eventually. But he pushed back on a real cultural gap between tech developers and the manufacturers they're trying to serve. The solutions being built on the coasts often don't map cleanly onto the problems that exist in shops like his. He called for "a melding of the coasts" — one that balances Silicon Valley's bias for action with the ground-level pragmatism that keeps American manufacturing running.
At Infinity, that pragmatism shows up every day. The company specializes in Wire EDM, Sinker EDM, grinding, and precision CNC machining — processes that demand exactness, consistency, and deep process knowledge. The customers who trust Infinity with their most demanding parts aren't interested in promises. They're interested in results. That's the standard Crum holds new technology to. And it's the standard Infinity holds itself to.
Read the article: https://bizeconreporting.journalism.cuny.edu/2026/04/06/silicon-valley-sees-americas-factories-as-ais-next-proving-ground-manufacturers-say-it-wont-be-simple/