Amir Rubin, a six-time entrepreneur and co-founder of Psychic Platform, joins Sunny Ray to discuss building AI tools that solve real societal problems rather than chasing hype. Rubin describes Psychic as an AI sidekick system, inspired by his co-founder Avi Arad's Marvel background, designed to help people navigate major life transitions. The company partnered closely with the Department of Veterans Affairs after learning that veterans face a suicide rate two and a half times the general public, often due to failing to access earned benefits. Psychic built a grounded, citation based AI system trained only on vetted content from VA experts to prevent the hallucinations common in general chatbots. The platform has since expanded to support college students and stroke or heart attack survivors during major life transitions. Rubin also discusses how switching to NVIDIA's NeMoTron open-source models improved cost, latency, and data privacy compared to relying on major AI labs. The conversation closes with Rubin encouraging listeners to try Psychic's free Ask Psychic channel and share the VA app with veterans and their families.
A six-time founder explains how his AI sidekick platform helps veterans and students navigate life's toughest transitions.
What is Psychic Platform and what problem are you solving?
We're building what I call the Iron Man suit for humanity, AI sidekicks that make humans superheroes. After selling our last company, Six Sense, to a healthcare company, we asked the VA what their next big problem was. They said veterans struggle to learn what benefits they earned and how to access and use them effectively during the transition to civilian life.
What convinced you the problem was worth solving, not just an interesting use of AI?
Everything starts with whether the problem is worth the time, effort, and money. We never set out to build super intelligence like the big labs chasing AGI. We look at what problem needs solving first, then ask which technology, including AI, can actually solve it. AI became the right tool because it opened new solutions, not because it was trendy.
Which early conversation with an institution changed the product most?
At a Penn Medicine event, VA Innovation Center leaders including Dr. Susan Crush approached me and said there's no bigger problem than veteran suicide, which is two and a half times the general public rate. We spent six months studying it and realized veterans weren't accessing benefits, which led directly to significant depression, homelessness, and worse outcomes.
When did you realize a grounded, citation based answer is a fundamentally different product than a normal AI answer?
Immediately, especially once ChatGPT launched. Veterans were getting answers from ungrounded sources instead of vetted VA information, which is dangerous when it affects healthcare or benefits decisions. We built a system where our AI can only access content uploaded by fifteen VA experts, and every answer cites its exact source, virtually eliminating hallucinations.
What are you building now that you couldn't have built 18 months ago?
The personal psychic can now understand a full user goal, like a veteran wanting to become a nurse with free tuition in Los Angeles, and navigate all VA rules, eligibility, and benefits to build a real plan. It's fully conversational and was refined by testing with thousands of veterans over time.
What's been the biggest change in the last six months?
Switching from big lab models to NVIDIA NeMoTron open-source models. We no longer pay per token, we run our own servers on AWS, and we're not competing for capacity with every other Anthropic or OpenAI customer. It significantly cut costs, reduced latency, and improved data privacy since conversations no longer leave our system.
Five years out, does every expert have a channel like this, and what happens to those who don't?
I jumped back because the real answer is the NeMoTron shift itself, it's what makes this model economically viable to scale. With controlled costs and no per-token dependency, we can realistically extend this expert-grounded sidekick approach to far more institutions and communities going forward.
Where can people learn more about you and Psychic?
Find me on LinkedIn, and try our free Ask Psychic channel on our website to see what AI can do for you. We're also releasing a dedicated VA channel in the mobile app store for veterans and their families. There are over 30 million people in the veteran community, including families, who deserve this support.
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