AI Has Broken Out of the Chat Box

It's now in your glasses, on your maps, and in your spreadsheets. Here's what it means for restorers.

AuthorAuthor

David Grove & William Tygart
November 04, 2025


Hey everyone,

For the last couple of years, we've talked about AI as this "thing" in a chat box on our computers. It was smart, and it was great for writing emails or marketing copy, but it was still separate from our real work out in the field.

The news from the last two weeks changes that, permanently.

This isn't a "future" update. This is a "right now" update. The pivotal moment I've been talking about—where AI forces us to adapt or get left behind—is here.

In the last 14 days, AI has broken out of the chat window and landed in:

  • Our Eyes: Meta's new AI-powered "Display" glasses are shipping now, and they put AI directly into your field of vision.

  • Our World: Google's Gemini AI can now see and understand the real world through Google Maps, accessing data on over 250 million buildings.

  • Our Spreadsheets: Anthropic's Claude AI now lives inside Microsoft Excel, ready to analyze your job-costing reports.

The theme of this newsletter is Integration. AI is no longer a separate tool; it's becoming the connective tissue for everything we do.

I'm going to show you what's new, why you should care, and—most importantly—how to start connecting all these new tools to your existing restoration software using my favorite "glue," n8n.

Let's get into it.

TOP NEWS: AI Just Gained Eyes. This Changes Everything.

This is the "sci-fi" section, except it's not sci-fi. It's available for purchase today. The two biggest "vision" updates for AI happened almost simultaneously, and they are tailor-made for a field-based industry like ours.

The Big One: Meta's "Display" Glasses Are Here (And They're Built for the Field)

What's New (The Facts):

  • Meta has officially started shipping its new AI-powered glasses, the Meta Ray-Ban Display, announced at their recent Connect 2025 event.

  • The cost is $799, and they come with a critical accessory: the "Meta Neural Band".

  • This is not just a camera in a pair of glasses. This is a full-color, in-lens display. It's a transparent screen in your vision that can show you turn-by-turn directions, read your text messages, and display information from the Meta AI.

  • The Neural Band is the Game-Changer: This is a wristband that reads the electrical signals in your muscles (EMG). This allows you to discreetly control the glasses with subtle finger pinches, like a silent click, without talking to your glasses or fumbling with your phone.

  • Key features include hands-free, first-person-view (POV) video calling, live in-vision captions and translations, and the ability to ask the AI questions about what you're looking at.

  • They also announced the Oakley Meta Vanguard, a more rugged version built for "Athletic Intelligence," which is Meta's term for use in tough, active environments.

What This Means for Restoration (The "Why You Care"):

This is not Google Glass 2.0. Google Glass failed because it was socially awkward, and the controls were clunky. Meta seems to have solved this. The Neural Band is the key; a tech can be in a homeowner's living room and discreetly take a photo, start a POV video call with a Project Manager, or save a note without ever breaking eye contact or being rude. This is critical for field adoption.

Here are the use cases we can implement today:

  • The "Senior PM in Your Pocket": The POV video call is the killer app for scaling your expertise. Our industry's biggest bottleneck is the gap between our A-player senior PMs and our new techs. These glasses bridge that gap. A new tech on their first solo water loss can put their PM (or me, Dave) "in their eyes." I can be at my desk and see exactly what the tech sees in real-time. "No, not that wall, pan left. See that discoloration at the baseboard? I need you to get a reading right there." This is real-time, remote quality assurance and training. It scales your best brain across your whole team.

  • True Hands-Free Documentation: Think about your tech in a tight, nasty crawlspace, holding a tool in one hand and a light in the other. How do they take the "after" photo? With these glasses, they can just say, "Hey Meta, take a video" or "take a photo". The documentation is captured without stopping the work.

  • Real-Time Compliance: We can build custom apps that display the IICRC checklist in the tech's vision. As they complete a step, they can "check it off" with a simple, silent finger pinch. This is a massive leap for compliance and, more importantly, for proving to carriers that the standard of care was met on every single job.

  • The Oakley "Vanguard" is the Real Signal: The Ray-Bans are for "lifestyle." The "Athletic Intelligence" Vanguard model is for tough environments. This is the direct precursor to a "Job Site" or "PPE" model. It proves Meta is thinking about durability. The $799 price is a non-issue. It's the cost of a good moisture meter. If it saves one tech an hour or prevents one missed scoping item, it pays for itself.

Google Gemini Just Put 250 Million Buildings on Your Team

What's New (The Facts):

  • On October 17, Google made its "Grounding with Google Maps" feature generally available for the Gemini API.

  • "Grounding" is a simple word for a powerful idea: it connects the AI's brain to reality. Gemini now has access to the real-time, factual data of over 250 million places in Google Maps.

  • This isn't just addresses. It's real-time opening hours, user reviews, photos, and even subjective "vibe" analysis (e.g., "Is this a good place for a quiet dinner?").

What This Means for Restoration (The "Why You Care"):

This is the death of the dumb dispatch. Right now, your dispatch or PMs are "dispatching blind." They have a job address and a tech's address. This new tool allows for geospatial reasoning.

The Smart Dispatch:

  • Simple Example: "My tech is at 123 Main St. I need 5 air movers and 2 dehus. Find me the closest three restoration supply houses, confirm they are open right now, and tell me which one has the best reviews for 'in-stock inventory'."

  • Advanced Example: "I have three new emergency water losses (Job A, Job B, Job C) and two techs (Tech X and Tech Y). Tech X is ending a job at [address]. Tech Y is at the shop. Generate the most efficient dispatch route for both techs, factoring in current traffic and the real-time hours of the supply house they'll need to stop at on the way."

The Free Sales Intelligence Tool:

We are all trying to get in with new property managers, adjusters, and plumbers. This tool lets us "scout" them in a completely new way.

  • Sales Example: "I'm meeting with 'ABC Property Management' tomorrow. Analyze all Google reviews for their managed properties in the last 6 months. Summarize the top 3 tenant complaints and find any mentions of 'water,' 'leak,' or 'mold.' Also, tell me the 'vibe' of their company based on reviews."

You then walk into that meeting and say, "I know from public data that your tenants' biggest complaint is maintenance response time on leaks. Here is my 24/7 priority service agreement that solves that exact problem for you." This is how you win contracts.

THE BIG 3 UPDATE: AI Gets a Job (Inside Your Business)

The "big brains"—ChatGPT, Claude, and Llama/Meta—all released updates aimed not at consumers, but at businesses. They are designed to be embedded in our daily operations.

OpenAI (ChatGPT): Your Browser is Now Your Intern

What's New (The Facts):

  • ChatGPT Atlas Browser: On October 21, OpenAI launched its own web browser, "Atlas". It's built on Chromium, so it feels like Google Chrome, but it's designed around AI.

  • "Agent Mode": The browser's key feature is an "Agent Mode". You give it a multi-step task (e.g., "Find me the best price on a new MacBook"), and it will go do it for you—navigating websites, clicking links, comparing products, and filling out forms.

  • "Company Knowledge": On October 23, ChatGPT for Business rolled out "Company Knowledge". This feature lets you connect ChatGPT to your company's internal files in Google Drive, SharePoint, Slack, and other apps.

What This Means for Restoration (The "Why You Care"):

"Company Knowledge" is your "SOP Bot."

This is the single most-requested AI feature for businesses, and it's here. We all have 100-page SOP manuals in Google Drive that nobody reads. Now, you connect that "SOPs" folder to ChatGPT.

  • Example: Your new admin can ask, "What is our company's procedure for handling a Category 3 water loss?" ChatGPT will answer with your procedure and even cite the source document it came from. This will dramatically cut down on training time and eliminate the 30 simple, repetitive questions your PMs get asked every day.

"Agent Mode" is your new purchasing assistant.

Think about the "busy work" your PMs or admins do. A lot of it is "research and buy."

  • Example: "Agent Mode, I need to source 1,500 sq ft of a replacement-grade, antique-oak-colored laminate flooring. Research three suppliers in the (602) area code, get per-foot pricing, and draft a PO for the cheapest one." This is an action, not a search.

A Critical Warning: The "Agent Mode" is powerful, but it's not objective. Research has already found that it avoids websites that are in active lawsuits with OpenAI. This means its "research" is filtered. Do not trust it for legal research, competitive analysis, or sensitive compliance questions. Use it for non-critical tasks, like shopping for office supplies, not for "researching local environmental compliance laws."

Claude (Anthropic): Your Spreadsheet Just Got a Brain

What's New (The Facts):

  • On October 27, Anthropic announced "Advancing Claude for Financial Services".

  • Do not skip this! The name "Financial Services" is boring, but the tool is revolutionary: It's a Microsoft Excel add-in.

  • This lets Claude read, analyze, and modify your spreadsheets directly. It can answer questions about your data, create new spreadsheets, or, as Anthropic notes, "build discounted cash flow models and initiate coverage reports".

What This Means for Restoration (The "Why You Care"):

This is a CFO and Data Analyst for $20/month.

Our industry runs on spreadsheets. We use them for job costing, T&M, budgeting, and (let's be honest) for creating estimates when Xactimate isn't the right tool.

  • Example (Job Costing): Paste your job-costing report into Excel. Ask Claude in the sidebar: "Analyze this sheet. What is my total labor burden vs. material cost? Which job type had the highest net margin? Flag any jobs that went 20% over their labor budget."

  • Example (Estimating): Import your T&M sheet. Ask Claude: "Find all line items with zero quantity but a dollar value. Calculate the total profit and overhead (P&O) for just the 'Equipment' category. Create a pivot table showing labor hours by tech."

  • Example (Advanced/CFO): "I'm thinking of buying a new $75,000 truck-mount. Using the revenue figures in Column F, build a discounted cash flow model to see if this purchase will be ROI-positive in 24 months, assuming a 5% increase in 'Extraction' job revenue."

Meta (Llama): The "Catch" in Your "Free" AI

What's New (The Facts):

  • Meta is rolling out its new Llama 4 models ("Scout" and "Maverick"). These are the powerful brains inside the new AI glasses and Facebook/Instagram.

  • To use this AI, Meta is also rolling out a new privacy policy, effective December 16, 2025.

  • The policy explicitly states that what you say or type to Meta AI (e.g., your voice prompts in the glasses) "will now help personalize your experience" and, critically, ads.

What This Means for Restoration (The "Why You Care"):

This is a major privacy and compliance risk.

This policy proves that the Meta Glasses are a "consumer" device, not a "business" one. There is no "free" AI.

The Risk Scenario: Your tech is on a job site, wearing the glasses.

  • Benign Example: He says, "Hey Meta, find me a local supplier for P-traps." He'll start getting ads for plumbing supplies. No big deal.

  • Critical Risk Example: He says, "Hey Meta, this homeowner, John Smith at 123 Main Street, has an 'ABC Insurance' policy, and it looks like his deductible is $2,000. Remind me to call him about it."

The Result: You have just fed confidential client PII (Personally Identifiable Information) and sensitive job-file data directly to Meta's advertising algorithm. This is a potential HIPAA violation (if it's a trauma job), a massive breach of client trust, and a data-security nightmare.

My Advice: Until Meta releases a "Meta for Business" version with a different privacy policy, these glasses should NOT be used to discuss any sensitive client, job, or financial information.

THE HOW-TO: Connecting Your Tech with n8n (The "Glue")

Okay, Dave. You just told me about glasses, maps, browsers, and spreadsheets. My head is spinning. All my software is still in different silos. My JobNimbus doesn't talk to my QuickBooks, and neither of them talks to Encircle or Xactimate without me paying an admin to copy and paste data all day.

This is the problem. And I'm going to give you the solution. It's an automation platform called n8n.

Think of n8n as the "glue" for all your software. It's a tool that lets you connect the APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) of the software you already use. And yes, your software has APIs:

  • JobNimbus: Has an Open API.

  • Albiware: Has an Open API.

  • Encircle: Has an Open API.

  • PSA (Canam): Has an Open API.

  • Xactimate: Has integrations and an API.

  • ...and so do QuickBooks, Google Sheets, Slack, and hundreds of others.

What's New at n8n

n8n just released a flurry of updates in the last two weeks (v1.118.1, v1.119.0). The entire focus is "AI-First Automation". They released 70+ new AI nodes, which are like building blocks for AI.

The killer feature? They have a new "RAG Agent" workflow. Remember that "Company Knowledge" SOP Bot from OpenAI? This new n8n feature lets you build your own.

The n8n Restoration Playbook: Three Automations to Build Today

Here are three practical automations you can build with n8n to solve real restoration problems.

1. The "Self-Hosted SOP Bot" (Better than ChatGPT's)

  • What it is: Using the new RAG Agent workflow, you take all your SOPs (as PDFs), your employee handbook, and your estimating price lists. You "feed" them to this private n8n workflow.

  • Why it's better: Unlike OpenAI's "Company Knowledge", this is self-hosted. Your sensitive company data (especially your pricing!) never leaves your server. It is 100% private.

  • The Result: You give your team a simple chat window. They can ask, "What is our company's warranty period for a roof repair?" or "What's our line-item price for 'HEPA-vac'?" It will give them the answer from your documents.

2. The "Automated Job-Start" (Eliminate Data Entry)

  • What it is: A simple workflow that connects your lead-gen to your core systems.

  • The Flow:

    • A "New Job" lead comes in (from your website, a call center, or even an email).

    • n8n receives it.

    • n8n automatically creates a new Contact in JobNimbus.

    • n8n simultaneously creates a new Job in Albiware and Encircle and names the folder.

    • n8n sends a text message to the homeowner (via Twilio) saying, "Hi, this is Dave from Bylt. We've received your info and are dispatching a tech. You'll hear from us in 15 mins."

  • The Result: You just saved 10-15 minutes of manual, error-prone data entry per job. Your customer response time is now instant.

3. The "AI-Powered Triage" (The Future, Today)

  • What it is: This combines all the new AI tools.

  • The Flow:

    • Your tech on-site takes 10 photos of a new loss and uploads them to Encircle.

    • The n8n workflow is triggered by "new photos."

    • n8n sends those photos to a "Vision AI" node.

    • The AI analyzes the photos and sends back tags: "Cat-3 water," "Visible mold," "Fire damage," "Type: Residential."

    • n8n takes those tags and updates the job in JobNimbus or Albiware—automatically setting the job type, assigning the correct mold-certified PM, and adding a task: "Schedule mold protocol."

  • The Result: Your AI is now doing triage. It's spotting problems, classifying jobs, and routing tasks before a human has even opened the file. This is how you scale.

Need Help Connecting These Dots?

Stop Doing "Busy Work." Start Automating.

This is a lot. I get it. You're a restorer, not a developer.

My name is Dave, and I'm not just writing about this stuff. I'm doing it. In my own restoration and construction business, I am actively building and have worked on several hundred different automations just like the ones I described.

I've connected my CRM to my accounting. I've built AI agents to read my emails. I've automated my T&M sheets. I am saving dozens of hours a week for my team.

If you're tired of "data entry" being a job title at your company, and you want to make your software finally talk to each other, I can help.

Other AI News (The Quick Hits)

  • UK's Channel 4 Debuts an AI News Presenter "Arti": On October 27, a UK news channel debuted a fully AI-generated news presenter named "Arti" to read dispatches on social media. Why it matters: This is a "deepfake" for news. It's a powerful reminder to be skeptical. We will soon see (or may already be seeing) fraudulent claims that use AI-generated video or photos of "damage" that never happened.

  • OpenAI Whistleblower Allegations Resurface: You may have seen news on Oct 29 about an OpenAI whistleblower. This appears to be a podcast discussing older, complex legal allegations from 2024 about OpenAI's safety-vs-profit priorities. Why it matters: It just confirms that the big AI labs are moving incredibly fast, and there's a lot of internal and external conflict about how fast they should be going.

  • NVIDIA Market Cap Hits $5 Trillion: The company that makes the "picks and shovels" (the computer chips) for this AI gold rush is now one of the most valuable companies on earth. Why it matters: This isn't a fad. This is the biggest industrial-technological shift since the internet. The money and momentum are undeniable.

Go build. Stay safe out there.

- Dave