The Unexpected Hero of Industrial Security: How a 24-Year-Old Uses AI as a Lifesaver

It sounds like a Hollywood scenario: a young tech entrepreneur who grew up in the oil fields of Trinidad is revolutionizing industrial safety practices in Silicon Valley. But the story of Thomas Lee Young and his company Interface is not only inspiring – it also reveals a critical gap in one of the oldest industries.

When AI Saves Lives: The Secret Behind Interface

The core idea seems simple, but its impact is enormous. Interface uses artificial intelligence to systematically check operational manuals against legal regulations, technical specifications, and company safety policies – fully automatically. The system functions like a digital quality inspector that never tires and never overlooks a mistake.

The results so far speak volumes: at one of Canada’s leading energy companies, Interface identified an impressive 10,800 deficiencies in just 2.5 months. Among them were critical errors in pressure zone specifications that had circulated unnoticed for a decade. “The engineers there were simply lucky that an accident didn’t happen,” summarizes Medha Agarwal from Defy.vc.

From Mechanical Engineering Studies to Tech Innovation

Young’s path was anything but conventional. After dropping out of his Caltech dream during the COVID pandemic, he transferred to the University of Bristol. There, he discovered a passion at Jaguar Land Rover: human factors engineering – the interface between user-friendliness and safety architecture in complex systems. This insight would prove to be the key to his later success.

His Caribbean background and deep understanding of heavy industry processes – cultivated on oil platforms in his homeland – gave him an advantage that most Silicon Valley tech founders never possessed. Young spoke the language of engineers and understood real-world problems from personal experience.

The Risky Decision That Changed Everything

In 2023, Young seized a bold opportunity: he secretly signed up for Entrepreneur First – an accelerator with an acceptance rate of just 1 percent – while pretending to his employer that he was going on a honeymoon. There, he met Aaryan Mehta, his future CTO. Together, they founded Interface.

The risk paid off. Within a short time, the duo attracted prominent investors. Defy.vc led a $3.5 million funding round, with additional support from Precursor, Rockyard Ventures, and established angels like Charlie Songhurst.

The Economics of Prevention

The financial impact of Interface’s technology is impressive. The aforementioned Canadian energy company would have had to spend over $35 million on manual review of its process documentation – a process that normally takes 2 to 3 years. Interface completed this in weeks. The annual contract value with this customer already exceeds $2.5 million.

Field workers, who traditionally reject software solutions, surprised the founders with their enthusiasm. Some even asked if they could invest in the company – a strong signal of acceptance of the solution at the grassroots level.

A Market with Enormous Potential

The market opportunity is huge. In the US alone, there are over 27,000 oil and gas service companies. However, Interface is not only targeting this sector. Chemical manufacturing, pharmaceutical production, and other regulated industries need similar safety solutions.

Currently, the presence is limited to three sites of a Canadian conglomerate, but expansion plans are more ambitious: Houston, Guyana, and Brazil are on the agenda.

Why a 24-Year-Old with an Unorthodox Background Wins

Young’s success reveals a paradoxical truth: his perceived disadvantages – Caribbean English, Chinese surname, lack of Ivy League education – became unexpected strengths. Leaders initially skeptical of someone half their age quickly recognized the practical depth of his expertise.

Interface demonstrates that the most transformative solutions often come from those who know the problem from the inside out. The unlikely journey from the oil fields of Trinidad to the heart of tech innovation proves: diversity not only creates ethical added value – it generates tangible competitive advantages in solving entrenched industrial problems.