FRI AM News: WisBusiness: the Podcast with RJ Pire, Service ID; Lawmakers debate data center regulations

February 6, 2026

— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with RJ Pire, founder of Service ID in Fitchburg.

Pire’s startup company has an AI-based platform for identifying lead pipes, which is meant to help water utilities find and remove these pipes “faster and cheaper,” Pire said.

“They’re saddled with some new regulations as a direct result of Flint, Michigan, and they’re in a position where they have to re-think how they’ve done things in the past,” he said.

That includes creating an inventory of all of their service lines, which are pipes that connect homes to the water main. Part or all of those lines are traditionally owned by the property owner, and utilities generally haven’t kept track of them as a result, according to Pire.

“Now they’re in a position where they have to go back and identify what all of those are made of, and it’s really expensive to send somebody into each individual property to do that,” he said. “So we’ve developed a tool that, with a simple photo taken by a smartphone, will identify the material type and track that all back directly into an inventory for the utility.”

It’s able to identify the pipe materials using a computer vision model and machine learning program that was trained on a large data set of service line images, Pire explains. The AI tool looks for key visual features that indicate the presence of lead, from the shape of the pipe joint to the color and other characteristics.

“I like to believe we probably have more images of service lines than anyone in the world at this point,” he said.

The company has completed a pilot with the Verona Water Utility for the Service ID platform, demonstrating it could identify lead pipes with greater than 95% accuracy. Pire said he’s “really happy” with how it’s working given the early stage of the company, noting it “will continue to get better with each image that we add to it.”

Ultimately, the company aims to help utilities “empower the homeowners to do the inventory for them” by using the web interface to upload photos of their pipes, Pire said.

He plans to raise investment funding in the second or third quarter of this year, as the company prepares its second phase of pilot projects with as many as 10 utilities participating.

Listen to the podcast and see the full list of WisBusiness.com podcasts.

Service ID was the runner-up in the Water Council’s fall Tech Challenge. See more in a recent story on the contest.

— Two freshmen lawmakers debated the regulatory future of Wisconsin data center development in a luncheon.

Reps. Darrin Madison, D-Milwaukee, and Nate Gustafson, R-Omro, were joined onstage yesterday at the Madison Concourse Hotel by Microsoft Corporate Vice President and General Counsel of Infrastructure Legal Affairs Rima Alaily as the lawmakers parsed out how to approach the rapidly expanding industry.

The event was the second in a series organized by WisPolitics-WisBusiness-State Affairs and the Wisconsin Technology Council exploring the future of data centers in the state.

Microsoft has announced plans to invest some $7 billion in the state, much of it in a sprawling slate of data center campuses in Mount Pleasant.

The first of a planned 15 total data centers operated by the tech giant is slated to open later this year.

The two lawmakers kept to familiar corners throughout the discussion, with Gustafson advocating a “wait-don’t-regulate” approach to the emerging industry and Madison pressing for legislative guardrails.

“When we have someone like Microsoft, who is being so responsible, has set the new standard that any other project that is going to be coming to the state is going to say, ‘okay, people accept this project,’” Gustafson said. “The best players that show the most sustainable practices are going to be the ones that elevate to the top.”

Madison countered that it was legislators’ role to set that standard for companies.

“Yes, Microsoft is setting a golden standard, but by codifying that in state statutes, we are creating a guaranteed protection for all communities across the state,” he said.

Both lawmakers noted that their constituents had expressed anxiety to them about being left behind in a changing job market.

Alaily highlighted Microsoft’s sustainability goals and corporate goodwill efforts, like its support for a “very large customer” utility rate supposed to keep consumers from bearing the cost of new utility infrastructure development.

Last month, the company announced a “Community-First AI Infrastructure” plan where it promised to control its facilities’ energy and water usage and invest in job training and local nonprofits.

“The ability to build out and deliver AI infrastructure really depends on communities coming to the conclusion that the benefits outweigh the cost,” Alaily said. “So, in short, these commitments are really designed to make sure that we are being a good neighbor here in Wisconsin.”

The lawmakers offered largely positive commentary on Microsoft. Madison extolled the benefits offered by the tech giant’s investment in southeast Wisconsin while Gustafson talked up the prospect of attracting workers to the state after years of lagging population growth.

That labor demand is likely to be substantial: Alaily said the first of Microsoft’s new data centers was expected to employ 500 technicians alone – positions, she emphasized, that could be filled by high school graduates trained through the corporation’s partnership with Gateway Technical College – along with skilled trades like HVAC and construction workers.

“We have young people who are just getting into the workforce, who arguably will probably make lucrative salaries building data centers their entire careers,” Gustafson said. “That is sustainable, long-term.”

Alaily also noted Microsoft’s investment in nuclear fusion projects, including a joint venture capital investment with the Green Bay Packers through TitletownTech into Wisconsin fusion startup Realta.

Nuclear energy efforts have been gaining momentum in the Legislature, with Gov. Tony Evers signing bills – including a bill funding a site study for a nuclear fusion plant.

Both lawmakers spoke positively about new nuclear avenues for Wisconsin, though Madison made the case that the state needed to develop an integrated plan for utility development as it moved forward with new energy projects.

“There’s some amazing opportunities here. We just have to plan accordingly,” he said.

— A new national survey from the Marquette Law School Poll found 63% of respondents think the U.S. Supreme Court should limit the president’s tariff authority, while 36% think it shouldn’t.

Marquette University yesterday rolled out the results of its latest survey, which have shown a slight change in favor of limiting the president’s authority to impose tariffs by upholding an appeals court ruling. When this question was asked in September, the split was 61% to 39%.

Fifty-six percent of the public say tariffs hurt the U.S. economy, while 30% say they help and 14% say they don’t make much of a difference, according to the survey.

Of those who say tariffs boost the economy, 77% support overturning the limits on the president’s tariff authority, but 23% still say the president’s tariff authority should be limited.

Among those who say tariffs harm the economy, 89% think the court should limit the president’s authority while 11% disagree. Those who say tariffs don’t make much difference are more evenly split, 47% to 52% on the issue.

The national survey was conducted Jan. 21-28 including 1,003 adults, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

See the full results.

— Newly passed federal legislation is giving Exact Sciences greater certainty about investing in its early cancer detection program.

That’s according to Dr. Tom Beer, chief medical officer of multi-cancer early detection at the Madison-based diagnostics business.

In an interview yesterday, he noted the recent federal funding package included legislation creating a new benefit category under Medicare for tests like the company’s Cancerguard blood test. It can check for more than 50 different cancers and subtypes and is meant to complement more specific standard cancer screening.

“Our long-term goals couldn’t be achieved without something like this,” Beer said. “Our flagship screening test, Cologuard, is available universally with 96% of Americans being able to access it without a copay. So that’s what we want to achieve with Cancerguard to really have an impact on human health.”

That target can’t be met without making the test available to Medicare beneficiaries, according to Beer.

“It’s absolutely critical to the long-term vision to have our test available for Americans over the age of 65, and this is the pathway to do that,” he said.

Exact Sciences launched the test before this version of the bill came about, but Beer said the legislative effort had been going on for years. The legislation was based on the Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act, according to a release from the company.

While the legislation doesn’t guarantee Exact Sciences’ Cancerguard test will be covered by Medicare, it establishes a pathway for that to occur. It specifies that the FDA needs to approve tests that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will cover, Beer explained, adding the company plans to seek FDA approval for its cancer blood test.

After that point, CMS will evaluate whether the Cancerguard test is worthwhile for Medicare beneficiaries. Beer said the company is “very optimistic” about getting that approval.

“We think this is going to have a really big public health impact,” he said.

See the release.

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