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The uneasiness you may feel about artificial intelligence (AI) might just be the push you need to take it seriously. A little anxiety over change never hurts because it often leads to inspiration.
Don’t believe me? Just ask Taylor Swift, who made herself a billionaire by writing about the pain caused by relationship changes. OK, that a different kind of anxiety, but nonetheless, everyone at last month’s ARC Industry Forum in Orlando, Fla., seemed to be getting past those uneasy feelings about how AI might change their operations—and businesses. Instead, they started discussing, as the conference theme indicated, “winning in the industrial AI era.”
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It got me thinking, what would Tay write about all these changes? So, I asked ChatGPT to write me a Swift-like chorus ushering in the industrial AI era. What do you think?
(🎶 Energetic pop beat kicks in 🎶)
We’re breaking the mold, yeah, the future is here,
Steel and circuits, the vision is clear,
AI’s in control, running hotter than fire,
With partners beside us, we’re reaching up higher!
Machines are learning, the sparks start to fly,
Data and power, no limits in sight,
Heavy hands meet a digital mind,
Together we rise, yeah, we’re changing the time!
(🔥 Epic synth drop 🔥)
There’s nothing like a synth drop to hammer home the meaning of a song, right?
Or, as ARC President & CEO Andy Chatha put it, albeit more succinctly, during his opening remarks, “AI changes are happening so fast, we must manage it. It has woken CEOs up.”
At ARC forum, you were hard-pressed to find a presentation, roundtable or sidebar conversation that didn’t include the use of AI in control systems going forward. What struck me most was the different tone, especially when talking about AI technologies—in particular, large-language models, such as ChatGPT—and how they augment humans on the plant floor. Sure, the requisite disclaimers that workers will not be replaced, but helped by AI, consistently followed just about every presentation I attended. Somehow, I got the feeling a lot of folks believed it this time.
For example, I had a chat (a live one, not AI) with Pramesh Maheshwari, president & CEO of Honeywell Process Solutions, who pointed out that AI is making operations technology (OT) interesting again for newer generations of workers. Another way to put it is, when it comes to working with AI, the kids are going to be alright.
Moving forward: How to win in the industrial AI era
This year, it feels like we, ahem, not younger folks in industrial sector, are finally getting on board in earnest. Why wouldn’t we? For all the scary aspects of an AI future, there are just as many things to be excited about—and they go well beyond playing around with song writing in your living room.
One of the more exciting aspects of the quest to figure out how AI can help operators is establishing partnerships around the data analytics needed to train and rely on AI for productivity. It’s these types of collaborations that will bring out the best in supplier innovations using AI.
It promises to be an interesting year as industry ushers in its AI era. I have a feeling that, while I promise this is the last time I’ll try to write a song about it, it won’t be the last time you hear me—or yourselves—talking about it.
