Thought Leadership
Microsoft is presenting new virtual assistants with artificial intelligence for widespread use in industry at the Hannover Messe. The “Factory Operations Agent” is one of the software company’s trade fair innovations.
This is an AI-supported assistant designed to optimize processes on the factory floor.
Chatting with the machine
For example, the solution enables workers to analyze the data from their machines using natural language queries. Managers would be able to use this to optimize production processes. With the AI assistant, it is also possible to identify sources of error and rectify problems more easily than before.
Agnes Heftberger, Managing Director of Microsoft Germany, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur at the start of the Hannover Messe on Monday that AI is out of the testing and experimentation phase and is now being used on a large scale in industry. “We must not hesitate in the introduction of AI, otherwise Germany will fall behind the international competition. We must harness the data treasures for AI.” Industry is the heart of the German economy. “If it beats strong and healthy thanks to AI, then this will also boost the economy as a whole.”
Almost every second company uses AI in production
According to a representative survey by the digital association Bitkom, 42% of German industrial companies are already using AI in production, while a further third (35%) have plans to do so. These include monitoring machines, controlling robots and vehicles or optimizing energy consumption: the survey was conducted among 552 industrial companies in the manufacturing sector with 100 or more employees in Germany.
Eight out of ten companies (82%) agreed that the use of artificial intelligence will be decisive for the competitiveness of German industry. However, just under half (46%) believe that German industry is in danger of missing out on the AI revolution.
Alongside Google, Meta and Amazon, Microsoft is one of the world’s leading providers of AI systems, partly because Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella invested billions early on in a comprehensive cooperation with the Californian AI start-up OpenAI and the chat robot ChatGPT developed there.
dpa
