Industry narrative

Four futures of AI: Industrial products

Will you shape the future of AI, or will it shape you?

How will artificial intelligence (AI) reshape the future of the industrial products sector? By analyzing emerging trends and shifts within the industry, we have identified four distinct scenarios that illustrate AI’s potential impact. These scenarios range from skepticism about the technology’s capabilities and cautious adoption to significant breakthroughs that challenge established manufacturing norms, or even the dominance of AI by a few megacorporations. While these scenarios are not precise forecasts, they provide valuable frameworks for strategic thinking, empowering leaders to harness AI’s potential effectively while aligning their innovation efforts with emerging opportunities in manufacturing.

The widespread adoption of flawed AI technologies leads to significant errors that undermine trust among stakeholders, provoke calls for stricter regulations and ultimately hinder the pace of innovation.

Example

An aerospace organization implements AI to optimize flight scheduling. However, the system fails to account for critical factors — such as sudden weather changes or unexpected maintenance needs — resulting in inaccurate passenger information, prolonged delays and missed flights. This erodes passenger trust, prompts regulators to impose stricter compliance measures and stifles company innovation.

Drivers of change

As AI capabilities evolve, they create value and demonstrate a clear ROI. This drives the widespread adoption of the “human + AI” model, empowering employees to leverage AI tools to enhance operational efficiency and foster investments in future innovations.

Example

A logistics company adopts an AI-powered optimization system to simulate delivery routes before dispatching packages, utilizing real-time traffic data and analyzing delivery patterns. This innovative technology enhances delivery routes, leading to reduced fuel consumption and faster delivery times. As a result, customer satisfaction rises, retention rates improve and new business opportunities — such as drone deliveries and autonomous vehicles — are explored.

Drivers of change

AI platforms are becoming immensely powerful, driving groundbreaking advancements that redefine and challenge established norms, paving the way for extraordinary innovation and transformation.

Example

An industrial manufacturing organization leverages advanced AI systems to fundamentally transform core business functions, including planning, manufacturing, packaging and distribution. These systems optimize operations while AI robots increasingly automate routine tasks on the shop floor. As productivity rises, human roles evolve to promote creativity and strategic thinking, leading to astonishing innovations in manufacturing.

Drivers of change

AI monopolies centralize power, reducing the availability of diverse solutions and stagnating innovation.

Example

An automotive organization becomes heavily reliant on a few dominant AI providers for its manufacturing processes. This extreme concentration of AI capabilities enables these companies to raise costs, limiting the automotive organization’s ability to explore alternative technologies. Consequently, the monopolistic practices of the AI providers control innovation in the automotive market.

Drivers of change

Meet the EY leaders driving innovation

Photographic portrait of Dan Diasio
Dan Diasio
EY Global Consulting AI Leader

How EY can help

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