Dec 9, 2025 by Amara Rozgus
Collected at: https://www.plantengineering.com/can-using-ai-make-your-company-successful/
AI insights
- Manufacturing and industrial firms are slow to adopt artificial intelligence (AI), though studies show that innovation jumps with its use.
- The use of AI is growing and will become pervasive in manufacturing companies for tasks like marketing, finance or information technology.
A friend and I were discussing artificial intelligence (AI) recently, and she commented that because AI was so new, there really wasn’t anything mentioned in cultural references until just a few years ago. I was confused. She’d used Apple’s Siri for several years and owned an Alexa device, however she didn’t think AI was relevant to the masses until tools like ChatGPT came into play.
That assumption deserves a closer look. AI has been around for quite some time. While she and I hadn’t yet been born when the movie came out, “2001: A Space Odyssey” was the first memory that I held of AI. Watching it with my uncle and realizing that computers could make (debatably smart) decisions seemed logical to me. “WarGames” is another frequently referenced film of interest to anyone in cybersecurity, technology, programming and AI. It came out in 1983, well before AI became popular in modern vernacular.
The first references to AI in movies was in the 1927 silent film “Metropolis.” A quick search shows that it’s been part of our imagination and history for nearly 100 years. Why does it feel newly urgent?
Machine learning has been part of manufacturing plants for some time, analyzing data from sensors to optimize processes or eliminate failures. The general concept has been around for about 75 years, and it was adopted by the manufacturing industry about 50 years ago.
While I showed her that AI had been around in some form for quite some time, the use of the current generative and process AI isn’t consistent. Reports vary; a November 2025 McKinsey study indicates that most respondents (nearly two-thirds) are simply experimenting with AI. When broken down by business function, manufacturing was at the bottom of the list, with 91% not using AI at all. That said, manufacturers who are using AI had a cost decrease of less than or equal to 10% most of the time.
The 10th Annual State of Smart Manufacturing report from Rockwell Automation indicates that 56% of respondents are piloting smart manufacturing, 20% are using it at scale and 20% are planning to invest. The larger the company, the more significant the investment in AI.
The report also highlights the many risks and concerns held by manufacturers, and many of these are echoed across different industries.
What does this mean for companies navigating a fast-changing landscape? It suggests that although concerns persist, AI will continue to embed itself into core business practices. Adoption will vary, as it does with any emerging technology, but the trajectory is clear: AI will be increasingly impossible for companies to ignore.
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