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ZDNET's key takeaways:
- Manufacturers are using AI to adapt to a shifting business landscape.
- The technology is addressing labor shortages, among other uses.
- Experiments with AI are revealing new benefits and risks.
Manufacturing firms are turning to AI to help them adapt to disruptions in their industry caused by tariffs, shifts in global supply chains, inflation, and other factors, according to manufacturing supply company Rockwell Automation's latest Annual State of Smart Manufacturing report.
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The report, based on a survey of over 1,500 manufacturing business leaders across 17 countries, found that 41% are turning to AI to compensate for labor shortages, which have been plaguing the industry for the last several years. Half of all respondents, for example, said they plan to use the technology for quality control over the next year, and an almost equal number (49%) said they'll integrate the technology into their cybersecurity infrastructure over the same time period. Other commonly cited upcoming uses of AI were process optimization (42%), robotics (37%), and logistics (36%).
"These significant increases over the next 12 months are more than a step-change in the attitude of manufacturers toward AI/ML, with a swing to seeing AI/ML as a core of technology strategy," the authors write in their report.
Another recent study from software company ETQ found that 70% of US manufacturing firms surveyed have been impacted by labor shortages. Close to half (49%) of that survey's respondents said they plan to use AI over the next two years for internal uses like spotting defects on the factory floor and predicting future industry trends.
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That doesn't mean all manufacturing firms are replacing their human workers with AI, though. The Rockwell Automation report also stresses the prevalence of upskilling existing employees -- that is, providing them with the training they'll need in order to adapt to an AI-augmented work environment. Close to half (48%) of survey respondents said they plan to move current workers to different roles or hire new employees as they invest more heavily in AI.
"Sustainable success depends on a workforce that can evolve, making continuous training not just a support function but a driver of organizational resilience and growth," the authors write.
The report also noted that 83% of respondents identified analytical thinking, communication, and teamwork as the "most important factors when recruiting the next generation" of workers.
Practical matters
The new survey helps to reveal how business leaders -- at least in this one particular industry -- are practically implementing AI in their day-to-day operations.
In the past few years, developers have breathlessly hailed the potential of AI for businesses, promising big productivity gains and a happier workforce as mundane tasks become automated. But things haven't exactly panned out that way.
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While individual users have flocked to AI tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini in huge numbers, many enterprises have been struggling to figure out the best way to onboard the technology. A recent report from MIT, in fact, found that 95% of businesses' AI initiatives have completely fallen flat, primarily as a result of the fact that current models aren't well-suited for the top-down approach to integration that business leaders typically adopt when trying to incorporate new strategic initiatives.
And while AI agents are being widely deployed to boost cybersecurity among IT firms, the systems are also liable to causing as many problems as they solve on this front.
Pros and cons
The benefits and risks of AI tend to vary from one industry to the next -- and these are coming into clearer focus by the day.
Some legal experts believe that generative AI tools hold big promise for the legal sector, for example. A shocking 96% of legal professionals in the US are currently using AI tools in their day-to-day work, according to a report published Monday by software company DeepL. And yet the technology will remain a liability for lawyers and judges so long as it has a propensity to hallucinate information.
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It could also revolutionize education, allowing teachers to develop coursework and opening the door to new modes of learning for students, just to name two potential applications. Just last week, Grammarly announced the launch of new agents designed in part to help students become more competent writers. But AI could also incentivize cheating and chip away at critical thinking skills -- if, say, a student uses ChatGPT to write an essay instead of taking the time to develop and articulate their own, original argument.
Figuring out the best path forward in each industry will require experimentation and refinement of tactics among stakeholders. It will also take time, and probably more than a few mistakes in every case.
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