The real AI revolution isn’t happening in offices - it’s in the hangars, factories, and plants that keep the world running

When a grid goes down, a fleet is grounded, or a production line stalls, the losses are counted in millions of dollars, disrupted livelihoods, and real safety risks. The essential industries that keep our world running — like utilities, manufacturing and aerospace — can’t afford to fail. They need 99.99% reliability. But these same industries are at risk of buckling. The combined pressures of ageing infrastructure, the brain drain that comes with a retiring workforce and increasingly heavy regulatory burdens are putting critical industries into crisis mode.

Adopting artificial intelligence should be the relief these industries sorely need. But all too often, AI has proved to be just hype. The inflated promise of AI has tempted companies to launch countless narrow and fragmented AI pilots, automating invoices here or optimizing a single piece of equipment there. In reality, most of these projects fade fast, and the ROI is minimal.

It ...