Discovery Green uses AI to manage clients' renewable-energy risk
Discovery Green (Discovery Group) — Discovery Green, the electricity-trading arm of the Discovery Group, applies AI in renewable energy procurement through EnergyOS, a proprietary engine predicting generation, demand and market prices. Combining that AI risk modelling with actuarial expertise, the service allocates power across a customer's sites; Andre Nepgen, chief executive, unveiled EnergyOS in Johannesburg in September. Company simulations claim 88% less risk and 105% more savings than conventional buying, unverified independently.
Nitto Kogyo gives sales staff AI that reads drawings for quotes
Nitto Kogyo — Nitto Kogyo is phasing in multimodal generative software that reads equipment drawings for distribution-board pricing, giving about 50 sellers in Japan AI quotation from drawings. This sales estimating tool covers 23 offices.
Saudi Energy Ministry uses AI to predict supply disruptions
Ministry of Energy (Saudi Arabia) — Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy applies AI disruption forecasting to live data, says Alanoud Al-Shuraym, general manager of enterprise architecture. Petrol station feeds reach a central monitoring hub, analytics flag likely outages, and simulations trace knock-on effects through neighbouring regions and the energy value chain. Routine chores are automated alongside this predictive energy monitoring.
Eight in ten UK manufacturers now use or trial AI, Crowe finds
Crowe UK — Crowe: 80% of UK manufacturers surveyed use or trial AI in manufacturing, up from 52% in spring 2025. Confederation of British Metalforming co-produced the Manufacturing Outlook Report on factory AI adoption.
Acciona opens an AI control centre for its Peruvian power-transmission network
Acciona — Acciona now runs an AI grid control centre from its San Isidro offices in Lima, pooling live network-status data for its Peruvian electricity-transmission assets so faults get a quicker response. Those concessions cover eight ProInversión-awarded projects, over 1,000 kilometres of high and very high voltage lines and 28 substations, backed by investment commitments near US$800 million. Energy and mines minister Guillermo Shinno attended the opening of this power-grid monitoring hub.
Shikoku Electric puts OPTIUM AI to work on coal shipping plans
Shikoku Electric Power — Shikoku Electric Power has moved coal shipping plans onto OPTIUM, the ALGO ARTIS AI optimisation engine, now in full use. Trials balancing vessel schedules, purchase timing and tonnage against operating limits pointed to fuel savings worth several hundred million yen versus earlier schedules, a projection rather than a realised result.
Egyptian Refining Company pilots an AI agent to predict equipment failures
Egyptian Refining Company (Qalaa Holdings) — Qalaa Holdings' Egyptian Refining Company is trialling AI predictive maintenance: an agent scans pressure, temperature, vibration and flow readings for signs that came before breakdowns. The failure prediction tool then compiles a case from job histories and fault analyses and checks parts stock and delivery times; maintenance and reliability engineers sign off before a shutdown is booked. Chairman Ahmed Heikal priced each idle day at USD 5 million in forgone income, so a seven-day relaunch costs near USD 35 million.
Half of Canada's heavy-industry workers use AI, mostly without training
Punchcard Systems — AI use in heavy industry reaches 49% of Canadian blue-collar workers, yet 70% of those users lack formal training, 87% in construction, a Punchcard Systems poll of 1,100 people with Angus Reid shows. Sectors covered energy, agriculture, automotive, natural resources, construction and manufacturing. Uptake is mostly employee-led, via chatbots and general-purpose tools.
Renesas puts ugo AI inspection robots to work at Naka semiconductor plant
Renesas Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. — Renesas Semiconductor Manufacturing has installed AI inspection robots semiconductor plant hardware at its Naka site in Ibaraki Prefecture: three ugo mini units that roam the Sub-Fab cleanroom alone, snapping pictures at checkpoints and compiling findings without staff involvement. The robotic cleanroom patrol tackles a labour crunch gripping Japan's chip industry by taking over repetitive checks.
Tensor Energy deploys AI automatic control at Fukuoka solar battery plant
Tensor Energy — Kyocera TCL Solar now runs AI battery storage control at Iizuka Daiichi Mega Solar in Fukuoka, handing a 1,500kW/6,000kWh unit to Tensor Energy's Tensor Cloud software, unattended, 24 hours daily. Sunlight and price forecasts drive automatic bidding and charge-discharge scheduling without staff involvement. This renewable energy management system links output prediction to storage dispatch.
Korea East-West Power checks public disclosures with generative AI
Korea East-West Power — Korea East-West Power coached disclosure staff on generative AI for disclosure checks via ALIO pre-verification on in-house model EZY. Trained on guidelines and self-check items, EZY flags errors and mismatches and answers queries one-to-one.
Rostec's RT-Engineering uses AI agents to cost industrial building projects
RT-Engineering (Rostec) — RT-Engineering, part of Rostec, shrank industrial-facility estimates from several weeks to a few days by deploying AI agents for construction estimating. Accuracy reaches up to 90%, while people retain final decisions in this AI cost control.
Radial Power uses AI to turn solar project files into searchable records
Radial Power — Radial Power, a US distributed solar and storage developer, runs AI document classification in production, built with Valent Partners on Anthropic's AI services. Tagged project files and extracted metadata flow into a new Radial Power CRM as automated records management across hundreds of thousands of documents. Further AI processes automate quoting and assess project data.
Swire Coca-Cola puts AI picking robots to work at its Zhengzhou plant
Swire Coca-Cola — Swire Coca-Cola uses SAI, an AI order picking and sorting system, on live mixed-product orders in its Zhengzhou plant in Henan province. Each robot moves 600 cases hourly at close to 100 per cent accuracy, sparing frontline workers heavy lifts as staff learn robotics maintenance. Robotic picking reaches Nanjing, Hefei and Guangzhou next year.
Unistar Inks builds ML system for AI quality control in manufacturing
Unistar Inks — Unistar Inks mined twenty years of spectrometry data to build an AI quality control manufacturing tool tracing colour faults to root cause. Now running at converter customer sites too, it recommends fixes and speeds diagnosis via this AI-based quality control method.
IGL uses AI to block refuelling of CNG vehicles without valid cylinder tests
Indraprastha Gas Limited — Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) runs an Automated Vehicle Verification System at ten CNG retail outlets, an AI cylinder safety check that refuses fuel when a number plate lacks a valid hydro-test certificate on the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) portal. Attendants learn of failures via handheld terminals, LED boards and public address systems; broader AI verification will follow.
LG Innotek cuts quotation time 70% with an AI parts adviser
LG Innotek — LG Innotek has carried AI parts selection into all its business divisions, with software steering engineers toward fitting components, suppliers and prices. Reading a store of roughly 2 million components, the component recommendation system draws a shortlist within two hours, cuts new-product quotation preparation more than 70% and prices to better than 96% accuracy. The same drive sped defect identification up to 90% and shrunk camera-module production settings from 72 hours to under six.
78% of US utilities run AI on interconnection demand
National Grid Partners — 78% of utility innovation leaders now deploy or operationalise at least one AI application for interconnection demand, says the third annual Utility Innovation Survey from National Grid Partners. Another 74% blame AI data centre load growth for weaker grid reliability, and 84% need over a year from pilot to rollout. Method Research polled 134 leaders at utilities in the United States from 20 May to 7 July 2026, RepData distributing; thin AI skills and caution slow AI utility deployment.
JTC and Kajima open Singapore's first autonomous construction pilot
JTC Corporation — JTC Corporation and Kajima Corporation have launched Singapore's first pilot of autonomous construction equipment, with excavators and compactors due for testing at the Bulim Autonomous Yard, JTC's sandbox in the Jurong Innovation District. Staff watch remotely and step in when something goes wrong, and JTC wants staffing 50% lower by giving one driver two machines. Widening the trial to driverless earthmovers, bulldozers and dumpers, comes under study for 2027.
H5 Resources deploys agentic AI at Mwerasandu tin mine in Uganda
H5 Resources — H5 Resources runs agentic AI mining tools at Mwerasandu mine in Ntungamo District, including an edge agent handling 1,300 sensor snapshots daily since February 2026. The Ugandan tin firm built its own AI in mining for IoT monitoring, document analysis and operational intelligence, earning it OpenAI Select Partner status in September 2026.
Kansai Electric Power deploys Cognite AI platform across hydro operations
Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. — Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. has selected the Cognite Industrial AI and Data Platform for AI in hydropower operations across its hydroelectric business, forming the data backbone of its Next Generation Hydro Reborn Project. The system unifies plant data to support real-time field monitoring, 3D equipment visualisation, and transfer of veteran engineers' expertise through AI, reflecting wider adoption of AI hydroelectric data platform tools as utilities digitise ageing infrastructure.
Duke Energy engineers run interconnection studies with AI agents
Duke Energy — Duke Energy has cut interconnection study data preparation from two weeks to hours using AWS-managed AI agents in Agentic Grid Planning on AWS. Utility engineers still steer each study and make every final call, with physics-based simulation doing the modelling. AWS reports the saving; nobody has evaluated it independently.
An Argentine biogas plant hands its controls to AI
Biogas plant at General Villegas, Buenos Aires province (system by AutoLink Solutions) — A biogas plant at General Villegas in Buenos Aires province now lets DIOXI run engines, pumps, the generator and digester loading — AI process control for biogas its builders call a first for Argentina. Sebastián Cuenca and Eduardo Espíndola, of AutoLink Solutions, worked on the system over eighteen months; the switch came three weeks before publication. Output stays constant at 1200 kW hourly. No outside party has tested the AI-run control claim.
Daewoo E&C puts AI translation on every one of its building sites
Daewoo Engineering and Construction — Daewoo Engineering and Construction has switched on AI translation on construction sites across all its South Korean locations. Spoken Korean safety orders reach each labourer in their mother tongue as uttered, as screen text and synthesised voice. Trials of real-time site interpreting caught Korean speech at nearly 95% accuracy.
LG Display staff build 450 AI projects, automating 190 tasks
LG Display — AX SQUAD, LG Display's scheme for turning ordinary staff into AI builders, has already produced roughly 450 applications tackling problems workers spot in their own jobs. Around 190 of those live inside manufacturing alone, covering defect classification plus an optical simulation tool still being built and a human resources survey system, showing how far employee-built AI applications have spread beyond IT departments. Reach will grow further from the second half of 2026, when the South Korean firm folds in procurement, supply chain, customer support, finance, management, sales and marketing, extending workplace AI automation well past its original manufacturing and development base.
China releases AI systems for mineral prospecting and geological mapping
Ministry of Natural Resources — The Ministry of Natural Resources released two AI mineral exploration and mapping systems, AI-OreSeeking and AI-GeoMapping, at the 28th China Mining Conference and Exhibition in Tianjin. AI-OreSeeking automates the prospecting workflow end to end and has been trialled in more than 100 projects across over ten provincial-level regions; test data from it indicate that mineral prediction and evaluation once taking half a year can now be finished in one week. AI-GeoMapping runs from preliminary research to map compilation, identifies geological bodies with accuracy above 90 per cent and lifts processing efficiency by more than 50 per cent against traditional methods, and has been tested across nearly 100 map sheets at 1:50,000 in Qinghai, Xizang, Xinjiang and Fujian among other regions; the AI geological mapping system is also being promoted and applied in countries such as Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Laos.
Codelco maintenance chief says AI lifted production by 40%
Codelco — Iván Tobar, corporate maintenance manager at Codelco, Chile's state copper company, told a University of Santiago audience on 8 September AI in copper mining lifted production 40% and mineral recovery over 15% as technology use grew. The report does not identify the operations or period behind the figures, and no independent evaluation is published.
GC FSK deploys 84 AI agents across business processes
GC FSK — GC FSK, a Russian developer, runs 84 AI agents on Kamerton, its own platform for AI agents in real estate, across three areas including personal assistants and cost estimation modules. Property-sector agents handled 14,610 work tasks at a 97.7% success rate, half inside 90 seconds.
53% of Costa Rican manufacturers now use AI, industry survey finds
Cámara de Industrias de Costa Rica (CICR) — The Costa Rican Chamber of Industries (CICR) finds, asking for the first time in its annual competitiveness survey, that 53% of manufacturers run some AI system or software. AI adoption in manufacturing hits 71.4% in free-trade zones versus 47.1% under the definitive regime, and 60.6% of large definitive-regime firms versus 38.9% of small and medium ones. Administration and business management (54.1%) and marketing or sales (52.5%) lead the uses, and 95.1% of AI users report no headcount change as a result.
AI left headcount unchanged at 95% of Costa Rican manufacturers using it
Cámara de Industrias de Costa Rica (CICR) — Costa Rica's manufacturers register almost no AI employment impact on staffing: 95.1% of businesses running artificial intelligence reported headcount unmoved, the Cámara de Industrias de Costa Rica found. Its Encuesta anual Perspectivas Empresariales y Valoración de Factores de Competitividad de la Industria Manufacturera, 2026 puts uptake at 53%, climbing past 71.4% inside free-trade zones. Hours, pay and task mix escaped measurement.
Botswana Minerals defines nine copper corridors from an AI data review
Botswana Minerals — Botswana Minerals has outlined nine main exploration corridors across licences in the south, after an AI mineral exploration analysis merged decades of data over about 95,000 square kilometres. Sampling begins on the AI-picked prospects of highest priority, focusing corridors towards individual drill sites. The eight prospecting licences, some 7,000 square kilometres in the country's north-west, date from January 2026.
Santee Cooper brings Google AI into load and financial forecasting
Santee Cooper — South Carolina's state-owned power and water utility Santee Cooper is working with Google to modernise load forecasting and financial planning with AI. CFO Tami Wilson said Google's WeatherNext 2 weather model should improve load forecasts, Google's Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform is speeding financial forecasting, and several hundred Gemini Enterprise licences are going out across the organisation.
Offline AI monitors remote coalbed methane drilling sites in Shanxi
Shandong Coalfield Geological Bureau — The Third Exploration Team of the Shandong Coalfield Geologic Bureau and partners deployed edge AI safety monitoring at four remote coalbed methane drilling projects in the Qinshui Basin, in Shanxi. It analyses video and behaviour data on site instead of the cloud, with real-time voice alerts where connectivity is weak. The team cites emergency response cut from hours to minutes, 80% better hazard-inspection efficiency and about 25 drilling hours saved on one project; none is independently evaluated.
Caterpillar rolls out AI agents across its operations
Caterpillar — Caterpillar runs AI agents across its operations to modernise legacy code, generate and test software and catch defects earlier, and is introducing the Cat AI Assistant, agents that let field technicians find repair procedures and parts by voice. At the Ai4 conference, chief technology officer Jaime Mineart said the tools draw on roughly 1.6 million connected assets and 16-plus petabytes of data; the company plans $100 million to retrain 118,000 employees over five years.
BME brings a mining-specific AI model to drill-and-blast
BME — BME, an Omnia Holdings company, applies AI drill-and-blast optimisation and data analytics through a mining-specific 'vertical' AI model covering survey and planning to blast design, drilling, loading and hauling. Built into Xplosmart with BlastMap and the Xplolog drilling-data system, it uses digital twins and machine vision to follow rock from blast to crusher.
NuScale deploys nuclear-specific AI for its reactor engineers
NuScale Power — NuScale Power is deploying nuclear-specific AI tools from Nuclearn and NPX for engineering and knowledge management in its reactor programme. An initial proof of concept showed they could cut time spent finding relevant information by up to 80%, with every answer traced back to its original controlled source, the company says.
Sundt and Zachry run Bedrock's autonomous excavators on US sites
Sundt & Zachry — Sundt Construction and Zachry Construction have Bedrock Robotics' Operator retrofit kit, which turns ordinary excavators fully autonomous, working on active US infrastructure sites, including a Nevada water-treatment plant and a 1.2-million-cubic-yard civil earthworks project. After about a year of supervised testing, the machines now run with no operator on site. Bedrock's chief executive, Boris Sofman, says the system sees 360 degrees and can compress schedules.
SafeSip deploys AI-powered water banks in rural Tanzania
SafeSip — Rural Tanzania now gets round-the-clock AI water purification via SafeSip's solar-powered "water banks" — AI-enabled water filtration units that run unstaffed. Built-in algorithms flag clogging filters, warning technicians before failure. Each 20-litre container costs 250 Tanzanian shillings.
CHN Energy runs 56 self-driving trucks at a Chinese coal mine
CHN Energy — CHN Energy runs 56 autonomous mining trucks among about 500 manned vehicles in shared traffic at the company's open-pit coal mine in China's north-west, coordinated by CiDi's MetaMine system. CiDi says its self-driving haulage system MetaMine had reached nearly 40 mines worldwide by mid-2026.
ExxonMobil uses AI to surface four new prospects off Guyana
ExxonMobil — ExxonMobil has found four new exploration opportunities in Guyana's Stabroek Block through AI oil exploration and advanced subsurface methods. Models trained on its past discoveries, drilling outcomes and subsurface data were turned on hard-to-evaluate acreage, blending advanced seismic imaging, high-performance computing, machine learning and deep learning. Exploration vice-president John Ardill says the company is widening their use for seismic analysis and prospect generation.
US contractors put jobsite AI to work, saving Hensel Phelps $342,000
Suffolk, Hensel Phelps, Burns & McDonnell — Suffolk, Hensel Phelps and Burns & McDonnell are putting jobsite AI to work. Hensel Phelps reported saving $342,000 using reality-capture tool Track3D for progress tracking on San Francisco International Airport's Courtyard 3 Connector; Burns & McDonnell vets preconstruction drawings with AI, and Suffolk's AI systems capture consistent jobsite data.
Vale and ABB extend AI automation across Brazil's iron-ore plants
Vale — Vale and ABB have widened their alliance to take automation and AI in mining across Vale's Brazilian iron ore processing plants, as already done at Conceição II in Itabira. That 11.2Mt-a-year complex has over 7,000 automated instruments, 100-plus monitoring cameras and data intelligence tracking 400-plus variables. Operations vice-president Carlos Medeiros reports 25% higher productivity, 40% more premium direct-reduction ore and 26% lower iron losses to tailings there.
Jordan uses AI to find leaks across its water networks
Ministry of Water and Irrigation — Jordan's Smart Transformation Project for Water and Wastewater Services Management applies AI water leak detection to its networks, ministers Raed Abu Saud (Water and Irrigation) and Sami Smirat (Digital Economy) were told at the Dabouq Operations Centre. Abu Saud called it the Kingdom's first such project, with pilot areas showing lower pressure, smaller losses and better distribution. AI analysis of consumption and demand lets the Water Authority of Jordan and water companies detect supply imbalances sooner and move affected areas onto alternative sources.
Havana's electricity utility will give dispatchers AI to rotate blackouts
Empresa Electrica de La Habana — Empresa Electrica de La Habana will hand dispatchers AI blackout scheduling tools built with mathematicians at the Facultad de Matematicas of the Universidad de La Habana. The utility says the decision-support software, shown to President Miguel Diaz-Canel, should even out how circuits are rotated and push notices to households over Telegram. Nothing is switched on yet: the company describes AI-driven outage rotation as work still under way, aimed at transparency and fairer sharing of cuts.
Novo Construction uses BuildCheck's AI to flag design changes in drawings
Novo Construction — Novo Construction is using Diffs, BuildCheck's AI tool, on two California projects to flag design changes between successive drawing packages pre-construction, replacing manual review of hundreds of pages. CIO Colin Stoner says it helps teams price early and track evolving drawings, while urging 'trust but verify' on AI output.
ADNOC deploys SLB's AI drilling analytics across 120 rigs
ADNOC — ADNOC and SLB run a DrillOps-powered Real-Time Operations Centre across 120-plus onshore and offshore rigs, feeding live data to AI drilling analytics that flag problems early. ADNOC credits the AI-led monitoring with 30 to 40 per cent less engineering effort, two to three times more rigs per engineer and up to two days' downtime avoided; no independent evaluation is published.
Eskom deploys AI across six areas with 20 active initiatives
Eskom — Eskom runs 20 AI initiatives across eight business areas — customer engagement, predictive maintenance, cybersecurity, energy trading analytics, workforce optimisation, AI infrastructure — plus 220-plus pilots, part of its AI in energy utilities push. Drones survey its 33,369 km grid, aiding repair crews: AI-powered grid maintenance underway.
Istanbul's water utility says AI assistant will cut call-centre load
İSKİ (Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration) — Istanbul's water and sewerage administration, İSKİ, launched the in-house İSKİ AI platform on 20 July for AI consumption forecasting, fault prediction and handling citizen requests. Deputy mayor Nuri Aslan says the Alo 185 smart assistant will cut call-centre workload by about 40% and forecasts will reach 97% accuracy.
Tokuyama deploys AI ship scheduling system for cement logistics
Tokuyama Corporation — Slashing yearly travel costs by 5% and cutting scheduling time to a quarter, Grid Inc.'s ReNom VESSEL delivers AI ship scheduling to 40-plus Tokuyama Corporation cement sites nationwide. Forecast weather drives route calculations, a first among Japan's coastal carriers, via this AI-driven vessel route optimisation.
NDPHC uses AI to predict power grid turbine failures
Niger Delta Power Holding Company — Nigeria's Niger Delta Power Holding Company runs predictive maintenance AI in power generation, tracking gas turbine vibration, heat and part wear to flag deterioration before an unplanned shutdown. This AI-driven turbine failure prediction replaces fixed-schedule servicing with condition-based alerts.
Ethiopian Electric Utility deploys AI across national power grid to prevent blackouts
Ethiopian Electric Utility — Preventing blackouts nationwide now hinges on an AI power grid rollout by Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU). Vulnerable sections are flagged automatically, and emerging faults get diagnosed on the spot, swapping reactive fixes for predictive fault detection. Getu Geremew tied the shift to fresh handheld kit for field crews plus a Huawei tie-up modernising backbone communications.
Daihatsu deploys AI quality inspection for auto parts at Shiga plant
Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. — Daihatsu Motor's Shiga (Ryuo) plant now catches hairline scratches inside machined transmission holes via an AI quality inspection system built with VRAIN Solution. Cameras and pattern recognition replace eyes trained by years of shop-floor intuition — machine-vision-based defect detection taking that call from people.
Latvian grid operator pilots AI for infrastructure inspection
AS Augstsprieguma tīkls (AST) — Latvia's power grid operator AS Augstsprieguma tīkls (AST) is trialling AI infrastructure inspection to shrink manual review time by 30 to 50 per cent. Partnering with SIA Datacom under EU funding, AST trains a prototype to spot damage across thousands of drone-shot images of transmission infrastructure. This aerial grid-defect detection tool remains at pilot stage.
Cementos Argos brings machine learning to Cartagena plant planning
Cementos Argos — Cementos Argos has swapped manual grinding and inventory planning at its Cartagena plant for machine learning in cement production, an optimisation system that weighs hundreds of scenarios simultaneously and proposes actions. Built by in-house planning, production, supply-chain and analytics teams, it will spread to other Argos plants.
Turkmenbashi Complex of Oil Refineries (TCOR) — Turkmenbashi Complex of Oil Refineries has finished modernising, adding automated production management, live SCADA monitoring, ERP platforms and AI in oilfield operations through Smart Fields and Smart Wells, which interpret geological data to lift well performance. Seydi Oil Refinery has added digital monitoring for predictive maintenance. Turkmengeologia State Corporation reports both operational, with AI-driven well optimisation cutting costs and improving resource management.
EPS deploys AI inflow prediction for hydropower system
Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) — Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), Serbia's state utility, runs an AI inflow prediction hydropower system for the Drina-Lim basin, roughly 10% of national electricity. Built with the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Mihajlo Pupin Institute, it uses weather and river data for machine learning based inflow forecasting, guiding maintenance and generation planning.
Toyota deploys 436 autonomous mobile robots across Japan plants
Toyota Motor Corporation — 436 Geekplus AMRs move parts unattended across Toyota Motor Corporation sites in Japan, roughly 200 per installation, marking this autonomous mobile robots Japan plants rollout. Coverage spans receiving to picking and processing, a robotic material handling swap for hand-pushed carts amid staffing gaps.
ADNOC says it runs 115 AI agents and 3,000 staff-built models
ADNOC — ADNOC runs over 115 enterprise AI agents across auditing, procurement, finance and HR, chief executive Sultan Al Jaber told the UAE government's Agentic AI retreat. Some 20,000 staff trained to build job-specific AI models now use 3,000 daily, and company-wide AI utilisation reached 80% in the prior 90 days.
Aramco deploys hybrid AI models in refinery planning with Emerson
Aramco — Aramco has plugged Emerson's AI-driven Aspen Hybrid Models into its refinery planning, which Emerson calls among the largest multi-site, multi-period optimisation models anywhere. In Continuous Catalyst Regeneration and Platformer units, this AI refinery planning supports feedstock blending and margin forecasting, with yield and quality predictions up to 98.5% accurate in key units, per Emerson. Aramco says the hybrid models cut engineers' manual adjustments, and hydrocracker units come next.
Marunouchi Heat Supply trials AI plant automation in Tokyo district heating
Marunouchi Heat Supply Co., Ltd. — Live-equipment trials of AI plant automation are underway at Marunouchi Heat Supply's Otemachi sub-plant in Tokyo, running Preferred Networks' PlantPilot software. Trained on past operating records and operator judgement, it forecasts conditions and proposes control responses. Marunouchi's push toward AI-driven district heating targets full automation by 2027.
KoBold Metals opens an AI lithium exploration campaign across 13 Congolese licences
KoBold Metals — KoBold Metals, bankrolled by US billionaires Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, has begun what the firm bills as history's biggest AI mineral exploration drive: 13 permits spanning 3,000 sq km of the Democratic Republic of Congo's Manono belt, set to widen to 5,000 sq km by December. Over $50 million is committed through early 2027, funding aerial coverage of 30,000 sq km and beyond 30,000 soil assays. Machine-guided prospecting redirects crews weekly towards the strongest lithium ground, and the MetaLab container laboratory pulverises, dries and tests samples on site within days. Chief executive Kurt House says a year back the outfit owned no acreage and employed nobody there; it now ranks as America's biggest investor in the country.
AI cameras cut risky worker–machine contact 90% at El Teniente
Codelco División El Teniente — Codelco's El Teniente division says AI workplace safety video analytics using 40 cameras has cut risky equipment–people interactions by 90% in monitored mine workshops. Specialists validate its automatic alerts; the system grew gradually from a workshop pilot in early 2024, and no independent evaluation is published.
Elsewedy Electric deploys agentic AI across enterprise with IBM watsonx
Elsewedy Electric — IBM is powering an agentic AI enterprise deployment at Elsewedy Electric, an Egyptian energy solutions provider, via watsonx.ai and watsonx Orchestrate. Over 30 use cases span finance, legal, human resources and market intelligence; more than 10 already run at advanced stages, yielding measurable productivity gains, the company says. This enterprise-grade AI automation replaces scattered trials with governed, action-oriented workflows.
ČEZ runs AI turbine diagnostics at the Štěchovice II pumped-storage plant
ČEZ — ČEZ has switched on AI predictive maintenance for the turbine at its Štěchovice II pumped-storage station, calling the installation among the newest instances of such technology entering power generation. Microphones and vibration and pressure probes sampling at tens of kHz sit in tightly specified spots on the machine, feeding roughly 2,000 GB of condition monitoring data every month; the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Brno University of Technology co-developed it. Róbert Heczko, in charge of the group's hydro fleet, said findings to date show some impending faults could be caught far ahead, letting outage planning improve — a reading the company has not had independently evaluated.
Libya's Sirte Oil Company drills its first well with AI steering
Sirte Oil Company (Libya) — Sirte Oil Company doubled its rate of penetration over earlier Al-Khair field rates with Libya's first AI directional drilling, working with SLB, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) says. An AI reservoir advisor read petrophysical logs live; paired with a drilling advisor, it drove automated drilling and geosteering, keeping the well within the target layer.
Strix deploys machine learning tool to optimise production line set-ups
Strix Plc — Isle of Man-based kettle controls maker Strix Plc expects AI-Barbara, a machine learning tool at its Ramsey factory, to add 4.3 million components and save approximately £50,000 every year. Bringing AI in manufacturing to tooling, the system reads real-time production data to forecast the best settings, turning set-up times of up to four hours into right-first-time runs. Local consultancy Insight Innovation wrote the TensorFlow neural network, a manufacturing AI funded through the government's Activate AI programme.
KoBold Metals puts AI to work on Burundi's geological archives
KoBold Metals — KoBold Metals has started AI mineral exploration over Burundi's geoscientific archives, a three-year job commissioned on 12 March 2026 and paid for by the firm. Holdings from national services and the Royal Museum for Central Africa are going digital, targeting scandium, nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum group metals. The government keeps ownership, local technicians are in training, and some material was due on the web by July 2026, with machine-learning prospecting sifting the files.
Bellegprom sells knitwear and shoes designed with AI
Bellegprom — Belarus's Bellegprom has AI clothing design running at member factories, with the output already on shop shelves. Svitanka knitwear carries appliques and prints drawn that way; Belvest applies the same approach to footwear. Olga Grabenya, the concern's trade and marketing head, says such stock moves through Bellegprom's own branded network. Designers and technologists stay on, because AI-generated prints still need someone judging what shoppers want.
Toyota's Ontario plants put Digit humanoids on tote handling
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada — Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada has signed a commercial deal with Agility Robotics to run Digit humanoid robots in its Ontario vehicle plants, after a year-long pilot with three robots through development, proof-of-technology and onsite phases. Seven more robots will move totes on and off an automated tugger. Toyota's plant president cited team member experience and operational efficiency.
Chinalco runs Toromocho copper mine from AI-driven Lima operations centre
Minera Chinalco Perú — Minera Chinalco Perú has finished rolling out its Integrated Operations Management Centre (GIO), an AI mine operations centre heavy on analytics that now runs the entire Toromocho copper mine production chain under a hybrid organisational model. Staff are being trained in analysis, automation and remote operation.
Saudi Water Authority launches AI platform across the water value chain
Saudi Water Authority — The Saudi Water Authority and IBM have launched the H2O Platform, generative AI and hybrid cloud for AI water management across over 40 use cases in the Kingdom's water value chain. The water-resource AI offers live monitoring, trend spotting and predictive insight, per IBM, and a Consumer Assistant gives the public water services, consumption tracking and conservation tips.
SOCAR Carbamide enters WEF Lighthouse network on 42 AI use cases
SOCAR Carbamide — SOCAR Carbamide at Sumqayit, Azerbaijan, has joined the World Economic Forum's Global Lighthouse Network among 22 freshly named factories, recognised for industrial AI in fertiliser production. Squeezed from 2022 by broken regional food routes, shaky natural gas feedstock and already flat out, the works layered 42 digitally enabled use cases over an in-house AI-machine learning engine, adding closed-loop autonomous process control, generative AI and shopfloor robots. Throughput climbed 21% and gas efficiency 24%.
Gabon deploys Forest Foresight AI to protect forests from illegal deforestation
Government of Gabon — Gabon added Forest Foresight, co-developed with WWF, to its national forest surveillance system, using AI deforestation prediction to flag at-risk areas up to six months ahead with 80% accuracy. This satellite-based deforestation forecasting has already assisted in stopping an illegal gold mine threatening 30 hectares of primary forest.
Regular AI use in construction rises to 19%, RICS finds
Regular AI use in construction rose to 19%, from just under 12% a year earlier, and the share of non-users fell by over a third, RICS's 2026 survey finds. It drew 1,883 construction and commercial-property responses in Q1.
YPF opens integrated control room with five AI agents at Plaza Huincul
YPF — YPF opened its Sala Integrada control room at Plaza Huincul carrying five AI agents in oil and gas operations, built to answer real-time technical questions from staff running the complex. The room joins the Real Time Intelligence Center with the plant's existing control room, marking Argentina's first such merger, so operators can optimise output using an AI-driven control room for industrial production. YPF's own projection puts the added margin above US$4 million within year one, a company estimate not yet independently audited.
EDF Martinique uses AI to diagnose ageing high-tension power lines
EDF Martinique — EDF Martinique applies AI for power grid diagnostics along a 40-year-old high-tension line running between Le Marigot and Le Lorrain, pinpointing its most vulnerable stretches for priority repair. Drones supplement this scan, catching faulty cables under the utility's PDV-HTA scheme, an AI-based power line maintenance approach built to lengthen the ageing grid's service life instead of a full rebuild.
First Quantum rolls out automated drilling at Sentinel mine in Zambia
First Quantum Minerals — First Quantum Minerals has boosted output by over a third at Sentinel, its copper mine in Kalumbila, Zambia, after winning regulatory sign-off for automated mining drilling built with supplier FLANDERS. Three robotic rigs with laser sensors and GPS improve hole precision and blasting results while lowering hazards. Staff now run the equipment from remote control rooms.
Sonatrach opens AI-powered drilling decision centre at Hassi Messaoud
Sonatrach — Rig-mounted cameras and live telemonitoring now feed Sonatrach's new ENTP EYES / Real Time Decision Support Center at Hassi Messaoud, an AI-powered drilling monitoring hub the Algerian state oil and gas firm has opened to track performance and streamline resource use during drilling and prospecting. The facility signals a broader turn toward AI in oil and gas decision-making, giving engineers a continuous operational picture instead of periodic reports.
Apollo Tyres deploys agentic AI platform across factories
Apollo Tyres — Manufacturing Reasoner, Apollo Tyres' in-house agentic AI platform, reads IoT data from 250-plus curing presses, cutting fault diagnosis from two hours to under 10 minutes, manual effort by 88 per cent, and costs by roughly ₹1.5 crore yearly — agentic AI in manufacturing at work. A linked GenAI tool for production issue diagnosis fields 14,000 monthly commercial calls.
Equinor says AI delivered 1.3 billion kroner in savings in 2025
Equinor — Norwegian firm Equinor's use of AI in oil and gas operations produced 1.3 billion kroner in combined savings and value creation during 2025, split with partners. Software watches 700 rotating machines for early faults, reads seismic data across 2 million square kilometres tenfold faster, and guided well planning that shaved 120 million kroner off one project — gains the company frames as AI in energy operations paying off.
SSE Airtricity launches AI energy advisor for 65,000 smart meter customers
SSE Airtricity — SSE Airtricity's new AI energy advisor, the ESI Energy Advisor, now serves personalised savings tips to more than 65,000 smart meter households in Ireland. Built on Databricks infrastructure with Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4.5 underneath, it mines billions of nightly meter readings to shape suggestions for individual homes. Within the advisor's first month live, 90% of logged-in customers clicked through to view their AI-powered energy savings recommendations, and unique visits to the insights section climbed 12% over the same period.
HL Mando puts domestic humanoid robot Alice M1 on factory floor
HL Mando — A South Korean-built humanoid, A-Robot's Alice M1, now works HL Mando's Wonju plant floor, a humanoid robot manufacturing test backed by the M.AX programme. It handles dull jobs staff dodge. First homegrown humanoid at a major domestic factory, a milestone for robotics for industrial settings.
Kenya Power rolls out OCR meter reading technology across all eight regions
Kenya Power (KPLC) — All eight Kenya Power regions now use OCR meter reading, following a winning six-month Nairobi pilot. Crews scan the dial and the reading uploads automatically, no keypad needed. Officials plan a wider rollout of this Optical Character Recognition system to 1.8 million postpaid meters still visited by hand.
Scania rolls out ChatGPT Enterprise to global engineering teams
Scania — Scania runs ChatGPT Enterprise worldwide for AI in engineering, with OpenAI. Grassroots onboarding beat adoption forecasts, embedding gains into continuous improvement via bottom-up experimentation — a model for AI for engineering teams elsewhere.
Ennatuurlijk deploys digital twin to optimise district heating network
Ennatuurlijk — Ennatuurlijk has widened its Gradyent partnership to bring a digital twin district heating deployment onto Midden West Brabant, its biggest network, serving Breda and Tilburg with about 1 TWh of heat each year. Software from the Gradyent Digital Twin will handle output levels and temperature settings as the site moves off biomass towards greener sources by 2027. Elsewhere in the Netherlands, this Dutch provider keeps 62 separate networks running for 90,000 households and 1,200 firms, a heat network optimisation effort now spreading beyond one site alone.
Four NZ power companies deploy GridAware AI for grid inspections
Tapestry consortium (Northpower, Orion Group, Unison Networks, WEL Networks) — Northpower, Orion Group, Unison Networks and WEL Networks now run GridAware, Tapestry's AI grid inspection platform, spanning New Zealand networks with over 510,000 customers — the nation's first such grouping. Drones and computer vision replace manual surveys, spotting faulty or ageing gear. Within two years the four aim to supply 10,000-plus labelled images, powering automated infrastructure monitoring.
Taisei launches Japan's largest construction-industry generative AI project
Taisei Corporation — OpenAI's first Japanese general-contractor partner, Taisei Corporation, is running firm-wide ChatGPT Enterprise adoption to retrain staff and reshape operations, a leading example of AI in construction industry deployment. From 250 users in April 2025 to 1,000 by August, results showed 5.48 weekly hours saved per person, 6.6万 hours saved yearly overall, 4.20 satisfaction, and 4.51 willingness-to-use. Generative AI in construction now heads for company-wide expansion.
Construction engineers and office stafftaisei.co.jp
ArcelorMittal deploys AI across steelmaking at Differdange
ArcelorMittal Luxembourg (Differdange site) — ArcelorMittal's Differdange plant now applies AI to scrap sourcing, furnace control and beam cutting, an AI in steel manufacturing rollout. Luxembourg reports lower CO2 emissions, less energy use, and new high-tech roles supporting the AI-powered steelmaking systems.
Guam Power Authority to deploy AI weather forecasting for storm outages
Guam Power Authority — Guam Power Authority will deploy AI weather forecasting for its electric grid through the ARMOR project, backed by $1.62 million in US federal grants. A Total Sky Imager uses machine learning cloud cover predictions to help operators adjust generation in real time and respond to storm-related outages.
Hoff SA pilots generative AI platform for potato processing
Hoff SA — Digel's generative AI potato processing tool is being trialled at Norwegian cooperative Hoff SA's Gjøvik site. Staff query the line in plain language, pulling live data and manuals for fixes — among the sector's first such factory deployments.
Entek and KoçDigital deploy AI to optimise hydroelectric plants
Entek Elektrik Üretimi and KoçDigital — Entek Elektrik Üretimi and KoçDigital hit 90% water flow forecast accuracy with a fresh hydroelectric plant optimisation tool, boosting energy production efficiency up to 2.5%. Crunching 56 parameters spanning 25 years of past records, it sharpens dam output scheduling nationwide. AI-based hydropower forecasting now replaces manual guesswork.
YPF launches 46-agent AI platform for supply chain management
YPF — YPF teamed with Globant to roll out Digital Suppl.AI, a supply chain AI platform powering 46 agents across eight agentic solutions within the Argentine state energy firm. Conversational agent handling now covers purchasing and stock oversight at the company, retiring manual routines in favour of live strategic guidance. Wider deployment follows this opening stage, which centres on AI in procurement and inventory management.
Aramco deploys autonomous AI agents at Fadhili gas plant
Aramco — Autonomous AI agents gas plant control now runs at Aramco's Fadhili Gas Plant, jointly engineered with Yokogawa Electric via a reinforcement learning algorithm overseeing acid gas removal. Amine and steam consumption dropped 10 to 15 percent, power draw shrank 5 percent, and staff seldom step in by hand anymore. Saudi Arabia's facility ranks among the earliest large-scale adopters of self-governing process control.
ENEC launches ENECIQ agentic AI platform with Presight
Emirates Nuclear Energy Company — Emirates Nuclear Energy Company (ENEC) now runs ENECIQ, an agentic AI platform built with Presight, across corporate systems in the United Arab Emirates, drawing on ENEC-specific knowledge bases for custom AI insight generation, condensed technical reports and automated routine work. It stays inside ENEC's secure cloud, apart from nuclear reactor operations.
Erdenet Mining deploys AI tender evaluation system TenderEval
Erdenet Mining Corporation — Erdenet Mining Corporation runs 100% automated bid scoring, no human review needed, via AI tender evaluation software TenderEval, made by Chimege Systems. Mongolia's biggest state copper firm fields nearly 1,500 tenders yearly; the tool spares reviewers from combing hundreds of pages by hand while widening openness in buying, an automated procurement scoring push dated 2025.
Pertamina Hulu Rokan uses AI to manage thousands of oil wells
Pertamina Hulu Rokan — 12,600 wells across 6,400 km2 in Indonesia's Rokan Working Area fall under AI-based well management from Pertamina Hulu Rokan (PHR), a Pertamina unit. Its Digital & Innovation Center (DICE) pushes live data onto 66 screens spanning drilling, output, upkeep and shipping, flagging quick suggestions. This AI oil well monitoring sits inside the OPTIMUS programme, chasing up to USD 46 million in savings by end of 2025.
CMPC deploys AI agents across paper mills in Chile and Brazil
CMPC — CMPC, the Chilean pulp and paper company, saves 13 minutes per maintenance note with voice recognition, part of a rollout of AI agents in manufacturing across mills in Chile and Brazil for industrial process automation. A linked tool turns two-hour planning reviews into ten minutes; at Santa Fe, production KPIs are watched live, with alerts sent to floor staff via WhatsApp or email.
Kansai Electric rolls out ChatGPT Enterprise to all employees
Kansai Electric Power Company — Kansai Electric Power is deploying AI in utilities operations by rolling out ChatGPT Enterprise across its entire staff of roughly 8,300 employees, following a strategic partnership with OpenAI confirmed in June 2025. The utility fine-tuned the system using historical thermal-power-plant incident logs, applicable regulations and board-meeting records, producing a generative AI compliance tool capable of reviewing paperwork and responding to operational questions. A separate 'AI President' function, drawn from board records, lets employees query company strategy directly. The Yomiuri Shimbun noted plans to widen the deployment to group companies starting January 2026.
Repsol launches multi-agent AI platform across its digital division
Repsol — Repsol runs a new multi-agent AI platform, built with Accenture, spreading autonomous AI agents — more than 20 of them — across three teams in its Digitalisation and Services division of roughly 700 staff. Over 50 employees supervise these self-organising bots as they coordinate and finish jobs, drawing on knowledge bases made solely for the Spanish energy firm. A custom interface fits large language models to this workplace after a four-month trial.
RAK Ceramics deploys UAE's first commercial fleet of self-driving electric trucks
RAK Ceramics — RAK Ceramics runs self-driving electric trucks at Al Hamra Industrial Zone, Ras Al Khaimah, the UAE's first such commercial fleet, with Evocargo. Fifth-generation autopilot and an AI multi-sensor system guide the Evocargo N1 vehicles between plant sites, up to 200 km per charge, pausing only to load, unload or recharge — an early case of autonomous trucking in the region.
Kenya Power launches Nuru AI chatbot for 10 million electricity customers
Kenya Power — Kenya Power built Nuru, an AI chatbot Kenya Power says will serve 10 million-plus customers via its website and Facebook page. Nuru fields outage reports and routes harder questions to staff, arriving with a refreshed MyPower App and Kiswahili option on USSD *977#, extending AI customer service in Kenya's power sector.
Cargill deploys AI-powered safety robot at Amsterdam plant
Cargill — Cargill's Amsterdam site, a multi-seed crushing and refinery facility, is trialling Spot, Boston Dynamics' four-legged robot, for around 10,000 weekly AI safety inspections in agribusiness. Thermal, acoustic and visual readings flag overheating machinery, product leaks. Cargill calls the AI-driven inspection pilot a step towards predictive, digital-first plant management.
Supcon and Xingfa bring industrial embodied AI to chemical production
Xingfa Group — A single control unit now runs autonomous chemical production at Xingfa Group's chlor-alkali site in Hubei, built by Supcon under the label industrial embodied AI. Rather than relying on separate control cabinets, the plant assigns everything to what it calls its 81st digital employee — software combining Supcon's TPT time-series large model with the firm's UCS platform to monitor over 15,000 data points and act on them without human input. Results so far include caustic soda held steady between 32 and 32.1% concentration, plus valve-fault diagnosis accuracy topping 95%, an early sign of embodied AI reaching chemical manufacturing.
Midea Thailand factory certified as WEF Lighthouse Factory using 5G and AI
Midea — World Economic Forum Lighthouse Factory status now belongs to Midea's Chonburi plant, the first such honour for an appliance maker outside China. The 208,000 sqm Thailand site runs Southeast Asia's first fully 5G-connected line, joining 5G to AI in manufacturing so cameras catch faults as goods pass through, an AI-driven manufacturing intelligence approach. Power use sank 40.2%, water 23.5%.
GlobalFoundries Singapore fab scales AI across 60 manufacturing use cases
GlobalFoundries — GlobalFoundries' 300mm Singapore fab won Global Lighthouse status from the WEF (World Economic Forum) after rolling out over 60 AI in semiconductor manufacturing upgrades since 2020, spanning ML, IoT and analytics tools. Labour productivity rose 40 per cent and prototyping time for new products fell 30 per cent, as machine learning took over upkeep forecasts, defect screening and scheduling tasks.
Bharat Forge deploys AI digital twins and predictive maintenance
Bharat Forge — Bharat Forge runs AI predictive maintenance manufacturing globally, fitting presses, furnaces and induction lines with IoT sensors and digital twins that flag faults automatically, cutting manual checks. A factory automation push adds robots like Snowy, a quadruped with cameras and LIDAR hunting oil leaks and joining robotic arms to fix misalignments.
BMW opens AI-driven iFactory plant in Debrecen for iX3 production
BMW Group — BMW Group's Debrecen factory in Hungary builds the electric BMW iX3 in series, with AI in car manufacturing woven through upkeep, parts flow and inspection. Following iFactory principles, the site pairs the AIQX quality platform with digital twins, self-steering carriers and a machine-run paint hall checked by AI-powered cameras. BMW ranks this AI-driven vehicle production hub its most innovative plant worldwide and first fossil-fuel-free vehicle factory, running wholly on renewables.
KOC deploys agentic AI to boost drilling productivity and planning
Kuwait Oil Company — Agentic AI drilling now runs at Kuwait Oil Company's rigs, the debut win for its Artificial Intelligence Innovation Center. Built on Ghaia.ai's G Agent platform with Microsoft and Halliburton, it fields agents Ahmad Al-Eidan says think, act, and evolve, aiding planning and real-time data analysis. This is Kuwait's first large-scale use of autonomous AI agents.
MVM launches Rezsiőr AI customer support for energy bills
MVM Group — Tens of thousands of customers relied on Rezsiőr, MVM Group's freshly launched chatbot, during its debut month to sort out queries on subsidised tariffs, gas fees and power charges. Crafted by Hungarian firm YoloAI and fitted to MVM's billing infrastructure, the tool illustrates AI customer support for energy bills operating at national reach. MVM, Hungary's state-owned utility, positions the AI-powered utility billing assistant as backup for staff, not a replacement.
Tokuyama adopts Cognite industrial AI platform across manufacturing sites
Tokuyama Corporation — Tokuyama Corporation extends Cognite Data Fusion and Cognite Atlas AI to nine Tokuyama Factory departments by March 2026, merging sensor data, equipment diagrams, maintenance systems and inspection records. Japan's chemical and materials manufacturer uses AI in chemical manufacturing to automate operations, improve anomaly detection and speed inspection tasks: digital transformation via chemical plant AI.
K-Print — K-Print, an Estonian printer, automates a third of orders via an AI in print manufacturing system built for a large export deal. This automated order-processing shift expanded capacity without matching staff growth.
GL Group deploys AI seismic processing at Azerbaijani oilfields
GL Group — Onshore fields in Salyan now run AI seismic data processing under a Waverity partnership with GL Group, marking a regional first for post-stack interpretation of subsurface data. Kursangi and Garabaghli saw sharper imaging and newly identified zones missed by earlier methods. GL Group, based in Azerbaijan, showcased results from this machine-learning approach to seismic mapping at Houston's IMAGE 2025 conference.
National Grid launches autonomous drone pylon inspections across network
National Grid — National Grid now runs AI-powered drone inspection across pylons and cables in England and Wales, billed as the first centralised system worldwide. Pilots in one control room fly sees.ai aircraft beyond direct sight, freeing engineers from routine checks. Manual line-walking gives way to automated grid surveillance.
Midea's Jingzhou factory certified as world's first multi-scenario AI agent factory
Midea Group — China's Midea Group earned WRCA recognition for its Jingzhou washing machine plant, the first multi-scenario AI agent factory manufacturing site anywhere, a benchmark for AI in industrial production. A unifying brain pairs large models with embodied robotics, directing 14 agents across 38 core production scenarios there. Hours of hands-on labour now finish in seconds, lifting average efficiency beyond 80% and scheduling responsiveness by 90%.
PLN Nusantara Power deploys Hydrobot AI for hydropower plants
PLN Nusantara Power — PLN Nusantara Power, subholding of Indonesia's state-run PLN, deployed Hydrobot, operator assistant applying AI in hydropower. Using natural language processing, live weather, telemetry and predictive models, the hydroelectric AI tool forecasts inflow discharge and dam surface elevation, optimising reservoirs against overflow. Hydrobot won the Gold Stevie Award for Technology Breakthrough of the Year (energy technology).
GS E&C becomes first Korean builder to deploy ChatGPT Enterprise
GS Engineering & Construction — GS E&C is first among South Korean builders to adopt ChatGPT Enterprise, spreading AI in construction into contract checks, drawing analysis, cost forecasting and technical review. OpenAI staff visited Seoul to demonstrate embedding the tool into site workflows. A GPT Champion scheme from September trains staff as specialists to widen construction sites AI use cases.
Endesa deploys artificial intelligence across all its business lines
Endesa — Endesa now applies AI in energy operations spanning Generation, Distribution, Commercialisation, Tax, Human Resources and Customer Service. Predictive maintenance and automatic image diagnosis back power generation; drones, sensors, fraud detection and grid monitoring cover distribution. Generative AI drafts personalised energy-saving proposals and reads customer emotions live, while virtual assistants handle tax and HR work.
Rhino Mabati introduces AI-powered robotics in roofing production
Rhino Mabati Factory Limited — Kenya's Rhino Mabati Factory Limited leads the construction-materials sector in AI-powered robotics in roofing production, run on live plant lines. Machine-learning-steered robotic arms shape corrugated sheets, part of wider AI-driven manufacturing processes also used at a new gypsum-channel plant. Offcut waste has reportedly fallen up to 25 percent, an unaudited company figure.
CEAT rolls out AI across manufacturing supply chain and R&D
CEAT — Twenty per cent higher mixer output at CEAT followed the rollout of an AI-governed closed-loop control system, one strand of a wider AI in tyre manufacturing push across the Indian firm's plants, alongside an 18 per cent drop in cycle time variation. Cameras and computer vision now flag inspection faults automatically, machine learning schedules upkeep before breakdowns occur, and a smart export container optimisation tool has slashed order-to-dispatch turnaround by 54 per cent. Support queries flow through chatbots, while designers trial tread patterns shaped by an AI-driven manufacturing supply chain approach.
Ashok Leyland builds Hubble AI platform across 28 assembly lines
Ashok Leyland — Hubble.ai now ties together 28 assembly lines and 2,000 machines inside Ashok Leyland's plants, forming one AI manufacturing platform built entirely in-house rather than bought off the shelf. Cameras under the Manufacturing Process Assurance System (M-PAS) catch defects as they happen, while predictive maintenance and robotic process automation (RPA) keep equipment running; a bot named ALPHA clears more than 10,000 supplier bills daily on its own. Ashok Leyland's connected-truck software iALERT, distinct from this vehicle manufacturing AI push, already rides in over 150,000 trucks across India.
Korea Southern Power launches public-sector-first generative AI KEMI
Korea Southern Power (KOSPO) — Korea Southern Power (KOSPO Evolving Mind Innovation) flipped the switch on generative AI public institution tool KEMI on 26 August 2025, marking what officials call South Korea's first such deployment inside a state-run body. Konan Technology co-engineered the platform, letting workers tap sensitive files - plant operations, energy policy, admin workflows - purely in-house, keeping outside leakage out. A companion avatar, Joy, guides consultations and delivers safety coaching, feeding a broader shift toward generative AI in the public sector.
Fonterra deploys AI image recognition on all 66 million milk powder bags
Fonterra Co-operative Group — Every one of Fonterra's 66 million annual milk powder bags now passes under AI image recognition milk powder inspection, part of a system covering all 56 packing lines. Designed in-house, this AI visual inspection setup catches damage on the 25kg sacks, pulls faulty ones off the line instantly, and stores a timestamped photo of each for tracking back through production. Separately, New Zealand's dairy giant has been trialling the Plant Equipment Scheduling Programme (ESP), which applies AI-driven optimisation and is now spreading from Edgecumbe toward Clandeboye.
Gold Fields completes AI safety pilot at Cerro Corona mine in Peru
Gold Fields — Gold Fields ran a 10-month AI safety pilot for mining at its Cerro Corona site in Cajamarca, now certified by Chile's CIPTEMIN. SafetyMind's computer vision platform scans existing cameras, flagging unsafe conditions in real time. This makes Gold Fields the first Latin American miner with an independently verified AI preventive safety system, under its Seguridad 4.0 strategy.
Sucroal uses AI to cut export document processing from 7 minutes to 10 seconds
Sucroal — Sucroal, a chemical and biotechnology firm in Colombia's Valle del Cauca, uses AI document processing to clear each export file in ten seconds, down from seven minutes, saving roughly 40 hours monthly across 350 files. Beyond paperwork automation, AI starts over 50% of new software development; plant-floor computer vision counting and machine learning for Aspergillus niger strain improvement are in testing.
Sinopec Shengli Oilfield expands AI assistant across 40 subsidiaries
Sinopec Shengli Oilfield — 40 subsidiaries of Sinopec's Shengli Oilfield now share China's first large-scale AI in oil and gas system, the Sheng Xiaoli large language model. By August 2025, 1.8万 accounts had signed up, sending 2,000-plus daily queries for document analysis, data retrieval and report drafting. A DeepSeek-R1 upgrade brought 280 assistants and 1,000-plus knowledge bases into this petroleum-sector generative AI platform.
After You deploys AIoT to cut factory energy costs by 15 percent
After You — An AIoT factory energy management deployment at After You's Samut Sakhon plant, built with PTT, cut power spending 15% via hands-off cold-room thermostat regulation. Linked IoT sensors and AI algorithms watch chiller output round-the-clock, driving an APA (Automation Process Analytic) setup for AI-driven cold room control that reacts on its own overnight, unstaffed.
QazaqGaz pilots AI app for automatic gas meter readings
QazaqGaz — Manual home visits are disappearing from gas billing at QazaqGaz Aimaq, Kazakhstan's biggest gas supplier, now trialling AI meter reading via an app that reads consumption straight off a snapped photo. Kyzylorda, Kostanay and Turkestan host the pilot, aimed at quicker bills.
Sangan Steel launches AI-powered SMARTizing project for pellet production
Sangan Steel Pelletizing — Iran's Sangan Steel Pelletizing began testing AI in steel production in 2025 via its SMARTizing scheme, mining historical output figures to anticipate porosity and cold crushing strength before they occur. Ideal settings emerge through machine learning, shrinking energy and raw material demands. This steel industry AI effort stays pilot-stage, not yet fully rolled out.
Mankind Pharma deploys custom GPTs across its workforce
Mankind Pharma — Custom GPTs built on OpenAI Enterprise now run throughout Mankind Pharma's workforce, spanning field force enablement, digital marketing, R&D, manufacturing and medical affairs. Teams handling sales and marketing have gained the most from this alliance with OpenAI, a case of AI in pharmaceutical operations reaching further than most rivals attempt. Hardly any pharmaceutical business in India has pushed generative AI so deeply into daily operations.
Suzuki deploys Ollo Factory work-analysis AI across Japanese plants
Suzuki Motor Corporation — Suzuki runs AI work-analysis software called Ollo Factory, built by Tokyo startup Ollo, to monitor assembly-line tasks at its Sagara plant and, since December 2025, at its engine plant too. Smartphone, tablet or wearable-camera footage feeds the system, which breaks down worker motions, flags anomalies like a missed screw as they happen, spots inefficient movement, and helps train staff by contrasting beginners' actions with those of experienced workers using this AI-powered factory motion analysis. The deployment sits within Suzuki's wider Smart Factory programme.
Nemak embeds machine learning and computer vision across 35 manufacturing plants
Nemak — Nemak, Mexico's car parts maker, rolls out machine learning manufacturing tech via NORIS at 35 sites globally, spanning its García, Nuevo León plant. Sensors log 500-plus metrics per unit, letting onboard AI trace faults' origins and forecast trouble before breakdown, a predictive maintenance approach catching snags early.
Santos deploys AI-powered digital oilfield system across PNG assets
Santos — Papua New Guinea's wells, pipelines and reservoirs now draw on Xecta's Integrated Production System Model (IPSM), an AI-powered digital oilfield system Santos rolled out after success in Australia's Cooper basin. Physics-based modelling paired with AI-driven production optimisation converts billions of telemetry readings into continuous, live output guidance.
Novovoronezh NPP puts AI operator assistant into trial operation
Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant (Rosatom) — Rosatom's Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant is testing an AI operator support system for nuclear power plants on unit 6, spanning 360 systems and nearly 200 procedures. Live readings, anomaly flags and 30-minute forecasts now substitute for staff scanning over 12 thousand sensor feeds — a shift toward automated reactor monitoring.
Renault opens AI-powered Plant Connect control centre at Palencia factory
Renault Group — Renault Group's Plant Connect at the Palencia plant in Spain crunches 5 billion data points daily across 110 square metres, driving AI manufacturing decisions. Its 24 stations use 120 microphones for acoustic faults, 3D scanners for shape mapping, and vision-based defect detectors flagging flaws to 0.6mm in battery connectors. Output: 555 cars daily.
RUSAL deploys AI with machine vision to monitor aluminium alloy production
RUSAL — Aluminium melt preparation at RUSAL's Taishet Aluminium Plant now runs under a neural network built to spot faulty batches before they form. The AI machine vision aluminium production system, developed jointly by RUSAL's Engineering and Technology Centre and the plant's foundry team, watches up to 20 steps in the process, confirms the right sequence is followed, and flags instructions to staff on-screen. RUSAL intends to extend this AI-based alloy quality control approach to every smelter it operates, cutting the odds of substandard output.
Ferrostaal Chile deploys Mila AI robot for mining recruitment
Ferrostaal Chile — Ferrostaal's Chile operation now uses AI recruitment for mining through Mila, an agent that screens candidates and sorts CVs for industrial vacancies. Fed on real CV data, it parses applications, spots gaps such as missing attachments and answers candidates straight away. Ferrostaal credits the deployment with a 60% drop in initial CV handling time and a jump of more than 40% in how many profiles reviewers get through each day, pointing to a broader shift toward automated candidate screening in heavy industry.
Metinvest deploys computer vision AI for steel quality control
Metinvest — Metinvest Digital, the IT arm of Ukraine's Metinvest mining and metals group, now runs computer vision AI steel quality control on semi-finished slab output, catching flaws instantly and directing workers on precise cutting points. R&D centre head Maksym Balaniuk disclosed the rollout on 20 June 2025 at a gathering in Kyiv, noting the tool already operates at the firm's biggest facility. A comparable build for swifter lines moving at 5 metres per second, an AI-based defect detection setup for steel manufacturing, remains in progress.
Pluspetrol completes pilot of autonomous EXR-2 robot at Pisco gas plant
Pluspetrol — Peru's Pluspetrol has finished testing EXR-2, an autonomous unit built for AI gas leak detection, at the Camisea consortium's Pisco fractionation site. Thermal imaging, precision sensors and smart navigation let it spot hot spots, pick up unusual noise and send live readings to a control room, plus build a 3D map for autonomous plant inspection.
KIA México deploys Boston Dynamics Spot robot for factory inspections
KIA México — AI factory inspection robot Spot, built by Boston Dynamics, patrols KIA México's Pesquería plant in Nuevo León unsupervised, starting each day at 6am with nobody present. Heat and compressed-air-leak sensors feed data back while it maps the facility into a digital twin, on a line producing 64 vehicles per hour. Two further Boston Dynamics machines, the Stretch logistics unit and Atlas humanoid, appeared on-site for autonomous robotic inspection manufacturing trials, still under evaluation.
AboitizPower runs AI at Therma South coal plant, plans expansion
AboitizPower — Digital twins, anomaly detection, early warnings and live asset checks now drive AI in coal power generation at AboitizPower's 300-megawatt Therma South Plant in Davao City, converted to a smart coal-fired station under Project Arkanghel. Next: the Therma Visayas Plant in Cebu and a Luzon site.
Rio Tinto builds ReconAI tool for rail defect elimination
Rio Tinto — Rio Tinto's ReconAI tool powers AI rail defect detection across its automated freight network, reaching 96 per cent classification accuracy in live operation on autonomous locomotives. Pulling data from multiple systems, it flags recurring equipment problems and cuts manual admin work for maintenance staff. The mining group's fault-sorting system, a form of AI-based fault classification for rail assets, lets engineers focus on fixes rather than repetitive logs.
Rosneft deploys LitoText AI assistant for automated core sample analysis
Rosneft — Rosneft's Tyumen Oil Research Centre built LitoText, an AI assistant for AI core sample analysis that scans geological reports for 16 physical parameters, among them rock type, colour, saturation, texture and grain size, plus fracturing. Powered by large language models, the lithological description tool cuts analysis time five to seven times over while lowering human error. It now handles fresh descriptions and audits older digital records across 52 km of stored core.
Pasargad Energy deploys AI platform and assistant for Iran's oil and gas operations
Pasargad Energy Development Company — Iran's oil and gas sector has gained artificial intelligence woven into Pasargad Energy Development Company's (PEDC) Well, Reservoir and Facility Management (WRFM) platform, paired with a freshly rolled-out Upstream AI Assistant (UIA) — described as the nation's first such tool built on large language models. Staff working the Sepehr and Jofeyr fields now get live output monitoring, forecasts guiding drilling decisions and automatic warnings, whilst UIA helps specialists retrieve technical answers from global databases rather than searching manually themselves. WRFM had already gone live back in December 2024, long before these AI-based upstream capabilities for petroleum work arrived.
Buenaventura expands YupAI mining software to El Brocal and Uchucchacua
Compañía de Minas Buenaventura — Compañía de Minas Buenaventura is rolling its self-built AI mining software, YupAI, out to two further sites, El Brocal and Uchucchacua, having already proven the tool at San Gabriel. Its name comes from the Quechua verb for 'to count', and it applies open-source algorithms toward AI-driven resource estimation, projecting key variables with no need for new drilling or laboratory work. That earlier deployment alone modelled 390 drill holes absent chemical assays, sparing roughly six months plus the extra expense.
KazMunayGas deploys ABAI AI system for oil exploration and production
KazMunayGas — KazMunayGas has deployed ABAI for AI oil exploration and production across seven modules covering wells, repairs and flood control. Flooding-event readiness fell from 40 hours to two, saving KZT450 million, with KZT9.3 billion projected by 2030 — an AI-based oilfield safety and speed upgrade using Big Data (unaudited company figures).
Coca-Cola invests $14.9m in AI-powered Malawi production line
Coca-Cola Beverages Malawi — USD14.9 million has gone into a Lilongwe line for Coca-Cola Beverages Malawi, part of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, built around AI-driven predictive maintenance in manufacturing. AI-powered fault detection on production lines flags problems early, cutting downtime. The 19,200-bottle-per-hour line will supply Zambia exports and staff training.
Pegatron inaugurates AI-powered smart factory in Batam
Pegatron — Pegatron's new AI-powered smart factory in Batam, Indonesia runs on a private 5G network and IoT sensors, launched under subsidiary PT Pegaunihan Technology Indonesia on 24 April 2025. Telkomsel equipped the plant with 1,200 SIM cards, letting machines report output and status in real time. The build, blending advanced automation with AI in manufacturing, supports a broader Industry 4.0 push and Pegatron's wider digital transformation goals.
Botswana Diamonds finds kimberlite targets with AI investigation
Botswana Diamonds — Botswana Diamonds (BOD) uncovered seven previously unreported kimberlite anomalies and 11 polymetallic targets by running AI kimberlite exploration on old geophysical, soil and drilling records instead of months of manual review. That mineral exploration AI push now backs BOD's filing for 11 prospecting licences over 7,000+ square kilometres in Botswana.
Mercedes-Benz deploys AI and humanoid robots at Berlin plant
Mercedes-Benz — Apptronik's Apollo humanoid robots now work with AI in automotive manufacturing at Mercedes-Benz's Berlin-Marienfelde Digital Factory Campus. Apollo carries parts to the assembly line; MO360 AI Factory spots quality flaws instantly via a chatbot network and data science team, weaving humanoid robots in manufacturing into plant work.
ILEVA equips waste sorting centre with AI optical sorter at La Réunion
ILEVA — ILEVA's centre in southern and western La Réunion now runs an AI optical sorter, using cameras to pull recyclables from the waste stream. The €400 million Saint-Pierre facility housing it targets 240,000 tonnes diverted from landfill and 10% of island electricity within two years. This AI-driven waste sorting technology anchors a wider infrastructure push.
Endress+Hauser deploys AI machine vision for assembly quality control
Endress+Hauser — Endress+Hauser applies AI machine vision for assembly quality control at its Reinach plant, running MVTec MERLIC to steer manual builds and catch flaws instantly through semantic segmentation and object detection. Wired into the Manufacturing Execution System, this AI-assisted visual inspection has since spread to other plants globally, the Swiss firm says.
Iraq's Midland Oil Company uses AI to monitor oil wells
Midland Oil Company — Midland Oil Company, Iraq's state-run operator, has rolled out AI oil well monitoring at East Baghdad, a national energy-sector first. With Chinese firm EBS, staff run the DeepSeek-R1 system for round-the-clock surveillance, cutting detection delays to minutes versus manual checks. This AI-based well surveillance beams alerts to smartphones for instant visibility.
Cementos Cienfuegos uses AI to diagnose process efficiency
Cementos Cienfuegos S.A. — Cementos Cienfuegos S.A., Cuba's state-owned cement plant, now runs AI process efficiency diagnosis across its industrial operations. This AI in cement manufacturing case is one of several documented across Cuban industry.
ERG deploys AI machine vision for steel belt monitoring at Donskoy mine
Eurasian Resources Group — Eurasian Resources Group is applying AI in mining at Kazchrome's Donskoy chrome ore plant in Khromtau, Kazakhstan, where cameras now catch belt overheating before it starts. This machine vision for predictive maintenance approach cut overheating downtime by 75 per cent and matched human operator inspections on 80 per cent of detected flaws, with ERG's own figure crediting the rollout with over US$300,000 in cost savings within three months.
Korea Western Power deploys WP-GPT for power plant equipment Q&A
Korea Western Power — Korea Western Power trained WP-GPT on 1,432 internal documents and roughly 35,000 Q&A records, becoming the first of South Korea's state-run power generators using generative AI for power plant maintenance. WP-GPT covers maintenance, procurement, construction and safety queries, running on a fully internet-isolated network to stop data leaks. By year-end, the plant maintenance chatbot is due to draft procurement specifications and equipment management reports too.
CRE launches CREcencio AI chatbot for customer service
Cooperativa Rural de Electrificación (CRE) — CREcencio now runs non-stop WhatsApp support for Cooperativa Rural de Electrificación (CRE), an AI chatbot for customer service fielding hundreds of outage reports, QR payments, consumption checks and bills together, 24/7. Answers rely on artificial intelligence and remembered chat history, not scripts; no purchased AI virtual assistant platform was used — CRE coded it in-house.
Energinet deploys AI model to balance Denmark's electricity grid
Energinet — A new machine learning model now drives AI grid balancing for Energinet, shaving roughly DKK 1 million a week off reserve-capacity spending. Weather forecasts and past records let the system pinpoint exact backup power needs, avoiding costly over-buying. Denmark's state grid operator recovers costs via transmission tariffs, so sharper electricity demand forecasting also eases household bills.
86% of large US contractors expect AI to give competitive advantage
86% of large US contractors expected an AI competitive advantage, against 69% of small and mid-sized firms, in a December 2025 Dodge Construction Network/CMiC survey of 235 contractors. Only 40% had a dedicated AI budget.
Electricity Act 2024 with artificial intelligence regulation clause
Parliament of The Bahamas — Bahamas' Electricity Act sets AI regulation in the electricity sector under Section 18, letting the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority write binding rules for artificial intelligence use by power companies. Any such rules must satisfy ten named principles, among them safety, transparency, fairness, accountability and redress alongside security, robustness, explainability, governance and contestability. The statute defines artificial intelligence as tech letting a device or programme be trained or coded to sense surroundings, process data automatically, and produce decisions or suggestions — an unusually direct embedding of AI oversight in utilities law.
AI could automate 39% of construction's nonphysical work, McKinsey estimates
AI could automate 39% of nonphysical work in construction and 50% in architecture and engineering, McKinsey estimates. This is automation potential, not current adoption.
Zachry uses AI scheduling to cut 28 days off a highway project
Zachry Construction trimmed 28 days from a $149 million Texas I-10 highway job using AI construction scheduling from ALICE Technologies. Modelling about 60 job orders took the AI scheduler around three minutes; the chosen plan shuffled tasks and reduced flat-work crews from nine to seven. Zachry and ALICE's founder claim the saving; no independent assessment has appeared.
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