Honeywell and Google Cloud Deploy AI Agents for Industrial Sector

The ‘unique’ partnership will accelerate autonomous operations

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TechnologyLatest News

Published: October 23, 2024

James Stephen

James Stephen

Technology Journalist

Honeywell and Google Cloud have formed a “unique” partnership in which they are deploying AI agents to assist in the industrial sector.

The partnership combines the multimodality and natural language features from Google Cloud’s AI platform, Vertex AI, with the ‘massive’ data set on Honeywell Forge, an Internet of Things (IoT) platform for industrials.

As a result, businesses will enjoy added insights across several use cases, while Honeywell’s industrial customers will gain reduced maintenance costs, greater operational productivity, and employee upskilling.

Honeywell’s customers will have access to the first solutions built with Google Cloud AI in 2025.

Vimal Kapur, Chairman and CEO of Honeywell, outlines some of the benefits customers can expect from the new technological partnership:

The path to autonomy requires assets working harder, people working smarter and processes working more efficiently.”

“By combining Google Cloud’s AI technology with our deep domain expertise, including valuable data on our Honeywell Forge platform, customers will receive unparalleled, actionable insights bridging the physical and digital worlds to accelerate autonomous operations, a key driver of Honeywell’s growth.”

AI Support for Workforce Shortages

The US technology manufacturer Honeywell pointed to the mass retirement of baby boomers from work has led to lab and skills shortages in the industrial sector, which it believes could turn to AI as part of the solution, helping to generate revenue as opposed to removing jobs from the market.

Moreover, Honeywell’s 2024 Industrial AI Insights report found that 82 percent of industrial AI leaders perceive their companies to be early adopters of AI, but just 17 percent have launched their AI plans.

Its partnership with Google Cloud will make AI agents available to assist current operations and workers, power AI adoption, and deliver automation capabilities to enterprises throughout the sector.

Honeywell and Google Cloud: Solution Goals

Honeywell and Google Cloud are planning to add further industrial AI agents that use Google’s large language models (LLMs) to help technicians fix maintenance issues. With Gemini’s multimodality, users will also be able to process different data types like text, images, videos, and sensor reading to quickly supply engineers with the answers they need.

Cybersecurity is another area the companies will work together on by integrating Google Threat Intelligence into Honeywell’s cybersecurity products.

Honeywell is also looking to utilise Google’s Gemini Nano to improve its edge AI device intelligence across verticals and use cases, such as scanning performance, voice-based guided workflows, maintenance, and operational and alarm assist.

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, “Our partnership with Honeywell represents a significant step forward in bringing the transformative power of AI to industrial operations.”

With Gemini on Vertex AI, combined with Honeywell’s industrial data and expertise, we’re creating new opportunities to optimise processes, empower workforces and drive meaningful business outcomes for industrial organisations worldwide.”

In September, Honeywell revealed it was developing an AI-enabled Multi-Modal Intelligent Agent powered by Qualcomm Technologies to support workers and customers in the distribution and retail industries.

Google made headlines last week when it signed the “world’s first” corporate purchase agreement for nuclear energy to power its artificial intelligence data centres.

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