Artificial intelligence (AI) is moving from the research lab into daily use. Not fast enough, perhaps, in the view of those hoping to gain a significant competitive edge from AI. Rather sinisterly in the view of others who currently only have a vague idea of how self-thinking machines could change their everyday working lives. In the "Future of Business" focus topic at EMO Hannover 2023, the world's leading trade show for production technology, experts will be answering urgent questions about new business and working methods. Meanwhile, German universities are supporting AI by convincing local companies to implement AI applications, and by preparing employees to perform new tasks. ProKI (ProAI), is playing a crucial role here. This is the name of an initiative launched by the WGP (German Academic Association for Production Technology) at the end of last year. Backed by 17 million euros of funding provided by the BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research), a nationwide demonstration and transfer network is being set up at a total of eight locations to provide practical support for the implementation of AI solutions in industry. The initiative is coordinated by the WZL (Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering) at RWTH Aachen University. Taking part are institutes in Berlin, Darmstadt, Dresden, Hannover, Ilmenau, Karlsruhe and Nuremberg. In line with their respective research focuses, they are providing demonstrators and test environments for manufacturing companies in the fields of joining, forming, machining and coating.
