No two potato harvests are the same, yet each of the 100 million Pringles cans that leaves the Kellanova plant in Kutno in central Poland has to have the crunch and flavor that consumers expect. The process of ensuring that consistency is increasingly guided by artificial intelligence.

Sensors, lasers and cameras feed data on everything from humidity to protein content into software from Siemens, which continuously adjusts the recipe for changing raw materials before quality problems can slow production or lead to waste. It¡¯s an example of the promise of industrial AI, a branch of the technology where Europe still has a chance to play a leading role.

While the region has fallen behind the U.S. and China in consumer AI, it has a deep trove of production and manufacturing data and expertise from an industrial sector stretching back more than a century. That gives Europe an opening to develop technology that could eventually automate entire factories to make stuff people need, something chatbots can¡¯t. And a transition to data-driven industry could chart a path forward for its embattled manufacturers in the process.

¡°We may have lost the race to develop the best language model ¡ª that much is clear ¡ª but we have by no means lost the race to integrate AI into our companies,¡± German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche said in May at an economic policy summit for the ruling conservative party. ¡°This is a matter of sovereignty, competitiveness and the survival of this region.¡±

Mistral AI ¡ª Europe¡¯s challenger to global players like Anthropic and OpenAI ¡ª is leaning into industrial applications. The region also hosts more AI startups in the manufacturing sector than the U.S., according to a May report from think tank Interface.

Aside from newcomers, engineering stalwarts Siemens, Schneider Electric, Dassault Systemes and ABB are embedding AI in their software and automation products to help factories become more productive, more efficient and more competitive. That¡¯s a powerful sales pitch at a time when Europe¡¯s industrial base is under pressure from high production costs, dwindling numbers of skilled workers and growing competition from abroad.

Europe¡¯s not alone in trying to seize on the potential. While U.S. firms such as Emerson Electric, Rockwell Automation and Honeywell International are moving into machine-learning technologies, the biggest challenge comes from China, according to Nicole Lemke, who authored the Interface report.

China has been doing ¡°quite well in all things manufacturing in general, but also is very strongly focusing on the intersection of robotics and AI,¡± she said.

Industrial AI is a complex field. A core application is predictive maintenance, which firms already use by analyzing historical data to head off faults before they hamper production.

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