Jennifer Pallanich, senior technology editor, Hart Energy: Hi, I am Jennifer Pallanich and I'm here with Schneider Electric's Heather Cykoski and we are going to be talking about artificial intelligence at CERAWeek by S&P Global. So what exactly is infused AI?

Heather Cykoski, senior vice president, Industrial & Process Automation: AI, if you think about it, it's everywhere. And I like to use the word infused because you think about it connected into everything that we do. The way that Schneider Electric looks at AI is it's not something that you build on top. It's already a part of everything that we do. When you look at AVEVA, our software and the developments that we're doing directly with AI, when you look even at our platform, we are an industrial tech company that's putting everything at the edge so we can take advantage of AI.

JP: And so it's just baked into everything that you do?

HC: Correct.

JP: Alright. And so what are some of the benefits of that?

HC: So if you think about a little of just even, we're a technology company as well, we're kind of a founding around manufacturing, but with everything that we do, we are putting sensors in the technology and providing it to our customers without even requesting it because we know that data is everything. And that's in effect what we're talking about here at CERAWeek. It gives you the ability to gather your data, to predict your operations, to drive energy efficiency. What we need to do is gather all of the information that's available to us and then to send it into operation so you can make good choices. If I think about it, probably even in this building here, or I'll talk specifically about the Schneider Electric building that we have in Raleigh. We have AI smart building in our facilities. We know that it's going to be a hot day. We're able to control automatically the thermostat. So we've got a control environment. If we know that there's going to be a storm coming in, we do the same thing. And then in effect, we can control the environment. So we're making the use of the technology, whether it's the weather that's coming in, if we know that there's a storm coming in, we're predicting that and then putting it through, whether it's an asset or into a building to ensure that we've got the best operations.

JP: Okay. Alright. And so how accessible does this information need to be? How open should things be to be able to be actionable?

HC: I love the word open and that's the foundation of our EcoStruxure automation expert, which is our control system. And again, going back to being an industrial tech company, it's all about bringing everything to the edge. So you can think of it as well, like a sandbox. So we want to allow all of our customers and our partners to come and play in our sand without having proprietary protocols or information to be able to get in and get the information and the data. We have a fantastic partnership as well with Intel, who is creating an AI module that they've been able to plug in and then also come into the system to provide to our customers. Again, I love the sandbox equation, if you will, because that's what it's all about in the future. And that's what we're talking about here at CERAWeek. It's the partners. It's taking your data, giving your information back in a manner that can help you make the right choices.

JP: Okay. And so what about, I mean, technology is technology and the industry doesn't run without it, but people matter. How can people employ this technology? How can they work with it to get to the desired business results?

HC: It's all about people, and one of the things that we think about for many of us is this upskilling resources and just also losing some of the talent that we have in the industry. It's very been developed in our own factories in Lexington. We've got a smart factory there that's 66 years old. We have a employee there who's been there for 45 years. We have digitized this facility to be one of the smartest factories in the U.S. but if you can think about this, this individual's been there for 45 years. He's working hand in hand with AI. He doesn't even have a smartphone, and he is able to deploy and leverage the data and the AI for our facility. It's fascinating, and I think that it's really important, especially when we've got a lot of domain expertise, whether it's in our company or our customers companies, that we can give them that availability and continue to learn together hand in hand.

JP: Excellent. Well, thank you so much. I look forward to a very open future, and that is our Hart Energy exclusive. Thanks for joining us.

HC: Thank you.

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