What AI can do for OT today
Imagine if your alarm system functioned more like your smartphone. Every day, your phone suggests where you might be going, what app you’ll open next, or even where you’ll stop for dinner. It learns from your habits and helps guide your day. Now apply that same intelligence to your plant.
Alarm rationalization powered by AI can recognize process patterns and suggest smarter alarm thresholds to reduce false alarms, streamline workflows and improve responsiveness. The means that predictive operations — not just maintenance — become possible. Just like Google Maps can reroute you around traffic, AI can recognize bottlenecks and suggest alternatives in real time.
For example, field devices are becoming intelligent enough to diagnose their own issues and automatically generate maintenance work orders that enable a new level of lifecycle management. These capabilities free up maintenance teams, reduce downtime and ensure issues are addressed proactively.
AI also empowers a new kind of frontline operator. When something breaks at home, most people no longer call a repair service first. Instead, they look up a solution online and fix it themselves. The same principle applies on the plant floor. Smart devices, paired with AI and vendor-supported knowledge bases, allow operators to troubleshoot effectively — even without decades of experience.
Where to begin with AI in OT
Here’s a simple three-step path to get started:
- Start small: Begin by collecting a few data points related to power consumption, flow or vibration from a pump connected to your control system. Drop those data points into a tool like ChatGPT, along with information about the type of pump you’re using, to see if it is operating within spec.
- Automate a task: Once you get comfortable with this first step, schedule an agent to regularly pull those same data points, run the analysis and flag anomalies. A little Python scripting — possibly even written by AI — can take this from a manual task to an automated asset monitor.
- Scale with purpose: Once you’ve validated the benefits, build out a broader system to do things like: use historical failure data to calculate ROI and justify investments, and deploy AI tools facility-wide for predictive monitoring and control.
AI is no longer reserved for data scientists, it's accessible, practical and ready to solve real-world OT challenges today. Whether you’re early in your career or eyeing retirement, embracing AI keeps you and your plant on the right side of progress.
Tim Shope is an Industry Leader at Hargrove Controls & Automation, certified members of the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA). For more information about Hargrove Controls & Automation, visit its profile on the Industrial Automation Exchange.