Siemens advances industrial automation with autonomous AI agents
Siemens is creating AI agents to enhance its Industrial Copilots and launching a marketplace for third-party agents, signaling a major shift in automation.
By Nick Flaherty | May 13, 2025 | Business news
Siemens is pioneering a fundamental shift in industrial automation by developing autonomous AI agents that go beyond traditional AI assistants. These agents proactively execute entire workflows without human intervention, marking a leap from reactive query-based systems to truly autonomous operations.
Key Developments:
- AI Agent Architecture: Siemens' system uses an orchestrator to deploy specialized agents that solve complex tasks across industrial systems. These agents learn continuously, understand intent, and collaborate with other agents and tools.
- Marketplace Hub: Siemens plans to launch an industrial AI agent marketplace on the Siemens Xcelerator Marketplace, allowing customers to access both Siemens-developed and third-party agents.
- Industrial Copilots: The company distinguishes between Industrial Copilots (user interfaces) and AI agents, integrating both digital and physical agents like mobile robots for a connected, collaborative ecosystem.
Productivity Gains:
Rainer Brehm, CEO of Factory Automation at Siemens Digital Industries, highlighted the potential for up to 50% productivity increases by automating automation itself. "We’re moving beyond the question-answer paradigm to systems that independently execute workflows," he said.
Current and Upcoming Copilots:
- Design Copilot: Accelerates product design for NX CAD users.
- Hydrogen Configurator: Helps design hydrogen production plants.
- Planning Copilot: Optimizes production planning and scheduling (currently in pre-release).
- Engineering Copilot: Generates automation code via natural language inputs.
- Maintenance Copilot: Provides equipment diagnostics without specialized knowledge.
- Operations Copilot: For shop floor workers (expected by end of 2025).
- Simatic eaSie: AI-based assistant for process industries.
Real-World Impact:
At thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering, engineers reported improved code quality and development speed. Siemens' Bad Neustadt site saw scattered data transformed into actionable insights via the Insights Hub Production Copilot.
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Dr. Emily Wang
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Former Google AI Product Manager with 10 years of experience in AI product development and strategy formulation. Led multiple successful AI products from 0 to 1 development process, now provides product strategy consulting for AI startups while writing AI product analysis articles for various tech media outlets.