Jim Chappell, who leads AI initiatives at AVEVA, forecasts significant changes to Industry 5.0 driven by generative AI, as shared in an article by Metaverse Post.
In Brief
In an exclusive chat with Metaverse Post, Jim Chappell, who oversees AI and Advanced Analytics at AVEVA, shared insights on how AI is revolutionizing multiple industrial landscapes.
AVEVA's Connect Industrial AI Assistant is designed to address specific industrial challenges by utilizing cutting-edge language models created in partnership with Microsoft.

As we navigate an age where technology progresses at lightning speed, AI has emerged as a pivotal force driving change, particularly in industries worldwide. Specialized models within AI, such as generative AI like GPT, have gained significant traction for their ability to generate text similar to human writing, serving various functions from storytelling to code generation.
The progress of these generative models marks a crucial leap forward in the development of industrial technology — transitioning from the previously established Industry 4.0 to a promising Industry 5.0, bringing a landscape filled with new prospects for businesses and economies on a global scale.
Generative AI models such as GPT are powerful assets that span a range of industries, signaling the dawn of Industry 5.0. These systems significantly improve communication and problem-solving capabilities, enhancing both productivity and efficiency across fields like industrial services, information technology, and healthcare.
In an exclusive interview with Metaverse Post, Jim Chappell, the head of AI and Advanced Analytics at AVEVA, elaborated on AI's revolutionary impact on various sectors. He emphasized the integration of generative AI into everyday business processes, offering a multitude of solutions tailored for global industries. Jim Chappell AVEVA has been at the forefront of AI adoption and predictive analytics for over twenty years. Unlike many firms that adopt AI simply to stay relevant, AVEVA places its focus on finding and addressing real-world industrial problems.
In recent years, the company has rolled out 17 commercial AI solutions, with many more under development. Among the upcoming innovations is the AVEVA Connect Industrial AI Assistant, which is set to leverage language models created in partnership with Microsoft, alongside a diverse array of machine learning models, to meet industrial needs.
"As we move forward, AI will continuously evolve, expanding its intelligence through access to a vast repository of knowledge contained in large language models. Generative AI will broaden its scope, integrating engineering data, maintenance logs, and more,\" Chappell shared with Metaverse Post. \"Our latest generative AI tool excels at pinpointing solutions for complex industrial problems, providing insights in a conversational manner.\"
Harnessing Generative AI for Addressing Industrial Complexities
Chappell mentioned that the new platform facilitates a smooth transition to the cloud. By automatically detecting relationships in industrial data, it removes the need for manual setup of data hierarchies, simplifying the onboarding experience and enabling businesses to leverage cloud advantages quickly.
AVEVA's AI assistant is capable of tackling intricate queries while streamlining the information retrieval process into simpler steps. It can source data from engineering, maintenance, performance, and additional datasets, empowering businesses to gain a holistic understanding of their operations, spot challenges, and devise solutions in an easily comprehensible format.
Currently, AVEVA Connect Industrial AI Assistant is available for commercial use, with its full launch slated for early 2024. The objective of this AI assistant is to optimize workflows and improve decision-making across various industries.
Taking a closer look at the tech that powers AVEVA's AI offerings, Chappell discussed the company's collaboration with Microsoft.
Microsoft's cloud infrastructure forms the backbone of AVEVA's AI solutions, supplying the requisite frameworks and data centers. The new AI platform leverages Microsoft’s Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) along with several AI models to create a cohesive analytics hub.
Chappell believes that while these AI technologies are inherently flexible, AVEVA strategically customizes them to align with the specific needs and data contexts of their industrial clientele.
"When posed with highly specific questions that are industry-focused, our outcomes have demonstrated remarkable precision. This model has been rigorously trained using domain-specific data, resulting in exceptionally targeted responses that reflect our in-depth industry understanding and the nature of the inquiries we receive,\" Chappell elaborated. \"The connection to the data type is key to this process, establishing relationships dynamically behind the scenes, without the immediate need for a rigid hierarchy. Instead, it sets up a hybrid semantic search system that conducts natural language queries using relevant keywords while simultaneously building a relational database to effectively extract pertinent information.\"
The language model at the core of the platform is essential for information retrieval. The relevant data can be stored in a data hub or an engineering database, encompassing a diverse array of resources like piping and instrumentation diagrams, 3D designs, documentation, or any significant data needed.
"Following the guidance of the generative AI's commands, our system is adept at pinpointing the exact data sources for extraction. In response, the system initiates a sequence of queries, utilizing a comprehensive language model to interact with our clients’ systems,\" Chappell explained.
Looking ahead to the future of industrial AI, Chappell envisions generative AI playing a critical role in upcoming advancements. He mentioned that as AI systems tap into broader knowledge bases through large language models, they will increasingly facilitate the creation of dashboards, visual representations, reports, and much more.

What’s Next for Industrial AI?
Additionally, he posits that AI will become increasingly task-oriented, enabling users to pose complex inquiries, streamline processes, and enhance decision-making capabilities.
According to AVEVA’s Chappell, generative AI presents a substantial advantage for citizen developers and executives alike, allowing them to create dashboards at the touch of a button. He believes that low-code development frameworks will complement AI’s capabilities, empowering even those without coding skills to utilize AI effectively. Furthermore, AI can assist in the development of low-code and no-code solutions, creating a mutually beneficial relationship between these technologies.
"You can instruct generative AI engines to write code for you and also have them continually engage with connected models to enhance their complexity. This merger of low-code/no-code methodologies with AI will pave the way for Industry 5.0,\" he added. \"AI will collaborate with human workers, enabling them to adopt a more supervisory position.\"
When discussing potential concerns about AI displacing jobs, Chappell recognized the shift in the employment landscape. He is optimistic that AI will create new roles, ultimately leading to an overall increase in job opportunities.
"Although some positions may change or be phased out, new job openings will certainly arise. Adaptability, ongoing learning, and upskilling will be crucial for navigating this evolving technological job landscape,\" Chappell remarked.
As we gaze into the future, AVEVA has plans to broaden its AI capabilities by integrating multiple AI types, including machine learning, deep learning, reinforcement learning, and generative AI. The objective is to develop more sophisticated AI systems that can tackle a wider array of challenges, thereby enhancing the solutions offered to clients and solidifying AVEVA’s leadership in the AI-empowered industrial sector.
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In line with the Trust Project guidelines Victor serves as the Managing Tech Editor/Writer at Metaverse Post, focusing on topics related to artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies, data science, the metaverse, and cybersecurity within corporate settings. With over five years in the media and AI sectors, he has worked for prominent outlets such as VentureBeat, DatatechVibe, and Analytics India Magazine. As a Media Mentor at respected institutions like Oxford and USC and holding a Master’s degree in Data Science and Analytics, Victor is committed to keeping up with emerging trends.