Siemens is adding AI agents to its range of industrial AI software, designed to work across its established Industrial Copilot ecosystem. The new technology represents a shift from AI assistants that respond to queries towards autonomous agents that proactively execute entire processes without human intervention.

Siemens’ new AI agent architecture features an orchestrator that incorporates a toolbox of specialised agents to solve complex tasks across the entire industrial value chain.

According to the company, its new agents work intelligently and autonomously. They can understand intent and can improve performance through continuous learning, accessing external tools and other agents as needed. Users retain complete control, selecting which tasks they wish to delegate to AI agents.

Siemens is also developing digital agents, and integrating physical agents, including mobile robots. The company is aiming to create a comprehensive multi-AI-agent system where agents are highly connected and work collaboratively.

To accelerate adoption and innovation, Siemens is planning to create an industrial AI agent marketplace hub on the Siemens Xcelerator Marketplace. This marketplace will enable customers to access not just Siemens’ own AI agents but also those developed by third parties.

The Design Copilot is designed to accelerate the product design process. Design engineers can navigate complex data, balance trade-offs, and perform multi-domain tasks more efficiently. The copilot allows users to ask questions in natural language, quickly access detailed technical insights, and streamline complex design tasks.

Siemens is also currently developing a Hydrogen Configurator for designing hydrogen production plants. Users can generate block flow diagrams with precise plant unit layouts and interconnections with it.

Currently in pre-release, the Planning Copilot optimises production planning, resource allocation, and scheduling through generative AI-powered insights.

The Engineering Copilot is available for TIA Portal with Managed Service coming in 2025. It enables engineering without repetitive tasks, and allows engineers to generate automation code through natural language inputs, speeding up SCL code generation while minimising errors.

In process industries, the copilot for P&ID Digitalisation has already been tested by several customers. It’s an AI-assisted P&ID detection cloud service to digitalise and consolidate legacy P&ID diagrams.

The Operations Copilot is currently available for Insights Hub. The Copilot provides holistic insights into the entire plant.

At the machine level, Siemens is planning to introduce an Operations Copilot for shop floor workers, which will be available by the end of 2025. It will allow shop floor operators, service technicians, and maintenance engineers to work more efficiently by querying machine data and receiving error resolution guidance through natural language. The Operations Copilot can be implemented at the machine level to provide machine instructions and operator guidance.

For the process industries, the generative AI-based assistant Simatic eaSie, allows technicians and maintenance personnel to access relevant plant and equipment data via chat or voice interaction. It is designed to makes operations and maintenance more reliable and safer both in the control room and in the field.

The Maintenance Copilot Senseye provides maintenance teams with expert-level equipment diagnostics without the need for specialised technical knowledge. It has been expanded beyond predictive maintenance to cover the entire maintenance lifecycle. It supports everything from reactive repairs to predictive and preventive strategies, with pilot implementations demonstrating an average 25% reduction in reactive maintenance time.

The Siemens Industrial Copilot has delivered measurable results in both Siemens’ own plants and customer implementations worldwide. At thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering, where the technology is being rolled out globally, engineers have reported improvements in code quality and development speed. At Siemens’ Bad Neustadt site, the Insights Hub Production Copilot has improved manufacturing operations by turning scattered data into actionable insights.

“With our Industrial AI agents, we’re moving beyond the question-answer paradigm to create systems that can independently execute complete industrial workflows,” said Rainer Brehm, CEO Factory Automation at Siemens Digital Industries. “By automating automation itself, we envision productivity increases of up to 50% for our customers – fundamentally changing what’s possible in industrial operations.”

“In a factory environment, our Industrial AI agents connect different copilots and automate workflows across the entire value chain. This creates a unified approach that makes industrial AI accessible to everyone, regardless of their technical background or experience level,” said Brehm. “We envision a future where Industrial AI agents work seamlessly alongside human workers, handling routine processes independently while enabling humans to focus on innovation, creativity, and complex problem-solving.”