French maker of industrial equipment, and an early enterprise adopter of artificial intelligence, with around 100 AI applications in operation. Morgan Stanley has estimated these could yield around €400m in annual savings—less than 1.5% of its total costs. Peter Weckesser, who oversees its digital efforts, has declared that eventually "there will be not a single product or function at Schneider Electric that will not be affected by artificial intelligence." The company hired its first "chief AI officer" in November 2021, a year before the launch of ChatGPT, making it an early adopter among European manufacturers.
Tussman's Law: Nothing is as inevitable as a mistake whose time has come.