• Investing
  • Stock
Round Table Thoughts
  • Economy
  • Editor’s Pick
Home Editor's Pick Why Honeywell CEO Vimal Kapur doesn’t think the AI payoff will come from productivity
Editor's Pick

Why Honeywell CEO Vimal Kapur doesn’t think the AI payoff will come from productivity

by October 14, 2024
by October 14, 2024 0 comment
Share
0
FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsapp

As CEO of one of the world’s largest industrial conglomerates, Honeywell’s Vimal Kapur doesn’t think about AI like most individuals.

It’s not about the threatened office worker. “There is always a trend which makes your skills obsolete, every five years,” Kapur said at the recent CNBC Evolve: AI Opportunity Summit in New York City. “The churn in white collar is a continuous evolution.”

And he said it’s not about the cool features that can be offered to the consumer, who “gets excited by the writing of a resume or restaurant recommendation.”

The biggest problems AI can solve at Honeywell start with a generational labor shortage that it and client companies are facing. From pilots to technicians, declining birth rates in the industrialized world have led to less people available to do jobs that were popular 25 years ago. “Everyone has that problem in industrials,” he said.

The AI opportunity for Honeywell is creating a new labor pool that can learn and work alongside AI and accumulate and deploy institutional knowledge much faster. He said the 15 years of experience traditionally required for a human to handle a complex role can be accomplished at the same level by someone with five years of experience working with two AI co-pilots.

Labor isn’t the only issue where AI is being deployed. Kapur pointed to Honeywell’s planned rollout of connectivity within jet engines in the next few months that will allow the company to proactively monitor engine performance for maintenance issues before the engines return to the shop. The same goes for smoke detectors, another Honeywell lineup staple, which will be identified for servicing or replacement much earlier than before.

But it’s the labor issue which remains top of mind for the Honeywell CEO, and he added that it leads him to think of AI as a revenue-generating opportunity rather than a productivity fix. “The shortage of skills is the heart of the issue for us,” Kapur said. “It’s a constraint to grow revenue. The biggest revenue constraint is lack of skilled labor.“

Most companies are just beginning the search for the payoff from AI investments at levels far removed from the underlying large language models of OpenAI and chipmaking of Nvidia.

Gecko Robotics CEO Jake Loosararian, whose company works across energy, manufacturing, and defense to optimize maintenance efforts — its AI-powered inspection robots are analyzing equipment as large as aircraft carriers to identify structural flaws — says the raw data that is directly collected from the source without being filtered by intermediaries will be the key to many companies’ AI success.

“The future belongs to companies with ‘first-order’ data sets,” he told CNBC “Closing Bell Overtime” anchor Jon Fortt at the Evolve: AI Opportunity event.

The importance of moving beyond the current focus on the large language models was emphasized by several executives, including one working at the forefront of LLMs, Clément Delangue, co-founder and CEO of Hugging Face, one of the most highly valued AI startups in the world, with backing from Amazon, Nvidia, and Google. He voiced a similar sentiment to Loosararian at the CNBC event. 

“Data and data sets are the next frontier for AI,” Delangue said. He noted that on Hugging Face’s platform, which uses an open-source approach to develop AI models, there are over 200,000 public data sets that have been shared, and the growth rate of data sets being added to the platform is faster than the growth rate of new large language models. 

“The world is going to evolve to where it’s every single company, every single industry, even every single use case having their own specific customized models,” Delangue said. “Ultimately, every company, the same way they have their own code repository and build their own software products, they will build their own models … and ultimately that’s what will help them differentiate themselves.” 

If companies gain the most benefit from AI customized to their use cases, that comes alongside a view gaining momentum in discussions of AI regulation that is shifting the focus away from the large language models and towards industry-specific monitoring. And as those use cases proliferate, the C-suite needs to make sure they are being communicated to the board.

“Board members really do need to understand what the use cases might be for their company so they can get the report from the people most knowledgeable on the risks their companies may be facing,” said Katherine Forrest, a former federal judge and partner at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison who is an AI legal expert said at the CNBC AI summit.

She said the time is now to ask, “What are risks? Do we have the right people managing those risks? Have we had any incidents? They should know about any real actualization of those risks.“

For all the debate about how quickly AI opportunities will materialize, Honeywell’s Kapur is bullish on the adoption curve steepening quickly. “Awareness is high, adoption is low, but there will be an inflection point,” he said. “I do believe 2025-2026 will be a big year for adoption of AI in the context of industrials.”

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
You Might Also Like
  • Transforma Insights unveils analysis of which are the leading IoT connectivity providers
  • IoT startups received record funding in 2022, new research reveals
  • Fox likely to see limited business fallout from a settlement that could remake Dominion
  • JetBlue and Spirit Airlines terminate $3.8 billion merger
Share
0
FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsapp

previous post
Boeing to cut 17,000 jobs as losses deepen during factory strike
next post
Stay Ahead: Key Sentiment Indicators to Track in October 2024!

You may also like

Inflation cooled to 4% in May — the lowest reading...

June 15, 2023

Burning rubber: How auto insurance prices have fueled inflation

April 11, 2024

This small Missouri city could cash in on the eclipse....

April 8, 2024

Blues Wireless Launches Industry-First No-Code Firmware Update Capability

January 9, 2023

Boeing is in talks to reacquire fuselage maker Spirit Aerosystems...

March 5, 2024

Hermès to hike U.S. prices for iconic bags and scarves...

April 18, 2025

Mortgage refinancing surges 35% in one week as interest rates...

August 15, 2024

UAW announces new strike locations as walkout enters second week

September 26, 2023

John Deere to abandon pride festival sponsorships following online right-wing...

July 17, 2024

‘Buy now, pay later’ goes from niche to normal as...

March 10, 2024

    Stay updated with the latest news, exclusive offers, and special promotions. Sign up now and be the first to know! As a member, you'll receive curated content, insider tips, and invitations to exclusive events. Don't miss out on being part of something special.


    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • Krispy Kreme stock plunges after doughnut chain pauses McDonald’s rollout, pulls outlook

      May 8, 2025
    • Don’t Buy Robinhood Stock… Until You See This Chart Setup

      May 8, 2025
    • UnitedHealthcare sued by shareholders over reaction to CEO’s killing

      May 8, 2025
    • The Unpredictable Stock Market: How to Make Sense of It

      May 8, 2025
    • AMD CEO calls China a ‘large opportunity’ and warns against strict U.S. chip controls

      May 7, 2025

    Popular Posts

    • 1

      Trump-era China sanctions ended by Biden may be...

      June 27, 2024 2,633 views
    • 2

      Walz’s honeymoon with China gets fresh scrutiny as...

      August 9, 2024 2,339 views
    • 3

      Biden appointee played key role in recruiting Chinese...

      June 25, 2024 2,320 views
    • 4

      Shein’s global ambitions leaves some cybersecurity experts fearful...

      July 10, 2024 2,303 views
    • 5

      Harris VP pick spent years promoting research facility...

      August 29, 2024 2,186 views

    Categories

    • Economy (7,009)
    • Editor's Pick (2,066)
    • Investing (538)
    • Stock (2,530)

    Popular Posts

    • 1

      Trump-era China sanctions ended by Biden may be revived under new House GOP bill

      June 27, 2024
    • 2

      Walz’s honeymoon with China gets fresh scrutiny as Harris camp blasts ‘lying’ critics

      August 9, 2024
    • 3

      Biden appointee played key role in recruiting Chinese businesses to Delaware: ‘Longtime friends’

      June 25, 2024
    • 4

      Shein’s global ambitions leaves some cybersecurity experts fearful of Chinese spy threats

      July 10, 2024
    • 5

      Harris VP pick spent years promoting research facility that collaborated with ‘Chinese military company’

      August 29, 2024

    Latest News

    • Krispy Kreme stock plunges after doughnut chain pauses McDonald’s rollout,...

      May 8, 2025
    • Don’t Buy Robinhood Stock… Until You See This Chart Setup

      May 8, 2025
    • UnitedHealthcare sued by shareholders over reaction to CEO’s killing

      May 8, 2025

    Categories

    • Economy (7,009)
    • Editor's Pick (2,066)
    • Investing (538)
    • Stock (2,530)

    Disclaimer: RoundTableThoughts.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2024 RoundTableThoughts.com. All Rights Reserved.

    Round Table Thoughts
    • Investing
    • Stock
    Round Table Thoughts
    • Economy
    • Editor’s Pick

    Read alsox

    Lucid CEO says Wall Street misinterpreted...

    October 22, 2024

    A silver lining from high mortgage...

    January 28, 2024

    Boeing machinists on picket lines prepare...

    September 24, 2024
    Sign In

    Keep me signed in until I sign out

    Forgot your password?

    Password Recovery

    A new password will be emailed to you.

    Have received a new password? Login here