Siemens Debuts AI Agents to Automate and Orchestrate Industry Workflows

Siemens is expanding its industrial AI offerings with advanced AI agents designed to work seamlessly across its Industrial Copilot ecosystem. This new generation of AI marks a shift from reactive assistants that merely respond to queries, to autonomous agents that can independently execute entire processes without human intervention.

The new AI agent architecture features a sophisticated orchestrator—like a master craftsman deploying a toolbox of specialized agents to solve complex tasks across the entire industrial value chain. These agents operate autonomously, understand intent, continuously improve through learning, and collaborate with external tools or other agents as needed. Importantly, users retain control by deciding which tasks to delegate to these agents.

"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, 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."

How the AI Agent Architecture Works

Siemens distinguishes between Industrial Copilots—the user-facing interfaces—and the AI agents that power them behind the scenes. Additionally, Siemens is integrating both digital agents and physical agents, including mobile robots, into its platform. This enables a comprehensive multi-agent system where collaboration among agents is key.

What sets Siemens apart is its orchestration layer and ecosystem strategy. These AI agents are interoperable—not only with Siemens products but also third-party agents—creating a new level of integration and flexibility.

To fuel innovation and ease adoption, Siemens is developing an industrial AI agent marketplace on the Siemens Xcelerator platform, allowing customers to access and deploy both Siemens-built and third-party agents.

The All-Encompassing Siemens Industrial Copilot

Enhanced by AI agents, the Siemens Industrial Copilot supports every stage of the industrial value chain—spanning design, planning, engineering, operations, and services:

1. Design Copilot (Available for NX CAD):
Accelerates creative product development, supports complex data analysis, and simplifies multi-domain tasks. Users can ask natural language questions and access technical insights quickly. Siemens is also developing a Hydrogen Configurator for designing hydrogen production plants.

2. Planning Copilot (Pre-release):
Optimizes production planning and resource allocation using generative AI. Early adopters report improved efficiency and reduced waste.

3. Engineering Copilot (Available for TIA Portal; Managed Service coming in 2025):
The first generative AI product for automation engineering, enabling natural language-driven code generation, reducing errors and speeding up development.

4. Operations Copilot (Available for Insights Hub):
Provides plant-wide visibility and actionable insights. A machine-level Copilot for shop floor workers is expected by end-2025. In process industries, the Simatic eaSie assistant allows voice/chat access to plant data—enhancing reliability and safety.

5. Services Copilot – Maintenance Copilot Senseye:
Delivers diagnostics across the entire maintenance lifecycle. It has reduced reactive maintenance time by 25% in pilot deployments.

Addressing the Skills Gap in Manufacturing

The Siemens Industrial Copilot is already delivering results in real-world environments. At thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering, it has improved code quality and development speed. At Siemens' Bad Neustadt plant, it transformed operations by converting disparate data into actionable insights."In a factory environment, our Industrial AI agents connect different copilots and automate workflows across the entire value chain," said Brehm. "This unified approach makes industrial AI accessible to everyone, regardless of their technical background."