PHILIPPE RAMBACH
THE AI INTERVIEW
At each gate, the team asks whether the business value is confirmed and whether the technical feasibility is still there. If not, they have the courage to walk away. This rigour is what separates a digital hobby from a global industrial strategy.
The rise of agentic AI and Sera One of the most significant shifts in the landscape is the move towards agentic AI – tools that don’ t just predict outcomes but act as autonomous partners.
Schneider recently launched Sera, an AI agent designed to transform how users interact with environmental data. However, Philippe is careful to temper the excitement surrounding Gen AI, noting that it is an addition to, not a wholesale replacement of the classical AI that handles the heavy lifting of industrial physics.
“ Generative AI agents do not replace forecasting, anomaly detection, prediction or optimisation – we still need that,” he asserts.“ One common mistake people make is to believe that AI is only Gen AI and agents and that it replaces all the rest. It adds to it, a lot.”
Instead of replacement, Sera represents a fundamental change in software interaction. Traditional systems often rely on rigid reporting, static dashboards and complex pop-up menus. Sera allows for a more conversational, personal relationship with data, enabling operators to ask complex questions in natural language.
Philippe details the change:“ We move from relatively rigid reporting to,‘ hey, I want this, I want that, explain this to me, explain that to me.’ So, it’ s a much more personal relationship, with much more capacity to investigate, to understand and to learn.”
PHILIPPE RAMBACH
CHIEF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE OFFICER
Philippe Rambach is the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer of Schneider Electric. His mission is to drive AI innovation at scale, both internally and for customers, to provide greater overall efficiency and sustainability through databased insights.
Philippe is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique in France and joined
Schneider Electric in 2010 from AREVA. He has more than 20 years of experience in strategy, innovation and business responsibility in many industries. He held various leadership roles in Energy Management and Industrial Automation – most recently, as SVP Industrial Automation Commercial, where he led the commercial organization at Schneider Electric. se. com 7