Microsoft is coupling hybrid cloud with artificial intelligence and has begun articulating how it sees those offerings paying off for customers. It thinks that AI integrated into business and industry will solve issues.

“Increasing safety while at the same time improving the quality is something that we see in hybrid scenarios,” said Uli Homann (pictured), corporate vice president at Microsoft.

Homann spoke with John Furrier, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during IBM Think. They discussed Microsoft’s hybrid cloud AI partnership with IBM. (* Disclosure below.)

Hybrid cloud AI solutions

Employee safety in difficult, localized environments is an example of how a hybrid cloud combination with AI will function, Homann reckons. He sees this kind of digital transformation as the future of AI.

Previously, if one had wanted to monitor molten steel, say, in a production process to attempt to spot defects early on, humans were required in the decision-making process — but it’s less reliable, and crucially for the worker, more dangerous due to the heat. The hybrid cloud AI products Microsoft is developing, along with an IBM partnership, lets cameras and AI perform that job through automation. Deploying the cameras allows the AI to spot specific, known marks that could be indicators of a bad batch of steel. The red-hot steel can then be pulled from the process and the problem fixed.

“The earlier they can get failures detected, the better it is because they can return the product back into the beginning of the funnel and start over,” Homann said. But, also importantly, the human doesn’t have to be hands-on in that critical environment.

Other AI use case examples include autonomous driving and retail. “Autonomous driving is another great scenario where perception AI is going to be utilized,” he said. “We’re seeing retailers deploying cameras and AI inside the retail stores to effectively make sure that the shelves are stocked, that the quality of the vegetables, for example, continues to be high and monitored.”

In the near future, AI will offer huge value in terms of how people interact with software. “AI into real-life usage I think,” Homann concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of IBM Think. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for IBM Think. Neither IBM, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE