AI In Manufacturing: Copilots Or Agents?

Forbes

01-04-2025

Raj Badarinath is Chief Product & Marketing Officer at Rootstock Software, a recognized leader in the Manufacturing Cloud ERP space.
In the race to adopt AI in manufacturing, companies face a pivotal choice: Should AI act as a copilot—assisting human workers—or take the wheel entirely as an autonomous agent?
It's a question that gets to the heart of AI's role in industry. While AI has already proven its ability to boost productivity, streamline operations and reshape decision-making, the question remains: How much control should we give it?
The 2025 AI in Manufacturing Survey, conducted by Researchscape, offers a telling answer. A clear majority of manufacturers prefer copilots (53%) over agents (22%), with the rest undecided. That signals a strong preference for AI that augments human decision-making rather than standing in place of it.
This debate isn't just about comfort—it's about the trust we place in AI and its rapidly escalating role in manufacturing.
Copilots are used to summarize vast troves of information and provide rapid recommendations—without making the final call. In manufacturing, support personnel can use copilots to summarize case histories, compose emails to prospects, personalize customer communications and more.
It's easy to see why manufacturers appreciate this approach. Workers remain in control, AI remains in a supporting role and companies avoid the risk of fully autonomous decision-making. Findings from the previously mentioned survey highlight these trends:
• 90% of manufacturers say AI is critical to the industry's future.
• 77% have already implemented AI (up from 70% in 2023).
• 82% plan to increase AI budgets in the next 12 to 18 months.
These statistics show manufacturers aren't afraid of AI— they just want to ease into the role it will play rather than jump in headfirst.
And there's another, more human reason: job security.
One of the biggest concerns around AI in manufacturing is its potential to replace human workers. That concern is rising—17% of workers now fear AI will displace them, up from 12% in 2023. By contrast, copilots enhance productivity without eliminating workers, making them the preferred choice for those wanting to balance technological advancement with workforce morale.
But copilots can only take manufacturers so far.
If copilots are sidekicks, agents are independent operators—making decisions and executing tasks without human intervention. AI agents act as highly skilled assistants, sifting through massive data sets, identifying inefficiencies and flagging potential issues.
In manufacturing, they analyze supply chains, predict machine failures, optimize production schedules and help workers make more informed decisions, faster.
In theory, agents can dramatically boost efficiency by:
• Automatically adjusting production schedules to reduce bottlenecks.
• Managing real-time supply chain logistics without oversight.
• Detecting and resolving equipment failures before downtime occurs.
The potential is enormous. Companies that fully embrace AI-driven autonomy could slash costs, increase speed and improve accuracy. Yet, manufacturers are holding back—mainly due to trust and risk. While copilots assist in decision-making, agents take direct action, raising the following concerns:
• What if an agent makes the wrong call?
• How do we ensure AI aligns with ethics, quality and human intuition?
• Who is accountable if an autonomous agent fails?
Today's manufacturers are keeping humans in the loop as they lean toward copilots, but three trends suggest that full AI autonomy may be coming sooner than we think:
• Smarter AI Decision-Making. AI isn't just getting faster—it's becoming more capable. Advances in machine learning and generative AI mean that AI can now analyze, adapt and learn from past decisions, making it increasingly reliable in complex scenarios. Gartner predicts that by 2028, at least 15% of daily work decisions will be made by autonomous AI agents.
• The Rise Of Hybrid AI Models. Manufacturers may not need to choose between copilots and agents—they'll likely use both. Imagine a person overseeing a network of agents and copilots, ensuring human oversight while automation handles repetitive tasks. This hybrid AI approach allows companies to keep workers in control while automating lower-level tasks, improve efficiency without surrendering decision-making to AI and scale AI adoption gradually, while reducing risk and resistance.
• AI As A Solution To The Labor Shortage. Manufacturing faces a massive workforce gap: The sector may need to fill 3.8 million new jobs by 2033, according to Deloitte. AI can help fill the void. Copilots help less-experienced workers perform like seasoned experts, while agents fully automate tasks when workers aren't available.
In an industry desperate for talent, the copilot versus agent debate may not be an either/or scenario but about using the right tool in the right situation.
Right now, copilots are the safe bet—keeping workers in control while boosting productivity. But agents offer the next level of automation. In the near term, a hybrid approach is emerging that blends copilots and agents to minimize risk while maximizing efficiency.
But make no mistake—the rise of autonomous AI agents is inevitable.
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