At Schneider Electric, we know how to stay ahead of the trends and pivot in changing times during our 180+ years as a company. From becoming early adopters of electrical equipment to the development of Resource Advisor+, an AI-native software platform powered by the unique combination of agentic AI and decades of energy and sustainability consulting expertise, Schneider Electric has been noted as a company that thrives within change.
So, what do we see as “in” and “out” in the trends of AI? Here are three of the most important transitions taking place in the world of AI today.
Most companies using commercial AI disclose little about how their models are trained or how they generate results. This lack of transparency leads to a “black-box effect” that reduces trust consumers have in AI results, especially when the assumption can be that all AI is only trained on low quality data from the internet.
Trust is eroded even further by “AI hallucinations", which are incorrect answers to prompts that the AI gives with confidence. For example, a 2025 study on leading AI legal research tools found that, despite promises of responses free from AI hallucinations, the models would hallucinate between 17% and 33% of the time.
We believe that AI performs better when we can explicitly trace the data and decision making from the AI model or agent. For example, users might wonder why an agent recommended solar over wind power. With built-in traceability, clients and consultants can determine the reasoning behind decisions and have a record ready for any stakeholders who may need to know what decisions were made and why.
Additionally, built-in traceability like what is used in Resource Advisor+ can safeguard against anomalous results by having the AI perform self-audits along the way. In this scenario, the AI can flag any errors it believes it has made and share a degree of confidence along with its decisions, which provides the user with an understanding of how best to proceed with the AI’s answers.
There are many things that humans could create before the introduction of generative AI, but many companies have marketed that generative AI can do absolutely anything one could imagine. However, over-use of AI has downsides such as:
SE Advisory Services is committed to deploying technology under the guiding principle of frugal AI, where we maximize the potential of these technologies while minimizing the negative impacts on communities and the environment. Through our understanding of economic, environmental, and resource pressures, we have created three rules for our development and use of AI:
In the past few years, there have been plenty of debates about the use of artificial intelligence in the private sector. Oftentimes, the participants in these debates have landed in one of two categories: either AI will replace human intelligence due to its superior speed and rapid development, or we should completely forego using AI in favor of human intelligence because the AI continues to make errors. With these arguments, we limit the possibilities of what we can do based on one type of intelligence, which will ultimately fall to the weaknesses of that singular focus.
At SE Advisory Services, we believe that there can be a world where the minds of humans work alongside artificial intelligence. Humans and AI each have tasks that reinforce their unique abilities: creativity and problem-solving for the former and maintaining databases and data auditing for the latter. It is only when we bring these two together that we will overcome our biggest challenges. We call this collaboration of human thinking and AI technology collaborative intelligence.
Through collaborative intelligence, we can minimize the risks of both human and AI errors and break through the limitations of each independent intelligence to create meaningful change and progress. Within Resource Advisor+, we utilize collaborative intelligence with the intersection of AI and human subject matter expertise to unlock the full potential of both AI and humanity. Ultimately, this approach allows AI to power our future sustainably and responsibly.
As use of AI continues to spread across industries, companies must not be satisfied with the status quo but rather continuously look to where AI can be used effectively and efficiently across their operations. By being ready to adapt to future technological innovation, companies can accelerate their growth and sustainability journeys.
At SE Advisory Services, we strive to continue our legacy of adaptability through Resource Advisor+, our new AI-native platform. Each product in Resource Advisor+ harnesses the power of agentic AI and SE Advisory Services expertise to empower organizations in their sustainability journeys.
This Solutions Spotlight article was contributed by Schneider Electric. Resource Advisor+ is Schneider Electric’s AI-native energy and sustainability intelligence platform—designed as a single, modular ecosystem that unifies data, accelerates decision‑making, and empowers organizations to convert energy and sustainability ambitions into measurable, enterprise‑wide action.
