From AI Experiments to Industrial Advantage: How KBR is turning AI into Real-World Outcomes

For the past few years, the AI conversation has been dominated by large language models. While they have captured attention, the next phase of AI will create value in a very different way. The real opportunity lies in domain-specific AI, purpose-built AI systems trained to solve complex industry problems and delivered trusted answers that measurably improve operational performance.

At KBR, we are focused on: picking the right AI tool so that AI can create measurable value for our customers?

Technology on its own is not the objective. Better decisions, safer operations, higher reliability, lower costs and faster project delivery are the outcomes we want.

For industrial operations and engineering, that means moving beyond generative AI into models that understand how physical systems behave. When AI is grounded in physics, engineering principles and operational data, it can help customers optimize assets, predict outcomes and improve performance with a level of confidence and ultimately trust that traditional analytics often cannot achieve.

Greg Conlon recently joined fellow global technology leaders at the CIO Exchange in Singapore to discuss how organizations can move beyond pilots and proofs of concept to enterprise-scale transformation. The discussion reinforced a simple reality: AI delivers value when it is connected to business outcomes, embedded into everyday workflows and deployed with the right governance, accountability and trust.

Turning AI into Operational Performance
This philosophy sits at the heart of KBR INSITE™ 3.0, our next-generation industrial intelligence platform developed in collaboration with Applied Computing.

INSITE combines physics-based modelling, operational expertise and AI to help facility operators optimize performance, improve reliability, enhance safety and reduce operating costs. Rather than asking operations teams to navigate vast volumes of process data, INSITE converts complexity into actionable recommendations that support faster and better decision-making.

What sets our approach apart is trust. By grounding AI in physics and decades of KBR process knowledge, INSITE provides recommendations that can be understood, validated and acted upon. In some applications, analysis that previously took days can now be completed in hours, enabling customers to respond more quickly and operate more efficiently.

But technology alone is never enough. Successful adoption requires confidence.

Which is why we recently launched the KBR Innovation Studio in Bengaluru, providing a dedicated environment where customers can explore emerging AI capabilities, test real-world use cases and build confidence before scaling solutions across their operations.

The Next Era of AI
Across industries, we are beginning to see a shift from experimentation to transformation. Whether in industrial operations, life sciences, energy or engineering, organizations are increasingly looking beyond generic AI tools toward specialized models designed to solve specific business challenges. Many companies entered the AI race because they feared being left behind. The leaders of the next decade will be those that focus less on the technology itself and more on the value it creates.

For KBR, AI is not an end in itself. It is another lever we can use to help customers operate more efficiently, manage risk more effectively, improve asset performance and deliver complex projects with greater certainty.

The opportunity ahead is significant. As these technologies continue to mature, the greatest value will be created by organizations that successfully connect AI investments to operational outcomes and business results. That is the approach guiding KBR today, and we believe we are only at the beginning of what AI can unlock across the industrial landscape.

The winners in AI won't be those who deploy the most technology. They'll be the ones who create the most value from it.