Rethinking industrial artificial intelligence: a unified foundation framework

Recent advancements in industrial artificial intelligence (AI) are reshaping the industry by driving smarter manufacturing, predictive maintenance, and intelligent decision-making. However, existing approaches often focus primarily on algorithms and models while overlooking the importance of systematically integrating domain knowledge, data, and models to develop more comprehensive and effective AI solutions. Therefore, the effective development and deployment of industrial AI require a more comprehensive and systematic approach. To address this gap, this paper reviews previous research, rethinks the role of industrial AI, and proposes a unified industrial AI foundation framework comprising three core modules: the knowledge module, data module, and model module. These modules help to extend and enhance the industrial AI methodology platform, supporting various industrial applications. In addition, a case study on rotating machinery diagnosis is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework, and several future directions are highlighted for the development of the industrial AI foundation framework.