In earlier research Forrester published on the impact of generative AI on Smart Manufacturing. But now agentic AI is beginning to play a part too in transforming asset intensive industries. In May 2026, Anthropic announced the creation of a standalone enterprise AI services firm backed by Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, Goldman Sachs, and other large asset managers committing roughly $1.5B. The firm will embed engineers inside client companies. Its mission is to redesign workflows and integrate Claude AI into day to day operations. Initial deployment focuses on portfolio companies of the PE investors, which include many industrial and manufacturing businesses, before expanding more broadly.

The venture aims to mitigate challenges such as the shortage of people who can actually implement AI inside real operations. For manufacturers, this means deploying AI inside ERP-, PLM-, supply chain-, and operations workflows. It also means embedding Claude in operational systems, rather than leaving it languishing as a mere a knowledge assistant.

Several months ago Anthropic has also formed an industrial partnership with IFS Nexus Black, aimed  at manufacturing and asset intensive industries. This partnership launched Resolve, an AI system built on Claude, for predictive maintenance, asset reliability, and operational performance. Resolve uses Claude’s ability to analyze multi-modal industrial data (sensor readings, logs, schematics, and text) to identify early signs of equipment failure, support frontline operators and maintenance teams, and reduce costly unplanned downtime.

What Does This Mean For Manufacturers?

In moving beyond office AI (IT) into operational technology (OT) Anthropic offers expanded IT OT convergence options. Anthropic’s initiatives offer more choice to manufacturers in addition to systems integrators and industrial software partners helping in their IT OT convergence initiatives. But these initiatives also introduce some potential decision automation threats and opportunities.

Earlier Forrester research described AI security guardrails and explained human in the loop and human on the loop agentic AI safeguards. Anthropic’s initiatives make it clear that the next manufacturing platform war is not about what to manage in PLM and what to manage in ERP. It is about who decides when humans no longer have the time to make frequent, time-critical decisions. This makes it important to choose the right AI deployment pattern.

Over the next few months we will be tracking Anthropic’s success in enabling deployment patterns that help manufacturers to boost their performance. In the meantime we are interested to hear your point of view on AI deployment patterns and AI governance. Please feel free to schedule a guidance session or inquiry call here.