Tech
Honeywell and Google Cloud to Accelerate Autonomous Operations with AI Agents for the Industrial Sector
Google Cloud AI to enhance Honeywell’s product offerings
and help upskill the industrial workforce
New solutions will connect to enterprise-wide industrial data from Honeywell Forge,
a leading IoT platform for industrials
CHARLOTTE, N.C. and SUNNYVALE, Calif. /PRNewswire/ — Honeywell (NASDAQ: HON) and Google Cloud announced a unique collaboration connecting artificial intelligence (AI) agents with assets, people and processes to accelerate safer, autonomous operations for the industrial sector.
This partnership will bring together the multimodality and natural language capabilities of Gemini on Vertex AI – Google Cloud’s AI platform – and the massive data set on Honeywell Forge, a leading Internet of Things (IoT) platform for industrials. This will unleash easy-to-understand, enterprise-wide insights across a multitude of use cases. Honeywell’s customers across the industrial sector will benefit from opportunities to reduce maintenance costs, increase operational productivity and upskill employees. The first solutions built with Google Cloud AI will be available to Honeywell’s customers in 2025.
“The path to autonomy requires assets working harder, people working smarter and processes working more efficiently,” said Vimal Kapur, Chairman and CEO of Honeywell. “By combining Google Cloud’s AI technology with our deep domain expertise–including valuable data on our Honeywell Forge platform–customers will receive unparalleled, actionable insights bridging the physical and digital worlds to accelerate autonomous operations, a key driver of Honeywell’s growth.”
“Our partnership with Honeywell represents a significant step forward in bringing the transformative power of AI to industrial operations,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud. “With Gemini on Vertex AI, combined with Honeywell’s industrial data and expertise, we’re creating new opportunities to optimize processes, empower workforces and drive meaningful business outcomes for industrial organizations worldwide.”
With the mass retirement of workers from the baby boomer generation, the industrial sector faces both labor and skills shortages, and AI can be part of the solution – as a revenue generator, not job eliminator. More than two-thirds (82%) of Industrial AI leaders believe their companies are early adopters of AI, but only 17% have fully launched their initial AI plans, according to Honeywell’s 2024 Industrial AI Insights report. This partnership will provide AI agents that augment the existing operations and workforce to help drive AI adoption and enable companies across the sector to benefit from expanding automation.
Honeywell and Google Cloud will co-innovate solutions around:
Purpose-Built, Industrial AI Agents
Built on Google Cloud’s Vertex AI Search and tailored to engineers’ specific needs, a new AI-powered agent will help automate tasks and reduce project design cycles, enabling users to focus on driving innovation and delivering exceptional customer experiences.
Additional agents will utilize Google’s large language models (LLMs) to help technicians to more quickly resolve maintenance issues (e.g., “How did a unit perform last night?” “How do I replace the input/output module?” or “Why is my system making this sound?”). By leveraging Gemini’s multimodality capabilities, users will be able to process various data types such as images, videos, text and sensor readings, which will help its engineers get the answers they need quickly – going beyond simple chat and predictions.
Enhanced Cybersecurity
Google Threat Intelligence – featuring frontline insight from Mandiant – will be integrated into current Honeywell cybersecurity products, including Global Analysis, Research and Defense (GARD) Threat Intelligence and Secure Media Exchange (SMX), to help enhance threat detection and protect global infrastructure for industrial customers.
On-the-Edge Device Advances
Looking ahead, Honeywell will explore using Google’s Gemini Nano model to enhance Honeywell edge AI devices’ intelligence multiple use cases across verticals, ranging from scanning performance to voice-based guided workflow, maintenance, operational and alarm assist without the need to connect to the internet and cloud. This is the beginning of a new wave of more intelligent devices and solutions, which will be the subject of future Honeywell announcements.
By leveraging AI to enable growth and productivity, the integration of Google Cloud technology also further supports Honeywell’s alignment of its portfolio to three compelling megatrends, including automation.
About Honeywell
Honeywell is an integrated operating company serving a broad range of industries and geographies around the world. Our business is aligned with three powerful megatrends – automation, the future of aviation and energy transition – underpinned by our Honeywell Accelerator operating system and Honeywell Forge IoT platform. As a trusted partner, we help organizations solve the world’s toughest, most complex challenges, providing actionable solutions and innovations through our Aerospace Technologies, Industrial Automation, Building Automation and Energy and Sustainability Solutions business segments that help make the world smarter and safer as well as more secure and sustainable. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywell.com/newsroom.
About Google Cloud
Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated, and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models, and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner.
SOURCE Honeywell
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home improvement
Stay Protected from Cyberattacks: Simple Safeguards to Reduce Cyber Intrusions and Real-World Losses
Be aware of Cyberattacks: Connected homes are becoming the norm with millions of Americans relying on Wi-Fi networks, mobile apps and smart devices to manage everything from door locks to thermostats. As convenience increases, so does exposure, and basic cybersecurity practices can help reduce both digital and physical risks.
Last Updated on May 9, 2026 by Daily News Staff
Stay Protected from Cyberattacks: Simple Safeguards to Reduce Cyber Intrusions and Real-World Losses
(Feature Impact) Connected homes are becoming the norm with millions of Americans relying on Wi-Fi networks, mobile apps and smart devices to manage everything from door locks to thermostats.
As convenience increases, so does exposure, and the experts at multiple-line insurance carrier Mercury Insurance are reminding homeowners that basic cybersecurity practices can help reduce both their digital and physical risks.
“Smart-home technology is incredibly useful, but it also expands the number of entry points into your home – not just digitally, but physically,” said Dustin Howard, head of info security at Mercury Insurance. “The good news is that many of the most effective protections are simple, proactive steps that homeowners can take today.”
Smart-home adoption continues to accelerate with recent studies showing roughly 70% of U.S. households now use at least one connected device. From video doorbells to smart garage doors, these tools provide visibility and control, but if not properly secured, they can also create vulnerabilities that bad actors may exploit.
Consider these cybersecurity best practices for connected homes:
- Secure your Wi-Fi network: Use strong, unique passwords – at least 14-16 characters with a mixture of letters, numbers and symbols – and enable WPA3 encryption when available to prevent unauthorized access. Also turn on your router’s built-in firewall and disable Wi-Fi protected setup.
- Update devices regularly: Firmware and software updates often include critical security patches that close known vulnerabilities. Turn on automatic updates for operating systems, applications, browsers and smart home devices such as thermostats and cameras. If devices are no longer able to update, it may be time to replace them to avoid compromising security.
- Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA): Adding a second layer of verification significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized account access. Enable MFA for email accounts, banking and financial apps, cloud storage and social media accounts, and use an authenticator app for confirmation rather than receiving a code via text or email.
- Segment your network: Consider placing smart-home devices, including televisions, security cameras and speakers, on a separate network from personal devices like laptops and phones. Also create a guest network for visitors to use to help further protect your main network.
- Change default settings: Many devices come with default usernames and passwords that are widely known and easily exploited. Change the defaults on your router as well as login credentials for any new devices, making admin accounts more difficult to target.
- Monitor device activity: Regularly review connected devices and remove any that are unfamiliar or no longer in use. If your router supports it, enable notifications for new device connections for real-time visibility.
“As homes become more connected, cybersecurity becomes a core part of overall home protection,” Howard said. “It’s not just about protecting your data – it’s about protecting your property, your privacy and your peace of mind.”
With smart-home technology expected to continue expanding, homeowners should treat cybersecurity as a routine part of home maintenance – just like checking smoke detectors or locking doors – to stay ahead of evolving risks.
For more information about protecting your home from cyberattacks, visit mercuryinsurance.com/resources.
Photos courtesy of Shutterstock
SOURCE:
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The Knowledge
Artemis II crew brought a human eye and storytelling vision to the photos they took on their mission
Artemis II crew: Artemis II’s astronaut photos show how human perspective and storytelling make space imagery feel authentic—especially in an era of AI-generated visuals.
Christye Sisson, Rochester Institute of Technology
In early April 2026, the Artemis II mission captivated me and millions of people watching from across the world. The crew’s courage, skill and infectious wonder served as tangible proof of human persistence and technological achievement, all against the mysterious backdrop of space.
People back on Earth got to witness the mission through remarkable photos of space captured by astronauts. Images created and shared by astronauts underscore how photography builds a powerful, authentic connection that goes beyond what technology alone can capture.
As a photographer and the director of the Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences, I am especially drawn to how these photographs have been at the center of the public’s collective experience of this mission.
In an era when image authenticity is often questioned and with the capabilities of autonomous, AI-driven imaging, NASA’s choice to train astronauts in photography has placed meaning over convenience and prioritized their human perspectives and creativity.
Capturing space from the crew’s perspective
Photography was not originally placed as a high priority in NASA’s Apollo era. The astronauts only took photographs if they had the chance and all their other tasks were complete.
Thanks largely in part to public response to those images from Apollo, including “Earthrise” and the “Blue Marble” being widely credited for helping catalyze the modern environmental movement, NASA shifted its approach to utilize photography to help capture the public’s imagination by training their astronauts in photographic practices.
The Artemis II mission’s photographs have helped cut through the increasing volume of artificially generated images circulating on social media. NASA’s social media releases of the crew’s photographs have garnered thousands of shares and comments.
This excitement could be explained by the novelty of photos from space, but these images also distinguish themselves as products of astronauts experiencing these sights and interpreting them through their photographs. These differences require an important distinction around where technology ends and humanity begins.
Human perspective versus AI tools
Photography has long integrated AI-powered software and data-driven tools in a variety of ways: to process raw images, fill in missing color information, drive precise focus and guide image editing, among others. These modern technological assists help human photographers realize their vision.
Artificial intelligence is also increasingly capable of operating machinery competently and autonomously, from cars to drones and cameras.
And AI can generate convincing, realistic images and videos from nothing more than a text prompt, using readily available tools.
Researchers train AI to mimic patterns informed by millions of sample images, and the algorithm can then either take or create a photograph based on what it predicts would be the most likely version of a successful, believable image.
Human-created photos are rooted in direct observation, intent and lived experience, while AI images – or choices made by AI-driven tools – are not. While both can produce compelling and believable visuals, the human photographs carry emotional power because the photographer is drawing from their experiences and perspective in that moment to tell an authentic story.
Artemis II photographs resonate, not only because they are historic, but because they reflect the deliberate choices and intent of a human being in that specific moment and context. The exposure, camera setting, lens choice and composition are all dictated by the astronaut’s vision, skill, perspective and experience. Each image is unique in comparison with the others. These choices give the images narrative power, anchoring them in human perspective.
Images to tell a story
Photographers choose what to include in the final version of their image to tell a story. In the Artemis II images, this human perspective comes out. In the “Earthset” photo, you see a striking juxtaposition of the Moon’s monochromatic, textured surface in the foreground against a slivered, bright Earth.
The choice to include both in the frame contrasts these objects literally and figuratively, inviting comparison. It creates a narrative where Earth is contrasted against the Moon – life is contrasted against the absence of it.
Another photo shows the nightside of the whole Earth, featuring the Sun’s halo, auroras and city lights. The choice to include the subtle framing of the window of the capsule in the lower left corner reminds the viewer where and how this image was captured: by a human, inside a capsule, hurtling through space. That detail grounds the photograph in the human perspective.
Both photos are reminiscent of Earthrise and the Blue Marble. These past images hold a place in the global collective consciousness, shaped by a shared historical moment.
The Artemis II photographs are anchored in this collective moment of lived human experience, yet also shaped by each astronaut’s viewpoint. The crew’s unique perspectives exemplify photography’s transformative power by inviting viewers to engage emotionally and intellectually with their journey. These photographs share the astronauts’ awe and wonder and affirm the value of human creativity and its ability to connect us in a captured moment.
Christye Sisson, Professor of Photographic Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Last Updated on April 30, 2026 by Daily News Staff
CropX Technologies has launched CropX Vision, a new AI-powered vineyard monitoring solution designed to help growers measure vine water stress using a single canopy image.
The new tool uses computer vision and agronomic modeling to estimate leaf water potential from a smartphone photo, giving growers and agronomists a faster and more scalable way to assess plant stress across entire vineyard blocks. The company says the goal is to support better irrigation decisions throughout the growing season.
CropX Vision is available globally on both iOS and Android. The platform is also integrated into the broader CropX application, allowing users to combine canopy-based stress insights with other agronomic data in one place.
According to CropX, the technology offers an in-season alternative to traditional pressure chamber measurements, which can be more time-consuming and limited in sampling range. Instead of relying on specialized equipment, growers can capture a single image in the field and receive plant-level water stress insights.
The product builds on technology originally developed by Tule Technologies, a California-based precision irrigation company acquired by CropX in 2023. Tule’s canopy sensing technology has already been used in California vineyards, and CropX is now expanding that capability to growers worldwide.
CropX says the global release reflects its continued focus on data-driven tools that help growers improve productivity while managing water more efficiently.
CropX Vision is now available for download via the app stores:
- iOS: https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/cropx-vision/id6756921607?l=en-GB
- Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cropx.cropx_vision&pcampaignid=web_share
For more information, visit CropX Vision.
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