AI Applied Consortium
Konrad Konarski
Chairperson
We convene technology firms, universities, startups, Fortune 500 corporations and public-sector bodies, together representing close to a trillion dollars of annual economic activity, to move artificial intelligence from pilot projects into production.
Technology alone does not get there. It takes industry, academia and government working the same problem at the same time, and it takes evidence gathered where the consequences are real: a plant, a rig, a distribution network, a city, a payments system.
We convene that coalition, put its research where the equipment is, and turn what it learns into guidance others can use. When AI is applied this way it strengthens the people doing the work rather than displacing them, and it keeps the United States at the front of a technology the rest of the century depends on.
The consortium represents the collective expertise of influential organisations spanning technology, industry, academia and government.
We exist to foster innovation, build strategic public-private partnerships, and accelerate the practical application of AI in real operations. That last word matters. A great deal of AI work stops at the point where it would have to survive contact with a plant, a trading floor, a city, or a distribution network. Our members are the people responsible for what happens after that point.
Leadership comes from more than thirty Trustees and Advisors representing twenty-five organisations across eleven sectors, and is strengthened by graduate and doctoral students at our academic partner institutions, who bring current research and a perspective the rest of the room does not have.
Councils set the agenda for their sector and hold the expertise. Labs give that agenda somewhere to be built and tested. Everything the consortium publishes comes out of one of the two, which is why the guidance is written by people who have had to make it work.
Exploration, production, refining and process safety
Visit the council →Industrial AI as infrastructure, from the plant floor to the standard
Visit the council →An $8 trillion sector where adoption is separating the leaders
Visit the council →What state and local government should buy, and how
Visit the council →Fraud, risk and customer intelligence at national scale
Visit the council →Disaster response, equitable distribution, global health
Visit the council →Operators, engineers, chancellors and executives, drawn from the organisations the consortium serves. Meet everyone across every council →
Chairperson
Senior Vice President (Former)
Chief Data Scientist (Former)
Director of Innovation
Director of Process Safety
Group President
Vice President
Vice President of Operations
Manager, Learning Solutions
Director, Digitalization of Production & Technology (Retired)
Senior Advisor
Senior Technical Lead
Chancellor
Professor
Professor
Fortune 500 operators, technology firms, research universities, industry associations and public bodies, represented on our councils or partnered on their programmes.
Operator
Operator
Chemicals
Energy services
Energy services
Drilling
Refining
Refining
Specialty chemicals
Technology · XR Network
Association partner
Technology
Technology
Advisory
Robotics
Automotive
Steel and tubular
Manufacturer
Research university
Industrial AI Center
Research university
Association partner
National network
Public sector
Research university
Research university
Municipality 
Civic infrastructure
Municipality
State legislature
Advisory
Contributing institution
Payments
Banking
Research university
Research university
Humanitarian logistics · member organisation
Engineering
Advisory · social impact
Trade AssociationTestimonials from the practitioners who have built with the consortium, and from the association leaders who partner with it.
“If you are looking to build a federated learning AI model and break organizational silos, this is the place to start.”
“Natural Language Processing is very complex and this team helped make it happen through their expertise and engagement.”
“The consortium helped us become a center of knowledge dissemination and together we helped local businesses.”
“This partnership gives our industry a seat at the table in shaping how AI is designed and delivered for real operational impact.”
“Through this collaboration, we are not only addressing automation and optimization, but helping lay the foundation for AI-driven industrial innovation that ensures manufacturers remain competitive in a rapidly evolving economy.”
“By bringing together industry leaders to develop this governance architecture, we're helping companies embrace AI with confidence while ensuring people remain at the center.”
An AI consortium is a membership organisation where companies, universities and public bodies pool expertise to develop and adopt artificial intelligence together. Members share research, standards and working practitioners, so each organisation moves faster and more safely than it could alone.
The AI Applied Consortium is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit industry AI consortium. It convenes Fortune 500 operators, research universities, startups and public-sector bodies through six industry councils, applied research labs and national programmes, with the goal of moving AI from pilot projects into production.
Six industry councils cover energy, chemicals and utilities; manufacturing; wholesale distribution; the public sector and smart cities; financial services; and AI for social good. Each council is led by practitioners from companies such as bp, BASF, TechnipFMC, Visa and Vallourec.
Membership starts with a conversation with the relevant industry council. Companies typically join by placing a practitioner on a council, proposing a use case to a lab, or partnering on a programme. Use the Join section of this site to start, and the council leadership will follow up directly.
The consortium runs six applied research labs with university partners: the Digital Oilfield Lab in Texas, the Advanced Manufacturing Lab with Penn State and the University of Kentucky, the Industrial Control Lab at Penn State, the Smart City Lab with DePaul University, the Connected Worker Lab, and the founding InnovaLab at the University of Louisville.
Yes. The consortium filed a formal response to the United States National AI Action Plan RFI (docket 90 FR 9088), co-developed the AI Governance Architecture with the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, and contributes to workforce and adoption policy through its councils.
Membership is for organisations that intend to deploy AI in operations rather than observe it, and for researchers who want their work tested against real constraints.
Bring a problem from your own operation. Councils scope it, labs build against it, and you keep the peer relationships either way.
Put your researchers and students on industry problems that arrive with data attached and a partner who needs the answer.
Work through procurement, governance and public trust alongside agencies facing the same questions.
[CONFIRM — state dues plainly, or “no fee” if that is the model.]