Why Siemens is putting AI in charge of its revamped content strategy

Siemens wants to turn its digital communications platform into one that's as important to consumers as Facebook, and it's starting by getting artificial intelligence to tell its internal authors what to write about. The tech conglomerate believes the sheer scale of its work (which is carried out by more than 350,000 employees worldwide) makes for stories that will interest people outside of the company. However the two heads of its communications department – both less than two years into their respective jobs – are aware that the brand has been historically ineffective at telling these stories, largely due to its distrust in non-traditional media. "We liked to touch things and talk about things – traditional media events were where we bought our a-game," said Stephanie Chalmers, global head of content and newsroom at Siemens. "I had to explain that [non-traditional] channels are way more effective than the ones they were used to. That complexity is very scary for a company like Siemens, because they can't control it."