Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1541670
8 SMT007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2025 Imagine crossing a highway blindfolded. You might make it across a few times, but if traffic builds, the odds catch up. In the EMS industry, ignor- ing AI feels much the same way. You can keep doing what worked in the past, but as the pace of change accelerates, standing still becomes the riskiest move of all. After hosting my first EMS leadership round- table earlier this year, I found myself repeating a line that has since become a theme: "You need to get uncomfortable and start to understand this stuff, or it will run you over." I wasn't speaking in hypotheticals. AI is already at work, quietly and often behind the scenes, yet in very real and tangible ways. It's beginning to trans- form the EMS industry. The Fog of Innovation Across multiple roundtables, the conversations have been both fascinating and revealing. Attend- ees consistently fall into two camps: those who don't yet know enough to speak confidently about AI, and those who do, but view their knowledge as a competitive advantage, sharing only at an anec- dotal level. The examples come quickly: smarter planning tools, AI-assisted supply chain forecasting, auto- mated document control, real-time language trans- lation for global teams, predictive maintenance, and adaptive work instructions. But when you dig deeper, the details blur. Which of these are still concepts and which are being piloted? Which are live and delivering measurable results? This ambiguity creates what I call the fog of F E AT U R E A RT I C L E by M a r k Wo l fe , G l o b a l E l e c t ro n i c s A s s o c i a t i o n Get Uncomfortable or Get Run Over: How AI Is Reshaping the EMS Industry