AI IN PRINT
Inside intelligence Artificial intelligence is more than just a buzzword. By being installed on a variety of a devices – including printers – is it making a tangible difference to many businesses. Resellers now have to help customers to embark on their AI print journey.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been the breakout technology of the past couple of years, ever since ChatGPT was launched by OpenAI in November 2022 and gained more than 100 million users within two months. Now, the technology is proving its worth for businesses in many ways and changing how offices work – and that includes printers. There are various advantages that AI is bringing to print and printers. “Over time, broadly speaking we envisage that AI and machine learning (ML) will better analyse print usage patterns, while improving tracking and accountability, and we expect that AI will drive further reductions in waste,” says Stuart Brookes, EMEA head of sales and channel at PaperCut. “Predictive maintenance and automated print supply management will be improved and print job optimisation will be simplified. We also expect to see enhanced security thanks to AI-based threat detection.” Workflow and personalisation Kerry Rush, product marketing manager at Sharp UK, adds that while AI is still in its infancy with print, one of the major benefits of it is capture and workflow. “While this is not completely new to print, the advancements in this area are certainly coming faster than ever before,” she says. “AI and workflows will continue to make processes simpler, more
speed or quality. “AI-powered quality control systems can ensure high standards by detecting and correcting errors in real-time,” she says. “This ensures that every print meets the highest quality standards, reducing waste and increasing customer satisfaction. “However, we are still in the early days, and it will be some time still before the industry will see widespread adoption of the technology.” That said, there are already some AI- enabled printers on the market, such as the Xerox AltaLink 8200 series multifunctional printers (MFPs). “One benefit of these is the opportunity for users to save time on repetitive and complex tasks,” says Nico Korlaar, office business manager at Xerox. “Our MFPs contain algorithms that identify and learn frequently executed or complex tasks, such as copying or emailing, and then propose 1-Touch shortcuts to save time and utilise later. It even reminds the user at the device of the 1-Touch shortcut should they forget to use it next time. “Other benefits AI can bring to printers and printing are cloud-connected services and specific apps developed to help customers boost productivity by automating and performing tasks faster and more efficiently.”
Stuart Brooks head of sales and channel, EMEA
papercut.com
efficient and faster than ever. “As this technology becomes more embedded, document classification and information extraction will become more
efficient, which means there will be even less barriers for organisations wanting to digitise their paper documents with ease.” Kerry adds that AI will also enable large-scale personalisation, for example, allowing printers to produce customised prints tailored to individual preferences without compromising
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