Digital transformation in Process Safety Management (PSM) is accelerating, with more organizations investing in technology to improve safety performance and operational control. Yet the 2025 Sphera Process Safety Report reveals a complex reality: despite these efforts, confidence in managing Major Accident Hazards (MAH) has dropped from 35% in 2024 to just 27% in 2025.
Even more telling, the report shows that human factors remain the top challenge. Half (50%) of process safety leaders cite training and competency as their greatest barrier, followed by cost pressures (38%), frontline engagement (36%), and aging facilities (25%). Only 20% report strong real-time risk awareness. These findings underscore that technology alone can’t close the performance gap. To strengthen safety, organizations must connect digital capability with human capability, and that’s where Artificial Intelligence (AI) can make a difference.
AI isn’t a silver bullet, but it can simplify complex systems, connect disconnected data, and enhance human decision-making. Here are the top three things you need to know about how AI is transforming process safety today.
1. Fit-for-Purpose Use Cases: Simplify, Standardize, and Connect the Dots
AI delivers the most impact when it’s applied with purpose. Sphera’s AI approach focuses on fit-for-purpose use cases that solve real operational and safety challenges helping organizations simplify processes, standardize procedures, and connect insights across systems.
From automating control-of-work tasks and cleansing maintenance data to improving incident investigation quality, AI can reduce manual effort and improve data accuracy. Generative AI and semantic mapping also standardize language and risk terminology, ensuring that teams interpret information consistently and act on the same facts.
By targeting specific use cases, organizations turn complexity into clarity and visibility into action.
2. Trusted, Contextual Data Is the Foundation for Reliable AI
AI is only as good as the data behind it. That’s why Sphera AI starts with data, trusted, curated, and contextual. Unified data connects assets, people, and processes, creating a single source of truth for proactive risk management.
High-quality data transforms AI into a predictive and reliable partner. It helps organizations move from reactive response to foresight-driven safety, identifying weak signals, predicting risks, and improving decision-making at every level.
Reliable data doesn’t just fuel better AI; it builds confidence in every safety decision.
3. AI Should Amplify Human Expertise, Not Replace It
The best safety systems keep humans “in the loop.” AI can recommend and automate, but human judgment provides context, accountability, and ethical oversight. Sphera’s philosophy is clear: AI should amplify human expertise, not replace it.
By combining human insight with predictive intelligence, organizations can shift from reactive management to continuous improvement strengthening both operational resilience and safety culture.
The Path Forward
AI’s role in process safety is to turn data into decisions, visibility into foresight, and complexity into confidence. The organizations that will lead the next era of safety will:
- Deploy AI in fit-for-purpose applications that drive measurable outcomes.
- Build a foundation of trusted, contextual data.
- Keep human expertise at the center of every intelligent system.
Process safety is evolving from visibility to resilience. Those who unite technology, people, and purpose will define the next generation of safe, intelligent operations.
Download the 2025 Sphera Process Safety Report to explore the full findings and see how AI is reshaping the future of risk management.
