Instead of having trained workers examine the glass bottles used for Japanese skincare brand SK-II’s products, an automated system powered by artificial intelligence (AI) may be handling the job in the coming years, its parent company Procter & Gamble (P&G) told The Straits Times in a recent interview.

This came out of a collaboration between the American consumer goods giant and Singapore’s Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC) – a unit under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research – in the new Jurong Innovation District, which is set to be a hub for advanced manufacturing in Singapore.

The use of AI is expected to triple the speed of inspections on the packing line.