3M announces AI-powered digital assistant tools

3M (MMM) announced two new digital products, namely Ask 3M, a new AI-powered digital assistant that helps customers find solutions to design challenges using 3M’s portfolio of adhesives and tapes, and an expanded 3M Digital Materials Hub, which enables direct collaboration with 3M scientists through the Workbench feature and powers virtual materials sampling for generative solutions that don’t yet exist. The company said that both tools leverage generative AI, advanced modeling, and simulation-ready data cards. “At 3M, we’re combining decades of material science with AI so engineers can make better decisions, faster,” said Holly Semerad, chief marketing officer for 3M’s Safety & Industrial Business Group. “Together, Ask 3M and the 3M Digital Materials Hub allow customers of varying scope and scale to move from design challenge to solution concept then digital selection and simulation in minutes. We can further accelerate the testing timeframe with small quantity purchase options for final and confident prototyping.” At launch, Ask 3M will be piloted to engineers solving bonding design challenges utilizing tapes and adhesives-largely within 3M’s Safety & Industrial Business Group. Leveraging Amazon Web Services’ (AMZN) AI capabilities, including Amazon Bedrock and AgentCore, Ask 3M and the 3M Digital Materials Hub demonstrate how agentic AI and advanced simulation can help 3M customers accelerate innovation cycles, reduce prototyping costs, and bring better products to market faster, 3M said.