“AI is an extra tool. Our solutions still come from people”

In addition to its general use within the company, artificial intelligence also brings greater efficiency to the development process, according to Roth. He explains: “AI makes global knowledge more accessible, allowing us to search databases more quickly and bring our products to market faster.” However, there are also some limitations. In his experience, AI simplifies day-to-day tasks in the innovation process, but the technology doesn’t yet play a creative role.

Roth cites the dishwasher as an example: “Twenty years ago, every dishwasher had an upper and lower basket. If you’d asked AI what to do in future, it would have come up with various suggestions for upper and lower basket options. The software wouldn’t have come up with the idea of a cutlery drawer as we know it today,” says Roth with conviction. There’s a risk with AI that the mainstream will become even more entrenched in innovations: “Commonly used solutions appear even more frequently because an AI tool always focuses on what already exists. We should never blindly rely on AI suggestions, as that makes us neglect our own ability to think up solutions.”

V-ZUG invests a great deal of money and resources in new products and features. So protecting such innovations is also part of the company’s strategy. “We consistently protect our inventions with patents in order to gain a competitive advantage. Patent applications mainly cover user concepts and technical solutions,” says Roth. He adds that trade marks are also a valuable component of the protection strategy.

Despite the use of AI, the process of filing patents hasn’t changed significantly so far. “We’ve become faster at conducting patent searches. So we can assess more quickly whether we need an invention or whether we have the very solution that another company has already patented. We use appropriate tools,” says Roth. But he points out that the increased complexity of all modern appliances is likely to be more of a driving factor than the greater use of AI when it comes to registering new ideas.

Christian Roth always has the information from the company’s internal AI searches reviewed by a (patent) law firm. The patent attorney also carries out a thorough freedom-to-operate search to ensure that V-ZUG’s innovation doesn’t infringe the rights of third parties. According to Roth, the boundary between AI, machine learning and classical optimisation is blurred. “For example, certain kitchen appliances use processes that were found using AI-based optimisation. An AI service on our website helps clients look for appliances. Appliance errors are classified and assigned using AI, and so on.”

Nevertheless, V-Zug doesn’t print ‘AI inside’ or anything similar on the front panel of its appliances, as some of its competitors like to do. “It’s the function that counts for us – regardless of the underlying technology.”

V-ZUG makes targeted use of AI technology in household appliances and associated digital channels. “If we develop an AI feature, we don’t highlight it prominently on control panels or similar surfaces.” According to Roth, customers should experience the added value in their day-to-day use of V-ZUG’s devices or services and in the perfect result – if a pizza is really crispy or the laundry is really clean: “That’s what counts – not whether you can boast with an AI sticker.”

Roth explains that V-ZUG’s patent strategy is well aligned with the availability of AI systems. As a result, he doesn’t expect any ‘revolutionary changes’ in how it conducts searches, prepares applications and handles conflicts.

“At V-ZUG, we see AI systems as generally useful tools that can support us in our development process. It’s crucial for our innovation that we continue to understand our customers’ needs and match these with technically feasible solutions. We naturally aim to push the boundaries of technology in the process. That’s how we market ourselves.”

“Despite all the advantages of AI that I’ve mentioned, I also think it’s important that we take a critical look at this technology. The tools tend to be superficial, and you can easily find yourself in an illusory world. Our own thought processes sometimes suffer as a result. “That’s why I think we should use AI in a targeted way and not see it as a solution to all our problems,” says Roth.