AI is Powerful. Chemistry is Undefeated.
Find out from Andy Rafal, CEO of OLI Systems, why chemistry remains the ultimate source of truth in industrial operations, even as AI becomes increasingly embedded across the sector. The presentation explores how first-principles chemistry provides the scientific foundation needed to make AI, digital twins, and operational models reliable in complex operating environments.
Using examples from offshore pipelines, refinery operations, and flow assurance engineering, Rafal demonstrates how chemistry-based insight can reveal corrosion, scaling, hydrate formation, and produced water risks long before conventional data-driven models detect them. Rather than simply analysing historical behaviour, chemistry-based models help operators understand what is likely to happen next.
The session also examines the risks of relying on AI systems trained only on historical operating data. While experienced engineers develop an instinct for how chemical systems behave under changing conditions, AI models can continue making confident recommendations even when operating outside the limits of their assumptions.
Rafal further highlights how OLI’s first-principles chemistry engine, developed through decades of scientific research and industry collaboration, is helping organisations embed validated chemistry directly into digital twins and AI workflows to create systems that are more reliable, predictive, and trusted in critical operations.
