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‘Our chapters will work for any enterprise’: Honeywell’s AI chiefs share the strategies that helped the firm mature its AI efforts

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At technology and manufacturing company Honeywell, generative AI is everywhere.

“Every function and every strategic business unit is now using gen AI,” Sheila Jordan, the company’s chief digital technology officer, who oversees AI integration internally within the organization, told Fortune. “And the other thing I’m super proud of is that we have it available to all 100,000 employees,” 

The company built its own “Honeywell GPT,” which helps employees draft and edit emails, summarize technical documents, translate content, and brainstorm ideas. Employees also use Red, a virtual assistant that serves as a central resource for accessing company information around IT, finance, HR, and the firm’s policy library. Engineers are coding with AI, and the company is reimagining its varied products and services with new generative AI–powered offerings. Overall, the company has 24 generative AI initiatives in production and 12 more on the way, compared with 16 a year ago

As companies across different business sectors incorporate AI into their operations, an emerging set of best practices reveals a variety of approaches, from decentralized, experimentation-driven cultures to tightly choreographed strategies that can scale across an organization. Honeywell, which ranked at No. 17 in the Fortune AIQ 50 list of Fortune 500 companies with the most “mature” AI capabilities, is a case study in how to excel by taking the latter approach.

Jordan and CTO Suresh Venkatarayalu, who oversees AI product efforts, believe the company’s success in maturing its AI capabilities directly stems from its “six-chapter AI framework.” Along with the organization’s top-down approach to AI, adhering to the framework has allowed them to focus on efforts with immediate impact in order to kick off the flywheel effect. 

“What are the use cases? And can I measure and track them?” said Venkatarayalu, describing how the company zeroes in on impact. “In fact, tomorrow we have a meeting with Sheila and the CFO looking at the 2026 road map and to ask me the real question: ‘Could we track it to the P&L?’ And we should track it to the P&L. That’s the way it’s set up.”

The six-point strategy

In the fast-moving world of AI, it can be difficult to prioritize, stay on track, and resist trying to do everything at once. That’s why Honeywell’s leadership created a six-chapter framework in early 2024 to guide the organization’s AI efforts and keep it focused strictly on use cases it believes will truly move the needle.

“We could get distracted by the long, long, long tail and all the noise and all the things people might want to do, but we have a whole program to prioritize those things that are going to move the needle in business value, both on productivity and growth and innovation,” said Jordan, adding that the organization “would have been confused and lost” without the framework and clarity from her and Venkatarayalu about which generative AI capabilities were fit for implementation.

The first chapter of the framework is about the tools—such as Red and Honeywell GPT—designed to assist employees in their everyday workflows. Then there’s chapter two, focused on the use of generative AI for engineering. Chapter three is how the firm “thinks about cognitive automation,” Jordan said, specifically how it’s using different LLMs (large language models) from Azure, Google, AWS, and others for specific use cases. Next, chapter four is all about generative AI in the commercial applications they purchase and use, like Salesforce and other platforms. Chapter five centers on the company’s own products and services. And lastly, chapter six focuses on sales effectiveness.

“I think our chapters will work for any enterprise,” said Venkatarayalu. “It’s productivity, it’s growth, and it’s margins.”

Chasing the flywheel effect

Jordan said the fact that the technology can be applied to so many use cases is one of the biggest challenges to overcome, so it helps to start with ones that have the biggest immediate impact. That way, those early successes can drive the effort forward. 

For example, she said early work with GitHub and Copilot were the “first movers” and delivered the value they thought it would, which started the AI efforts off on a strong note.

“If it works, the flywheel takes off. If it doesn’t work, it dies its death, right? So I wanted the flywheel effect where we could do something and show the organization the value of gen AI,” she said. 

This means going in with a business case and value proposition in mind, but being open to value coming through in a different way than assumed, she said. 

“We could say [the value] was going to be productivity, but in reality, it was a sales effectiveness play. We got a higher conversion from something. So I would just say to stay super open to the business benefits, because they can morph based upon your customer and partner interactions,” Jordan added. 

The top-down approach

Another key element to keeping the organization on target and adhering to its AI framework is its top-down approach. 

Venkatarayalu pointed to how other companies start with a lot of proof of concepts, letting business units pursue their own strategies and democratizing the AI efforts. But not Honeywell, which he said is “predominantly top-down-driven” when it comes to AI.

“I think this company looks at use cases first, value second,” he said. “And once we believe—along with our CEO and chairman and the business unit leaders—[that a use case will deliver value], we drive that. I think that’s a very different [mindset] than many of my peers.”

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the number of Honeywell’s business units.



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National Park Service drops free admission on MLK Day and Juneteenth while adding Trump’s birthday

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The National Park Service will offer free admission to U.S. residents on President Donald Trump’s birthday next year — which also happens to be Flag Day — but is eliminating the benefit for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth.

The new list of free admission days for Americans is the latest example of the Trump administration downplaying America’s civil rights history while also promoting the president’s image, name and legacy.

Last year, the list of free days included Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth — which is June 19 — but not June 14, Trump’s birthday.

The new free-admission policy takes effect Jan. 1 and was one of several changes announced by the Park Service late last month, including higher admission fees for international visitors.

The other days of free park admission in 2026 are Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Constitution Day, Veterans Day, President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday (Oct. 27) and the anniversary of the creation of the Park Service (Aug. 25).

Eliminating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, which commemorates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved Americans were emancipated, removes two of the nation’s most prominent civil rights holidays.

Some civil rights leaders voiced opposition to the change after news about it began spreading over the weekend.

“The raw & rank racism here stinks to high heaven,” Harvard Kennedy School professor Cornell William Brooks, a former president of the NAACP, wrote on social media about the new policy.

Kristen Brengel, a spokesperson for the National Parks Conservation Association, said that while presidential administrations have tweaked the free days in the past, the elimination of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is particularly concerning. For one, the day has become a popular day of service for community groups that use the free day to perform volunteer projects at parks.

That will now be much more expensive, said Brengel, whose organization is a nonprofit that advocates for the park system.

“Not only does it recognize an American hero, it’s also a day when people go into parks to clean them up,” Brengel said. “Martin Luther King Jr. deserves a day of recognition … For some reason, Black history has repeatedly been targeted by this administration, and it shouldn’t be.”

Some Democratic lawmakers also weighed in to object to the new policy.

“The President didn’t just add his own birthday to the list, he removed both of these holidays that mark Black Americans’ struggle for civil rights and freedom,” said Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. “Our country deserves better.”

A spokesperson for the National Park Service did not immediately respond to questions on Saturday seeking information about the reasons behind the changes.

Since taking office, Trump has sought to eliminate programs seen as promoting diversity across the federal government, actions that have erased or downplayed America’s history of racism as well as the civil rights victories of Black Americans.

Self-promotion is an old habit of the president’s and one he has continued in his second term. He unsuccessfully put himself forwardfor the Nobel Peace Prize, renamed the U.S. Institute of Peace after himself, sought to put his name on the planned NFL stadium in the nation’s capital and had a new children’s savings program named after him.

Some Republican lawmakers have suggested putting his visage on Mount Rushmore and the $100 bill.



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JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says Europe has a ‘real problem’

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon called out slow bureaucracy in Europe in a warning that a “weak” continent poses a major economic risk to the US.

“Europe has a real problem,” Dimon said Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum. “They do some wonderful things on their safety nets. But they’ve driven business out, they’ve driven investment out, they’ve driven innovation out. It’s kind of coming back.”

While he praised some European leaders who he said were aware of the issues, he cautioned politics is “really hard.” 

Dimon, leader of the biggest US bank, has long said that the risk of a fragmented Europe is among the major challenges facing the world. In his letter to shareholders released earlier this year, he said that Europe has “some serious issues to fix.”

On Saturday, he praised the creation of the euro and Europe’s push for peace. But he warned that a reduction in military efforts and challenges trying to reach agreement within the European Union are threatening the continent.

“If they fragment, then you can say that America first will not be around anymore,” Dimon said. “It will hurt us more than anybody else because they are a major ally in every single way, including common values, which are really important.”

He said the US should help.

“We need a long-term strategy to help them become strong,” Dimon said. “A weak Europe is bad for us.”

The administration of President Donald Trump issued a new national security strategy that directed US interests toward the Western Hemisphere and protection of the homeland while dismissing Europe as a continent headed toward “civilizational erasure.”

Read More: Trump’s National Security Strategy Veers Inward in Telling Shift

JPMorgan has been ramping up its push to spur more investments in the national defense sector. In October, the bank announced that it would funnel $1.5 trillion into industries that bolster US economic security and resiliency over the next 10 years — as much as $500 billion more than what it would’ve provided anyway. 

Dimon said in the statement that it’s “painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing.”

Investment banker Jay Horine oversees the effort, which Dimon called “100% commercial.” It will focus on four areas: supply chain and advanced manufacturing; defense and aerospace; energy independence and resilience; and frontier and strategic technologies. 

The bank will also invest as much as $10 billion of its own capital to help certain companies expand, innovate or accelerate strategic manufacturing.

Separately on Saturday, Dimon praised Trump for finding ways to roll back bureaucracy in the government.

“There is no question that this administration is trying to bring an axe to some of the bureaucracy that held back America,” Dimon said. “That is a good thing and we can do it and still keep the world safe, for safe food and safe banks and all the stuff like that.”



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Hegseth likens strikes on alleged drug boats to post-9/11 war on terror

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended strikes on alleged drug cartel boats during remarks Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, saying President Donald Trump has the power to take military action “as he sees fit” to defend the nation.

Hegseth dismissed criticism of the strikes, which have killed more than 80 people and now face intense scrutiny over concerns that they violated international law. Saying the strikes are justified to protect Americans, Hegseth likened the fight to the war on terror following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

“If you’re working for a designated terrorist organization and you bring drugs to this country in a boat, we will find you and we will sink you. Let there be no doubt about it,” Hegseth said during his keynote address at the Reagan National Defense Forum. “President Trump can and will take decisive military action as he sees fit to defend our nation’s interests. Let no country on earth doubt that for a moment.”

The most recent strike brings the death toll of the campaign to at least 87 people. Lawmakers have sought more answers about the attacks and their legal justification, and whether U.S. forces were ordered to launch a follow-up strike following a September attack even after the Pentagon knew of survivors.

Though Hegseth compared the alleged drug smugglers to Al-Qaida terrorists, experts have noted significant differences between the two foes and the efforts to combat them.

Hegseth’s remarks came after the Trump administration released its new national security strategy, one that paints European allies as weak and aims to reassert America’s dominance in the Western Hemisphere.

During the speech, Hegseth also discussed the need to check China’s rise through strength instead of conflict. He repeated Trump’s vow to resume nuclear testing on an equal basis as China and Russia — a goal that has alarmed many nuclear arms experts. China and Russia haven’t conducted explosive tests in decades, though the Kremlin said it would follow the U.S. if Trump restarted tests.

The speech was delivered at the Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute in California, an event which brings together top national security experts from around the country. Hegseth used the visit to argue that Trump is Reagan’s “true and rightful heir” when it comes to muscular foreign policy.

By contrast, Hegseth criticized Republican leaders in the years since Reagan for supporting wars in the Middle East and democracy-building efforts that didn’t work. He also blasted those who have argued that climate change poses serious challenges to military readiness.

“The war department will not be distracted by democracy building, interventionism, undefined wars, regime change, climate change, woke moralizing and feckless nation building,” he said.



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