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SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW TECHNOLOGY OUTLOOK—AI in Print Production: Navigating Fact & Fiction

The reality check for AI in print production begins with a journey through current tasks, processes, and data to understand the current state. The next step is to look for quick wins where applying AI tools can produce quantifiable results. The challenge is separating the promises from the facts.

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

(This article is excerpted from the Q1 WhatTheyThink Quarterly Journal.)

Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) technologies are heralded as revolutionary forces poised to transform every corner of modern business, including the print industry. The promise is bold: intelligent automation, flawless personalization, and creative capabilities that replace human effort. Headlines foretell a future where AI reduces costs, eliminates inefficiencies, optimizes labor costs, and opens new revenue streams.

Beyond the hype lies a more nuanced reality today—one where the true value of AI is in targeted applications that enhance, rather than replace, existing staff and workflows. In the print industry, the story isn’t about sweeping, overnight transformation but the steady march to optimize tasks like specification capture, estimating, job onboarding, prepress, maintenance, and customer engagement. The question for printers isn’t whether AI lives up to its lofty promises—it’s how to cut through the noise and implement solutions that deliver real, measurable benefits.


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About Pat McGrew and Ryan McAbee

Pat is a well-known evangelist for inkjet productivity. At McGrew Group, she uses her decades technical and marketing experience to lead the industry toward optimized business processes and production workflows. She has helped companies to define their five-year plans, audited workflow processes, and developed sales team interventions and education programs. Pat is the Co-Author of 8 industry books, editor of A Guide to the Electronic Document Body of Knowledge, and a regular contributor to Inkjet Insight and WhatTheyThink.com. Ryan McAbee is Chief Analyst at Pixel Dot Consulting LLC.

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