Cognizant has announced the launch of a sovereign physical AI platform-as-a-service (PaaS), designed to help enterprises integrate autonomous systems into their core infrastructure.
The offering is built on the Cognizant Intelligence Spine and enables organisations to connect a wide range of physical systems, such as industrial sensors, factory automation, IoT devices, and energy infrastructure. This allows enterprises to create a unified network to scale physical AI operations across different sectors.
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Physical AI incorporates multimodal intelligence, including vision, positioning technology, sensing, and low-latency communication, into the operational layer of businesses. This allows enterprises to direct and monitor physical actions with increased oversight and control.
According to Cognizant, after a period in which digital transformation largely centred on software, the deployment of autonomous systems is expanding into sectors such as manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, agriculture, and mobility.
Recent findings from Cognizant’s New Work, New World 2026 study indicate a faster-than-expected increase in AI deployment within physical roles.
The report notes that AI exposure in transportation rose from 6% to 25%, and in construction from 4% to 12%.
According to the study, integrating AI directly into operational structures, rather than confining it to digital environments, offers new opportunities for the automation and enhancement of physical work.
Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S said: “Over the next few years, autonomous systems are expected to move from experiments to infrastructure. As an AI builder, our role is to help embed AI-powered digital intelligence into the physical and operating layers of a business, so enterprises can direct physical action with confidence.
“The enterprises we serve are at an inflection point, and we have built the cognitive foundation they need to move forward.”
Cognizant’s platform is being made available across eight sectors. These include utilities, oil and gas, manufacturing, logistics, transportation, aerospace and defence, healthcare and life sciences, and consumer, retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG).
The company highlights a range of use cases, including grid modernisation, autonomous inspection, predictive maintenance, and regulatory compliance.
Cognizant Physical AI global head Vijay Narayan said: “Engineering and AI capabilities are distributed across companies and industries, and the opportunity in front of us is pervasive. Bringing them together lets us give clients a coherent way to put AI to work where their operations actually run.
“The differentiator is not a single model or sensor. It is the discipline to connect what physical systems observe, reason about it, act on it and keep that intelligence owned and governed by the enterprise as an asset that compounds over time.”
The Cognizant Intelligence Spine is designed to address challenges in scaling physical AI by providing enterprises with a unified architecture that supports ownership, governance, and integration of both physical and agentic AI systems.
Last month, Cognizant said it was considering reducing its global workforce by 12,000 to 15,000 roles, with most of the potential job cuts anticipated in India.
