If you’re attending the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show this week, you can experience a major leap forward for the Next Yacht Group. The AB 110 yacht premiering at the show is the first to show how AI is transforming the yachting experience for its megayacht clients.
The parent company of AB Yachts and Maiora, Next Yacht Group has been researching ways to improve owners’ and crew’s days onboard. It created a platform, Next AI-Integrated System, with specialists in artificial intelligence and yachting systems. Specifically, Next AI-Integrated System comes from collaborating with AI Technologies and YES Group. AI Technologies designs and implements AI- and machine-learning-based enterprise solutions and virtual assistants. YES Group, meanwhile, designs and installs AV, IT, and communications systems aboard yachts.
Here’s how the platform works. First, Next AI-Integrated System is installed directly aboard the AB 110 yacht. (Starting next year, it will be available to every AB Yachts and Maiora megayacht buyer.) This serves two purposes. Importantly, it protects the owners’ privacy. None of the data therefore goes into the cloud, the way that some other AI systems operate. Clients have the option for 5G/WAN connectivity, however, for remote read-only access. Secondly, being able to operate without some type of internet connection ensures continuous, quick responses.
The way that this AI is transforming the yachting experience ultimately comes down to acting as an independent digital brain. Every yacht and superyacht, regardless of the shipyard and designer, has a wide variety of systems aboard. Multiple systems handle navigation, for instance, each running on its own software. Multiple entertainment-oriented components are aboard, too, each with its own software yet still “communicating” throughout the decks via common interfaces. Then add in security systems and monitoring-related systems, and it gets more complicated and fragmented. Simultaneously, some of these items require reliance on cloud-based systems, which can open the door to hacking concerns. As a localized digital brain, Next AI-Integrated Systems coordinates all information and functions. This includes everything from fuel consumption and fuel levels, for example, to alarms, maintenance schedules, lighting, and climate control.
At the Fort Lauderdale show, the Next Yacht Group staff can demonstrate its capabilities. This includes showing how it includes a virtual assistant operating in text-based chat. The virtual assistant integrates with the proprietary My AB and My Maiora apps for managing the AI system overall.
“For the owner, luxury means simplicity and control,” notes Giorgio Mattei, Next Yacht Group’s deputy chairman. “We’re offering an assistant that works anytime, anywhere—even in the middle of the ocean, without internet—safely, continuously, and reliably.” Mattei further emphasizes, “It’s an artificial intelligence that belongs to the yacht and its family, not to the cloud.”
Since this is the first rollout of the system, Next Yacht Group will add features in the coming months. Always-on voice activation with a dedicated word to wake up the system is just one of them. So is predictive maintenance—meaning the system can alert your crew to a need before an issue occurs.
Next Yacht Group nextyachtgroup.com