Artificial intelligence is a trend that has been on innovation leader's radar for a long time. It is a technological enabler for a more sustainable future and will significantly increase business efficiency if used meaningfully. It affects our daily lives, and the way people and companies will work now and in the future. Insights into practical applications with various maturity degree will be presented from the perspective of a leading solution provider in the sheet metal industry. In times when there is a shortage of experienced operators, it is especially important to have a solution that enables machine operators to find the optimal machine settings and parameters to achieve the best performance and quality in shortest time. Artificial intelligence also supports the increase of the automatization degree of systems achieving a low-man production and ensures 24/7 production with assisting systems for monitoring the status of the laser cutting machines in operation and especially, during cutting. In addition to the monitoring, control procedures are presented to enhance the performance and quality demands of a laser cutting machine. A method for in-process quality control is presented prior to bending the sheet metals avoiding the processing of defect parts at an early stage.