Artificial Intelligence, real savings

Artificial intelligence has the ability to recognize complex or miniscule patterns in massive data sets that would be nearly impossible for humans to uncover. Such calculations would simply take too long to determine or have a number of variables whose values change so frequently that there is no realistic alternative to solve them.

Deepmind, Google’s self-described world leader in artificial intelligence research, is currently in negotiations with UK electricity and gas company National Grid in hopes of using such technology to reduce the country’s energy consumption by up to 10 percent. The selling point is the hope of saving money without any major changes to the electrical infrastructure.

Deepmind is being used currently in Google’s server rooms where it constantly calculates over a hundred factors in reducing energy consumption including fan speed, air conditioning and window placement. It is estimated that this technology could save Google hundreds of millions of dollars in electricity costs.

Most countries that use both renewables and fossil fuels employ the latter to create baseline power. Coal and gas plants must ramp up or decrease their energy output to meet fluctuations on demand. When these adjustments are necessary, it takes manpower and time, both of which are subsidized by the government.

If AI can predict when and how to utilize renewable energy resources or recognize patters and predict peak daily usage, the financial burden on the government may decrease and homeowner’s electricity cost might decrease.

Google’s AI branch recently made headlines when it was revealed that its AI had access to UK patient’s medical records and was being used by physicians to predict whether a person was susceptible to renal failure. It also made news when a Deepmind project was able to beat a human Go game player, a feat that was thought to be nearly impossible or at least 10 years away.

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