<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3nVLiG_1GxrfbRK00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3nVLiG_1GxrfbRK00" width="1198" height="801" ></figure>The electricity demand from AI is surging and those working in the power sector are looking to that same technology for assistance. Last month, Connecticut officials petitioned the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) for a formal investigation into how public utilities such as electric, gas and water in the state are integrating the use of AI. The petition requires utilities to identify the AI systems they use, their objective and the level of human oversight and related procedures. The action was led by Attorney General William Tong and Consumer Counsel Claire Coleman. Other states, including New York, are also looking to mitigate safety risks associated with AI this year. Benefits to the power sector harnessing AI include data-driven predictions of possible failures, improved reliability against labor constraints and enhanced performance. Criticism largely stems from concerns over the lack of regulation and oversight. “Artificial intelligence adoption is rapidly outpacing our ability to understand and control for risk. It’s not a question of whether our utilities are using AI—we know they are,” said Attorney General Tong in a press release. “We need to know exactly where, why and how it is being deployed, and what safeguards are in place to ensure the security and stability of our critical energy systems and infrastructure.”The proposed scope of the state investigation includes artificial intelligence’s impact on storm response, customer systems, forecasting of energy demands, maintenance and asset management. Matteo Cameron, a junior studying electrical and computer engineering, uses AI in an academic setting to help understand complex code or ask for extra help when needed.“Whether it’s protecting your information or it’s calculating numbers or keeping numbers in the memory, or anything, AI does so much more than, say, what say maybe the basic public may understand,” said Cameron. “To understand how AI works, you have to work with it. So I feel even if they open up and say how they’re using AI, the only true people that understand it are the AI developers or the people in that field, I should say themselves.”Other relevant issues include energy affordability and the size and local influence of the two largest state utility monopolies, Eversource and Avangrid. Real-time monitoring of utilities is already being used to maximize efficiency and optimize timing of maintenance. While automation may be inevitable, questions remain over the necessary level of human oversight. “There should be human input, human error, because if the AI takes complete control of it, what’s to say that you can’t follow it?” said Gabriel Duru, a junior mechanical engineering major. “Take that human out and how do you know that it’s doing it’s right thing? How do you know that it’s keeping up with what it’s supposed to be doing and not going off to doing something else?”“Bill them more, bill them less, it could be as low just as billing, it could just be tracking how much energy is being used in that facility itself, could be alerts, could be the water system,” Duru said of how applications of AI might play out.</div></body>

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The electricity demand from AI is surging and those working in the power sector are looking to that same technology for assistance. Last month, Connecticut officials petitioned the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) for a formal investigation into how public utilities such as electric, gas and water in the state are integrating the use of AI.

Connecticut launches probe into how utilities use AI

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The electricity demand from AI is surging and those working in the power sector are looking to that same technology for assistance. Last month, Connecticut

Connecticut launches probe into how utilities use AI

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