Artificial intelligence is creating one of the energy industry’s greatest challenges—and potentially one of its most important opportunities.
As data center development accelerates across North America, electricity demand is rising at a pace not seen in decades. At the same time, utilities are managing increasing levels of distributed energy resources, electrification, and operational volatility.
In a recent article published by T&D World, OATI CEO Sasan Mokhtari explores this evolving relationship between AI and the power grid.
Sasan argues that while AI-driven load growth presents new challenges for utilities, energy-native AI may also help address many of the operational issues limiting grid performance today. As utilities work to coordinate distributed resources, manage increasingly dynamic power flows, and maintain reliability, traditional processes alone may no longer be sufficient.
Rather than viewing AI solely as a source of new demand, Sasan outlines how purpose-built, energy-native AI can help operators improve situational awareness, automate routine workflows, and support faster decision-making across increasingly complex grid environments.
The article also reinforces a broader industry conversation that OATI has been advancing through initiatives such as our ‘PowerNow’ initiative for the Department of Energy’s ‘SPARK’ funding opportunity: before utilities build entirely new systems, how can they maximize the performance of the infrastructure already in place?
As utilities confront accelerating load growth, reliability requirements, and affordability pressures, technologies that improve coordination, visibility, and operational efficiency will play an increasingly important role in helping the grid adapt.