Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 22ND - 28TH NOVEMBER 2019 | 21 Operations & Assets Get your AI voyage to cruising altitude A s a technology, arti- cial intelligence is well and truly past its in ection point. An unprec- edented rate of invention and a mind-boggling array of technologies have put AI rmly on an accelerated upward trajectory. What hasn't reached in ection yet, at scale and on a consistent basis, is the enterprise adop- tion of AI. Not surprisingly the maturity of AI adoption is highly variable across industries and problem domains. Within the past few years energy and water utilities across the world have started to apply AI technologies selectively to improve customer experience and operational performance. AI is starting to be used to more e• ectively predict asset performance, improve asset productivity, forecast customer needs, improve safety performance and more. Even as utilities continue to experiment with more use cases the key question now is how to sustain and grow AI capability and AI-enabled outcomes. In other words, what will it take for a utility enterprise to successfully operationalise AI for contin- ued long-term bene t? As proof of concepts and initial projects help your AI journey to take o• and demonstrate the value of the technology, it is important to visualise how that " ight" will achieve and sustain cruising altitude. Wipro's view of a successfully scaled AI journey integrates six components. The main element is a business value map of AI projects aligned to targeted business outcomes and to continuously guide the jour- ney. This is your navigation chart to ensure your AI ight is always pointed in the right direction. There are also four engines in this aircra„ that need to operate in unison to power your journey forward: • The Data Engine, which through robust data management processes and operating models ensures reliability of enterprise data to enable the desired AI outcomes; • The Execution Engine, which drives co-ordina- tion and collaboration among business, technol- ogy and data teams and enables agility of project execution; • The Technology Engine, which guides investment in and e• ective leverage of the necessary and suˆ cient technology capabilities to power your AI programme; • The Adoption Engine, which drives the change management and embed- ding of AI solutions within your business processes to achieve real outcomes. To provide stability and li„ , the four engines need to be bolted on to a strong framework of sponsorship, governance and skills, which represent the wings of your AI ight. The wings are the sixth vital component of a scaled AI trajectory. When viewed this way, successful AI investments are really sustained long- haul journeys. Comment Sridhar Krishnan Senior Consulting Partner, Wipro Limited To some extent these challenges come down to the politics of deploying technolo- gies in a highly unionised work environment, which are o„ en associated with job losses. But this was not the focus of the debate. Algaard explained that AI could "abso- lutely" see a reduction in the number of peo- ple employed in the utilities sector over time since it might mean that retiring sta• do not need to be replaced. However, she empha- sised that at Northumbrian she has been clear "there is enough work for everyone, but only if you are willing to be agile. Only if you are willing to upskill and multi-skill". This opened the door for a period of animated consensus around the need to improve data literacy throughout the utili- ties workforce. Too o„ en, it was agreed, discussion of future industry skills centres on diˆ culties around recruiting data scien- tists. While this is challenging, panellists thought AI and big data analysis can only be accessed by organisations once the bar for data literacy is raised at every level and in every function. Conclusions In a wide-ranging debate of this nature, tan- gible conclusions are o„ en hard to identify. But it was clear as the session drew to a close that the full impact of AI for organisations that aspire to deploy it at scale is not yet fully appreciated and accounted for. The debate exposed little-talked-about issues like the rami cations of AI for tech- nology procurement policies, as well as challenges for the computing power of leg- acy systems as AI applications extend their reach. It also exposed uncertainty around the future of guiding principles and regula- tion for the use of AI. PwC's AI ethics expert, Maria Axente, focussed on these issues in her closing remarks, highlighting the deter- mination of the EU Commission to take strides on AI regulation in 2020 and warn- ing that utilities should not be fooled into thinking AI ethics is a matter only relevant to consumer-facing AI use cases. About the Technology and Innovation Council The Utility Week-Wipro Technology and Innovation council was launched in 2015 with the ambition of providing a regular forum for ideas sharing and inspiration for utilities professionals with responsibility for technology uptake and innova- tion. Since then, the council has become widely recognised in the industry, regu- larly bringing together leading innovators and technology experts from across the energy and water sectors. The guidance and insight of members has also led to the publication of a series of bespoke research reports, each uncovering valuable insights into the priorities and challenges faced by those attempting to create the utilities of tomorrow. Debate highlights • Insight into current and future applications of AI from utility leaders. • Insight into growing concerns around data ethics and human responses to the application of AI from tech community and governance specialists. • Examples of workforce training initiative targeted at providing "data literacy" to underpin exploitation of AI. • Consensus on the need to "integrate, integrate, integrate" data sets in order to gain AI benefi ts at scale. • Thoughts on the challenge the scale use of AI poses for legacy IT systems and future approaches to technology procurement. • A warning on EU Commis- sion determination to move quickly on AI regulation in 2020 and a recommenda- tion to review Finnish transmission operator Fingrid's pioneering code of ethics for AI applications.

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