Put AI to work on America’s electric bill
The point about regulation being the bottleneck is what I keep coming back to. Utilities are famously conservative about adopting new tech, partly because the rules reward them for building big assets, not for running smarter software. An AI that prevents a transformer failure or shifts demand by a few hours could save ratepayers real money, but if the incentive structure doesn't reward efficiency, it won't happen.
I'd want to know more about which specific rules need to change and whether state-level public utility commissions or federal agencies are the holdup. There's also the question of data privacy and cybersecurity—AI needs access to lots of grid data, and that carries risks.
Still, the general idea feels right. We're not going to build our way out of this alone, and the cheapest electricity is the electricity we don't waste. If software can trim even a few percent off peak demand, that's billions in avoided costs. The tricky part is getting the political will to let that happen.