The energy industry has seen its share of disruptive technology in recent years. Now, artificial intelligence (A.I.) is about to disrupt it even more. The industry is welcoming the change.

According to a new study by IBM, Armonk, N.Y., a preponderance of energy and utility companies have opened the door to A.I.

In January 2024, the computer company announced the findings of its Global A.I. Adoption Index 2023. Among other things, the study found that 74% of energy and utility companies are “embracing” A.I.

The survey defines embraced as “having implemented or are exploring using A.I. in their operations.”

IBM observed that CEOs in the industry appear to place A.I. first in terms of expected value compared to all other forms of disruptive technology, and that they have “moved beyond experimentation.” The study found that 63% of energy CEOs expect to realize value from generative A.I. and automation.

Of the industry executives surveyed, 33% are focusing A.I. projects on human resources/talent acquisition and 27% are focused on A.I. monitoring and governance.

In the latter category, IBM suggests that there are several ways that energy companies can use A.I. to support compliance by automating and aligning the process to their business needs. These would apply to such complex processes as compliance obligation management; environmental, social and governance programs and sustainability; and tracking against key performance indicators.

The results show that the industry’s adoption of A.I. roughly mirrors the pattern for all other industries. The survey found that 82% of enterprise-scale companies have either actively deployed A.I. or are currently exploring or experimenting with the technology.

A.I. can be used to improve many different processes that span the entire spectrum of activities within a business. The list includes automation of IT processes, business analytics or intelligence, marketing and sales, supply chain intelligence and many others.