‘Digital divide’ as many miss out on budget-busting AI

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‘Digital divide’ as many miss out on budget-busting AI

Many Australians are still relying on spreadsheets when they could be using artificial intelligence-driven tools to save time and money.

The technology can also be used to lower power use at specific times of the day to reduce emissions, according to Schneider Electric sustainability expert Lisa Zembrodt.

“When it’s not very windy or it’s a cloudy day you might use AI to tell your facility, building or the air-conditioning in your house when to turn down just a little bit to help manage how much energy you’re consuming,” she told AAP.

By reducing power use at that moment it also takes the strain off the energy grid when the emissions intensity may be high.

“There’s value to the grid in that action and so consumers should be given the right signal and incentives to take the actions that the grid needs,” Ms Zembrodt said.

But a recent Schneider Electric survey found a worrying “digital divide” between businesses that are using AI and those who are lagging.

Two-thirds of the 500 respondents were still relying on spreadsheets for their data, Ms Zembrodt said.

The annual sustainability index found companies were struggling with complex change as well as cost pressures.

Critics say AI is also energy-intensive and needs fleets of data centres to back it up, which is eating electricity and putting more pressure on strained networks.

More than a third of 500 *********** businesses surveyed were using AI to help manage their decarbonisation.

Businesses are investing in digital tools to help understand, control, and reduce energy usage, the industrial technology company found.

But fewer respondents (down six percentage points) than a year ago viewed renewable energy as an economic edge, as delays in transmission and commissioning were constrain generation and create uncertainty for developers.

Market bodies are trying to unravel the delays and networks are making changes, Ms Zembrodt said.

Before adopting new technology, the vast South *********** power network, for example, faced significant obstacles in locating faults and preventing blackouts.

Australia was also “years behind” on mandatory climate reporting, with the lack of information making investors unsure when weighing up the risks of putting their money here or elsewhere, she said.

Less than one in five companies had a decarbonisation road map or strategy in place, and 40 per cent were not yet acting to decarbonise, the survey found.

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