The Frontier State of AI x Electric Grids

Guest: The principle of X consists of finding that intersectional streams. Is there a huge problem? Is there a radical solution to that problem? Is there a technological breakthrough that can make this move impossible?

Tushar: The ultimate goal of infrastructure is to become invisible. And then there is the cycle, as you mentioned, where we find ourselves now, where visibility is needed, is essential, is important to then offshore the next generation invisibility. So just working seamlessly in the background is I guess what a perfect utility would be, right? Is that still the right end goal for the grid? Should people actually be much more aware, engaged with the energy system?

Guest: The goal of uh, good user interface is to essentially have no user interface. It is so intuitive, it is so predictive, it is so naturally integrated, the user interface itself disappears.

Tushar: That's a great crash course on how innovation itself has these cycles of simplicity and complexity, right? Whether it's just a few wing lens, whether it's the function itself. I'm fascinating with how infrastructures evolve. And when we think about the Internet now, this protocol stack approach, right, where different layers could evolve independently, you see the electric grid evolving in a similar layered way. What infrastructure, as you mentioned, as ah, most of the viewers should know, mostly local Internet infrastructure is global, but electricity is somewhere in the middle. And I'm sure luxury is also sourced, as you can see us sources a little bit from Canada, uh, and so on and so forth. So it can be traffic, national, but it's not global. So how do you think about the right scale for managing and evolving the electric grid of the future?

Guest: Yeah, really interesting questions, Tushar. You need ways to exchange information. Now if you take that down one level below that, how does that happen? Let's look at the Internet. The Internet is designed for nothing but that, for exchange information and do that in real time. You and I are conversing over the Internet. We need a new digital grid architecture. Electrons are important, but bits are as important as electrons. In order for the grid to evolve and operate efficiently, we need ways of exchanging information very quickly, very efficiently, very seamlessly. So that we're taking inspiration from the Internet. That in turn rests on protocols and standards.