Deepmind to Run UK Power Grid?

DeepMind could be taking over management of the UK’s power grid according to the Daily Mail. The Mail reports that the UK’s National Grid:

Aims to improve efficiency, with the firm’s algorithm able to analyse everything from TV viewing patterns to the weather as it predicts peaks and troughs in energy demand…‘There’s huge potential for predictive machine-learning technology to help energy systems reduce their environmental impact,’ a DeepMind spokesman said. ‘One really interesting possibility is whether we could help the National Grid maximise the use of renewables through using machine learning to predict peaks and demand in supply.’

Although there doesn’t appear to be an agreement in place, the willingness of the DeepMind spokesman to talk about the proposed project suggests that discussions may be far along. DeepMind is a division of Google holding company Alphabet and is best known for beating the world’s best Go player in 2016. The company has focused much of its recent efforts on healthcare and energy utilization applications. The conversations with National Grid follow those recent patterns.