AI takes charge of energy security as industry leaders rally for collaboration
At the “Safeguarding Energy Security with AI” panel, senior executives from across the energy and technology sectors discussed both the promise and challenges of leveraging AI in the ongoing transformation of global energy security.
Som Dutta, Group VP, and AI and Data Science at DP World, kicked off the panel with a frank assessment of what robust energy security means today: “The robustness of the logistics network, ensuring that the network is stable, resilient, and able to power energy movement seamlessly across the globe, is fundamental.”
Dutta emphasised the role of predictive AI: “From our perspective, it’s about ingesting all data around the energy supply chain, and building predictive and forecasting models that help us anticipate problems in advance, so we can make the supply chain really robust and resilient.”
Hema Prapoo, Worldwide Oil & Gas Industry Leader at Microsoft, stressed the evolving dimensions of energy security beyond traditional supply and price.
“Energy security now includes climate, geopolitics, and cyber security. We need affordable and reliable energy to power AI, but today it’s about algorithms, neutrons, and cyber defense working in concert to meet growing demand.”
She added, “At Microsoft, cyber security is at the heart of what we do. If you have to choose, choose security.”
Santiago Bañales, MD, and East-West Digital CEO, Iberdrola Innovation Middle East, highlighted AI’s real-world impacts: “You have a prime example in Dubai, where they’ve built an artificial intelligence control with us, and saved a lot of energy; the efficiency goes up 2%, the emissions go down by 3%.” However, Bañales cautioned, “We are at the beginning of a revolution, which is yet to fully arrive.”
Dietmar Siersdorfer, MD, Siemens Energy Middle East & Africa, brought the grid’s perspective: “We need several layers of security: supply, delivery, and demand-side security. The most important, maybe, is the resilience and security of the grid. AI just enables us to have stable operations, balancing supply and demand continuously.” He warned, “Grids globally were not built for the explosive demand growth from data centers and AI. Upgrading is ongoing, but AI will play a huge role in helping us recover and adapt faster.”
In conclusion, the panel made it clear that safeguarding energy security in the age of AI is not just a matter of adopting new technologies, but of building resilient, adaptable, and collaborative frameworks that span geographies and industries.
