Microsoft, Baker Hughes Announce Artificial Intelligence Partnership for Oil and Gas Industry
Now, Microsoft is partnering with energy industry tech company Baker Hughes and AI developer C3.ai to bring enterprise AI technology to the energy industry via its Azure cloud computing platform. The companies said their alliance would allow customers to streamline the adoption of AI designed to address issues like inventory, energy management, predictive maintenance and equipment reliability.
"For
the energy industry, this is a time of significant transformation and
forward-thinking companies are exploring how to leverage technology to make
their operations cleaner, safer and more efficient," said Judson Athoff,
EVP of Microsoft’s worldwide commercial business, in a press release.
For
example, Shell has already been using AI in drilling to boost productivity
while cutting costs, according to The Institution of Engineering and
Technology, a U.K.-based industry group. The company has also tested using AI
predictive analytics to predict when maintenance is needed on some equipment.
Jay
Crotts, Shell Group CIO, said Shell "supports the aim" of the AI
alliance.
"Baker
Hughes is one of our long-standing and valued partners in oilfield services and
software development, and we use the C3.ai platform on Microsoft Azure to
accelerate digital transformation across our business, helping to improve
overall operations," Crotts said. "The new technologies being
developed will be critical as we all need to work together to reduce the net
carbon footprint of the products and solutions that we put into society."
Thomas
M. Siebel, CEO of C3.ai, called the move toward AI for oil and gas "a
massive market shift."
"With
Microsoft's global reach and horizontal cloud platform, Baker Hughes'
technology domain expertise and C3.ai’s industrial AI capabilities,
organizations can rapidly improve core business operations and better serve
customers with AI-enabled products and services," Siebel said. "This
strategic alliance is a complete game-changer for the industry."
Of
course, AI is still a developing field, and it hasn't been without its growing
pains. Tech experts have accused the AI algorithm behind the Apple Card of
having a bias against women after some men reported receiving higher credit
limits than their wives. And experts have warned that advances in AI could lead
to 200,000 job cuts in the next decade.
But
Lorenzo Simonelli, chairman and CEO of Baker Hughes, said the AI alliance's
technology will help companies reduce risk and improve performance.
"The industry is adopting technologies that help manage the challenges and opportunities associated with the energy transition," Simonelli said.