New EEI Podcast: Microsoft on Building AI Infrastructure That Puts Communities First

Microsoft's Community-First AI Infrastructure

Launched earlier this year, Microsoft's Community-First AI Infrastructure initiative is built on five pillars: paying its own way to ensure data centers don't raise electricity prices, replenishing more water than it uses, creating local jobs, adding to the local tax base, and investing in AI skilling.

Grene explained that the initiative grew out of listening to the communities that host digital infrastructure. She said, "Communities understand and value the benefits that digital infrastructure delivers in their backyards… But they're also asking reasonable and important questions." Those conversations shaped the initiative's design. "It was that listening and those questions that really infused our approach to community-first AI infrastructure," she said.

She added that the benefits are deeply local, saying, "We've seen in communities that we've worked with over time that this has been used to fund hospitals, schools, parks, libraries."

Digital Solutions and a Smarter Grid

Describing why AI is such a valuable tool for the grid, Grene called the power system "the world's most amazing and complex engineering feat," adding that "it is a living, breathing machine."

She emphasized that AI helps operators see across an enormous system: "Nobody can look at data across the whole market at once. That's outside of human grasp, but that's where AI can be that translation layer and give humans insights much faster than alarms across four or five different systems can." She summed up the value simply, saying, "AI's superpower is helping us manage that complexity without compromising on reliability."

Keeping Humans at the Center

Grene was clear that AI is a tool to augment the workforce, not replace it, saying, "The human operator is who stays at the center."

Grene said the skill set matters more, not less, as AI takes on more of the analysis, noting, "Critical thinking, data literacy, cybersecurity, and judgment are more important than ever." She described where the real value lies, saying, "The value is the people in our workforce who know the system, who ask the right questions, and who apply their judgment using this very powerful tool to augment their capabilities."

Grene pointed to the industry's shared push to grow the energy workforce, saying, "We're coming together… with our partners and utilities to hire more trades and to grow the skilled workforce, because we need more."

Bringing Stakeholders Together

Grene closed by placing the moment in a longer historical context. She noted that each stakeholder "holds a piece of the vision" and that convening them is what earlier waves of infrastructure required: "This moment in AI is not the first by a long stretch… It's what it took to build railroads. It's what it takes to build airports."

The same lesson applies today, she said, "The more that we center those stakeholders in the conversation and ensure that the communities reap the upside of this tremendous investment, I think that's the real opportunity at our fingertips."

Read more excerpts from the interview or listen to the full episode at electricperspectives.com/podcast.

About Electric Perspectives
Electric Perspectives is a podcast from the Edison Electric Institute featuring conversations with policymakers and industry leaders on the most pressing issues facing the energy sector. Listen to more episodes at electricperspectives.com/podcast.