Woodside Energy signs AI and quantum computing deal with IBM ZDNet

Woodside Energy announced on Tuesday it has signed a multi-year collaboration deal with IBM to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing to help it reduce operation costs and develop a "plant of the future" that can run itself. Speaking at IBM's Cloud Innovation Exchange in Sydney, Woodside Energy CEO Peter Coleman said he believes AI could help the company significantly reduce current plant maintenance costs -- an exercise that the business spends AU$1 billion on annually. "Because of the products we produce, our plants are covered in cladding and everything is insulated, so it's a huge cost for us to chase corrosion. Of course, AI will help in that. We really think AI will reduce that cost by 30%," he said.