Google just gave control over data center cooling to an AI

Google revealed today that it has given control of cooling several of its leviathan data centers to an AI algorithm. Over the past couple of years, Google has been testing an algorithm that learns how best to adjust cooling systems--fans, ventilation, and other equipment--in order to lower power consumption. This system previously made recommendations to data center managers, who would decide whether or not to implement them, leading to energy savings of around 40 percent in those cooling systems. Now, Google says, it has effectively handed control to the algorithm, which is managing cooling at several of its data centers all by itself. "It's the first time that an autonomous industrial control system will be deployed at this scale, to the best of our knowledge," says Mustafa Suleyman, head of applied AI at DeepMind, the London-based artificial-intelligence company Google acquired in 2014. The project demonstrates the potential for artificial intelligence to manage infrastructure--and shows how advanced AI systems can work in collaboration with humans.