Wind power is a powerful tool for reducing carbon emissions that cause climate change. The turbines, however, can be a threat to birds and bats, which is why experts are looking for--and finding--ways to eliminate the danger. The US government has allocated $13.5 million to look for solutions. But, already a Boulder, Colorado company has produced a camera- and AI-based technology that can recognize eagles, hawks and other raptors as they approach in enough time to pause turbines in their flight path. Their tool, called IdentiFlight, can detect 5.62 times more bird flights than human observers alone, and with an accuracy rate of 94 percent.

All the sessions from Transform 2021 are available on-demand now. Duke Energy's AI journey began because the utility company had a business problem to solve, Duke Energy chief information officer Bonnie Titone told VentureBeat's head of AI content strategy Hari Sivaraman at the Transform 2021 virtual conference on Thursday. Duke Energy was facing some significant challenges, such as the growing issue of climate change and the need to transition to clean energy in order to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Duke Energy is considered an essential service, as it supplies 25 million people with electricity daily, and everything the utility company does revolves around a culture of safety and reliability. The variables together was a catalyst for exploring AI technologies, Titone said, because whatever the company chose to do, it had to support the clean energy transition, deliver value to customers, and find a way for employees to work and improve safety.

Where does your enterprise stand on the AI adoption curve? Take our AI survey to find out. Join manufacturing leaders at Transform 2021, the industry's premier AI digital event, hosted July 12-16. Transform gathers thought and action leaders from a range of manufacturing and industrial companies seeking to move into the future of work using AI for highly informative sessions, focused roundtables, and unbeatable networking opportunities. Register today to join manufacturing leaders at Transform 2021.

In Part 3 of our series on how utilities are using artificial intelligence, we look at how AI amplifies analytics for grid operations. Duke Energy saved some $130 million in avoided costs by using predictive data analytics to identify problems before they caused equipment failures. A utility in Brazil estimates savings in the range of $420,000 USD each month through better, analytics-based theft detection. Because, as an article published by Forbes notes, "Machine learning is a continuation of the concepts around predictive analytics, with one key difference: The AI system is able to make assumptions, test and learn autonomously." With these enhancements, data science will become more powerful than ever, and utilities stand to gain.

Commercial drones are pretty lazy. Think about it: They spend most of their time taking photos and videos, inspecting equipment and streaming the footage back to HQ, or performing automated mapping or scanning tasks with assorted sensors. When will these drones finally start pulling their weight? Right now, in Puerto Rico, it turns out. There, hundreds of thousands of American citizens continue to suffer through power outages, which began when Hurricane Maria battered the island with 155 mph wind gusts last fall.