Schneider Electric is attempting to solve one of the paradoxes of modern technology: how to develop AI without increasing its carbon footprint. The French company is launching a new multi-year project to build an ecosystem native to AI, focused on energy management and sustainability. Digital agents – artificial intelligence systems that collaborate with experts in real time – will play a key role in it.
This project is not just another iteration of ESG support tools, but an attempt to integrate AI more deeply into companies’ operational processes. Digital ‘colleagues’ are to support decisions on energy consumption, decarbonisation or infrastructure optimisation, working in adaptive workflows. This is expected to not only streamline processes, but also reduce the cost of running them – both financially and environmentally.
Schneider Electric declares that the new solutions will be energy efficient by design: smaller AI models, optimised algorithms and less resource-intensive infrastructure. This is a clear contrast to the trend of developing ever larger language models that consume huge amounts of energy and water.
It’s worth noting that the company isn’t starting from scratch – it’s drawing on experience such as Resource Advisor Copilot and its collaboration with Nvidia on energy-efficient data centres. Also visible in the background is the acquisition of EcoAct and the building of a new software layer to combine AI with domain knowledge.
From the point of view of the IT market, this is an important signal: AI does not have to be a green problem. In the hands of companies such as Schneider Electric, it can become a tool for real energy transformation – provided that innovation goes hand in hand with responsibility.
