The initial solutions will focus on improving uptime and performance of energy assets and processes
The OAI framework is expected to enable the offering of interoperable solutions. (Credit: Shahadat Rahman on Unsplash)
Shell, C3 AI, Baker Hughes and Microsoft have announced the launch of the Open AI Energy Initiative (OAI) for the energy and process industries.
The initiative is aimed at providing a framework for energy operators, service providers, equipment providers, and independent software vendors for energy services.
The OAI framework is expected to enable the offering of interoperable solutions, including AI and physics-based models, monitoring, diagnostics, prescriptive actions, and services.
The solutions to be offered under the initiative will be powered by BHC3 AI Suite, developed by a joint venture of Baker Hughes with C3 AI, and Microsoft Azure.
C3 AI CEO Thomas Siebel said: “This initiative is about combining the efforts of global leaders to accelerate the digital transformation of the energy industry to new, safe, and secure energy and to ensure climate security.”
Under the initiative, the initial OAI solutions will be designed to improve uptime and performance of energy assets and processes.
Shell and Baker Hughes will introduce the first set of OAI solutions for reliability, which will act as extensions to the AI-based BHC3 Reliability application.
The initial OAI reliability solutions are expected to allow interoperability between BHC3 Reliability, OAI modules, and existing industry solutions.
To predict risks related to process and equipment performance in the energy industry, BHC3 Reliability application provides AI-enabled insights for reliability, process, and maintenance engineers.
The BHC3 Reliability application is designed to train AI reliability models that cover full plant operations.
The AI models are trained by leveraging the BHC3 AI Suite’s ability to integrate enterprise-scale data from disparate data sources, while utilising Microsoft’s scalable, enterprise-class cloud infrastructure Azure.
To speed up deployment of AI-based reliability solutions in the energy sector, BHC3 Applications will be enhanced by the new open AI initiative with partner-led, domain-specific solutions.
Baker Hughes regions, alliances and enterprise sales executive vice president Uwem Ukpong said: “Taking energy forward requires new approaches to technology that leverage collaboration, open data standards, and cutting-edge AI capabilities.
“Working alongside our alliance partners at C3 AI and together with industry leaders at Shell and Microsoft, the OAI will help address the persistent industry challenge of nonproductive downtime.
“This new ecosystem will leverage our strong existing BHC3 portfolio and is a promising step in the digital transformation of energy.”