Artificial intelligence is now directly controlling cooling at Google data centers

In granted direct control over cooling these servers.

According to Google, this is the “first-of-its-kind cloud-based control system.” Every five minutes thousands of sensors throughout the data center issue and send readings to the cloud. Deep neural networks then work to “predict how different combinations of potential actions will affect future energy consumption.”

The AI system then identifies which actions will minimize the energy consumption while satisfying a robust set of safety constraints. Those actions are sent back to the data center, where the actions are verified by the local control system and then implemented.

This level of automation was something that human operators asked for to implement more granular actions at greater frequency and with fewer mistakes.