Demis Hassabis, co-founder of DeepMind, a subsidiary of Google, recently stated at an artificial intelligence conference in New York that Google is using technology from DeepMind to optimize energy consumption in data centers, thereby saving significant energy costs.

In recent months, Google has been utilizing DeepMind's artificial intelligence system to control certain parts of its data centers in order to optimize the energy consumption of servers and cooling equipment. Previously, DeepMind's technology was used to teach computers to play Atari games.

Hassabis said that this technology has reduced the energy consumption of Google data centers by several percentage points. From a cost perspective, this brings huge savings while also benefiting the environment

Google stated that such optimization resulted in a 15% increase in energy efficiency. The energy efficiency index compares the power consumption of computers and infrastructure such as refrigeration systems.

Google stated that the electricity consumption in 2014 was 4402836 megawatt hours, equivalent to the annual average electricity consumption of 366903 American households. A significant portion of these power consumption comes from data centers, which are the foundation of Google's network services and mobile applications.

Reducing power consumption by a few percentage points will bring significant financial benefits to Google. According to the US Energy Information Administration, electricity prices in the United States typically range from $25 to $40 per megawatt hour. Therefore, if data center energy consumption is reduced by 10%, Google can save hundreds of millions of dollars in a few years. Google acquired DeepMind for £ 400 million in 2014, which was equivalent to over $600 million at the time.

Google has previously applied machine learning technology in its data centers. In 2014, Google announced that it was using neural network systems to predict changes in energy consumption over time, in order to more effectively schedule devices.

DeepMind's work goes further on this basis. The company's software can adjust the operation mode of equipment in the data center and improve energy efficiency. Hassabis said, 'This controls about 120 variables in the data center, including fans, cooling systems, as well as windows and other devices

He also stated that this is just the beginning of the project. At present, DeepMind knows that this method is effective and is also beginning to understand what information its artificial intelligence system lacks. Therefore, DeepMind may request Google to deploy new sensors in its data centers to help software obtain more information.