Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere in the news, and companies worldwide are rushing to capitalize on its opportunities. At the other end of the spectrum, utility companies are capital-intensive organizations with low-profitability, long-term returns and risk profiles. While constantly innovating, they provide a critical service to the economy and favor stability over disruption for obvious reasons. The introduction of a paradigm-changing technology like AI is thus orthogonal to their traditional approach to doing business. The core question for these companies is how AI will affect them and whether there are use cases that can be profitable while preserving operational safety and continuity. A thorough analysis of the annual reports of the ten largest listed utility companies worldwide and the ten largest U.S. utilities reveals some interesting insights.