Nearly 90% of energy leaders increased AI spending over past year, study finds

About 89 per cent of energy leaders increased their spending on artificial intelligence in the past year, the third annual Powering Possible report by Adnoc, its international investment arm XRG and Microsoft said on Thursday. Surveying almost 400 senior executives in the energy and finance sectors, the study found that 63 per cent expect returns on existing investments to cover or exceed their costs, while 62 per cent now rank AI among their top two priorities, up from 42 per cent in 2025.

The share of organisations using integrated agentic AI workflows – systems that can make decisions with limited human supervision – more than doubled to 33 per cent from 15 per cent, while 60 per cent of energy industry respondents are piloting or using robotics in physical operations. Supply stability and reliability is now the most cited measure of AI's contribution at 39 per cent, up from 26 per cent in 2025, while data and prediction accuracy fell to 19 per cent and cost savings dropped to 13 per cent. "Investment is turning into real business value and resilience, reliability and adaptability now matter as much as efficiency," Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and managing director and group chief executive of Adnoc, wrote in the report.

At the same time, 74 per cent of those surveyed expect the technology to increase energy consumption by 2030, and 52 per cent are confident that existing infrastructure can meet AI-driven electricity demand, the same percentage recorded in 2025. Two thirds of respondents referred to grid modernisation and smart-grid technologies as the leading investment priority for supporting AI growth, followed by energy storage at 42 per cent.

To create the conditions for the technology to operate safely, reliably and at scale, industry leaders are converging on priorities for AI governance. Security and system reliability topped the list, followed by transparency and accountability of AI decisions, common technical standards and interoperability, and protecting national energy sovereignty. Microsoft vice chairman and president Brad Smith wrote in the study that "innovation and responsibility need to advance together, with people remaining at the centre of how AI is developed and used."

Sources: The National

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