British AI company DeepMind, which was acquired by Google in 2014, is in talks with the National Grid to improve the efficiency of the UK’s energy supply.

The pair are in early stage talks over the use of DeepMind’s algorithms to predict patterns and balance the national energy system.

“We are always excited to look at how the latest advances in technology can bring improvements in our performance, ensure we are making the best use of renewable energy, and help save money for bill payers,” said the National Grid.

“We are in the very early stages of looking at the potential of working with DeepMind and exploring what opportunities they could offer for us.”

Back in July, DeepMind announced that it had reduced the cooling bill in Google’s Data Centre by 40 per cent using machine learning.

“As weve said publicly for many months, theres huge potential for predictive machine learning technology to help energy systems reduce their environmental impact,” said a DeepMind spokesperson. “One really interesting possibility is whether we could help the National Grid maximise the use of renewables through using machine learning to predict peaks in demand and supply. While were excited about this idea, were at the very earliest stages of exploring a possible partnership.”