Verified
Southern Company
Experimenting- Electric and gas utility
- ~29,800 employees
- Databricks data and AI platform
- Copilot at Southern Nuclear
- No AI return published
Southern Company deploys AI mainly in operations: vendor tools such as Blue Wave AI Labs' fuel forecasting at Southern Nuclear and Urbint's damage prediction at Southern Company Gas, a data and AI platform standardized on Databricks, and Microsoft Copilot agents with more than 850 active users at Southern Nuclear by Dec 2025. Employees may use only company-approved AI tools. CITO Hans Brown leads technology strategy, Chief Legal Officer Sterling Spainhour takes on the Technology Organization on Jan 1, 2027, and Southern Company publishes no AI spend or return.
southerncompany.comTheir approach to AI
- The platform
- Southern Company standardized its cloud data and AI platform on Databricks (Feb 2026), has an AI Technology Center of Excellence, and lets employees use only company-approved AI tools, with an executive steering committee reviewing AI use cases (Apr 2026 proxy).
- The models
- Southern Company has not named the large language models behind its approved tools; Southern Nuclear builds its agents on Microsoft Copilot, and operational AI comes from specialist vendors such as Blue Wave AI Labs, Urbint, Skydio and Exodigo.
- The reach
- Southern Company publishes no systemwide count of AI users; Southern Nuclear reported more than 850 active Copilot users in Dec 2025, against a system workforce of about 29,800.
- The catch
- Southern Company reports no AI spend and no return credited to AI, and its Technology Organization moves under Chief Legal Officer Sterling Spainhour on Jan 1, 2027, 17 months after Hans Brown became CITO.
Snapshot
- Employees
- ~29,800
- Dec 31, 2025 (2025 Form 10-K)
- Technology budget
- Not disclosed
- Technology infrastructure and application costs rose $57M in the electricity business's 2025 operating expenses
- AI/ML headcount
- Not disclosed
- More than 2,000 technology professionals in Oct 2024, under then CIO Martin Davis
- Who owns AI
- Hans Brown, EVP and CITO
- Since Jul 31, 2025; the Technology Organization moves under CLO Sterling Spainhour on Jan 1, 2027
- Platform
- Databricks data and AI platform
- Standardized on Databricks (Feb 2026); the Code of Ethics allows only company-approved AI tools
- Models
- Microsoft Copilot at Southern Nuclear
- Other LLMs not disclosed; operational AI from Blue Wave AI Labs, Urbint, Skydio and Exodigo
- Reach
- 850+ Copilot users at Southern Nuclear
- Active users in Dec 2025; no systemwide count published
- Use cases
- Operations first
- Nuclear fuel forecasting, Copilot agents, gas damage prevention, grid reliability, smart meter analytics, storm response
Key findings
Southern Company adopted an AI Acceptable Use Policy in 2024, and its refreshed Code of Ethics, cited in the Apr 2026 proxy, lets employees use only company-approved AI tools and bars uploading internal, confidential or personal information into public AI tools; an executive steering committee reviews AI use cases and drives adoption.
Southern Company named Hans Brown, a former BNY technology executive, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Technology Officer on Jul 21, 2025 to lead technology strategy and digital transformation, and on Oct 30, 2026 said Chief Legal Officer Sterling Spainhour will take on the Technology Organization from Jan 1, 2027 to align technology and AI strategy and governance.
Southern Nuclear reported more than 850 active Microsoft Copilot users and a growing set of custom-built agents in Dec 2025, developed by an AI Working Group with the Southern Company AI Center of Excellence, and Microsoft said in Mar 2026 that Southern Nuclear had deployed Copilot agents across its fleet, including engineering and licensing.
Southern Company has standardized its cloud data and AI platform on Databricks, according to a Feb 2026 Databricks post co-written by Southern Company's director of AMI and MDM systems and its data analytics manager, and uses data from more than 4.6 million smart meters to find faulty meters and tampering, detect home EV charging and forecast transformer overloads.
Southern Company publishes no AI budget and no return credited to AI; its Apr 2026 proxy lists deploying AI technology in a wide range of operational processes among the CEO's 2025 performance highlights without a figure, while AI shows up in its finances mainly as demand, with about 16 GW of large-load contracts at Jun 30, 2026.
Where Southern sits
- Stage
- Experimenting
Southern Company has reported no business return it credits to AI, for any use case or for the company as a whole: its Apr 2026 proxy lists deploying AI technology in a wide range of operational processes among the CEO's 2025 highlights without a figure, and it says ThermalLimits.ai helps lower fuel costs at Southern Nuclear without giving an amount. Southern Company has not reported a company-wide AI rollout with a user count either: the only count is the more than 850 active Microsoft Copilot users reported in Dec 2025 by Southern Nuclear, a subsidiary with about 3,700 of the system's 29,800 employees, and the same proxy says an executive steering committee drives broad adoption of AI tools across the enterprise without saying how many employees use them. Southern Company therefore stays at Experimenting, although AI runs in production in nuclear fuel forecasting, gas damage prevention and smart meter analytics; one return it credits to AI, or a systemwide count of employees using its AI tools under a named owner, would move it to Piloting, and that ownership changes when the Technology Organization moves under Chief Legal Officer Sterling Spainhour on Jan 1, 2027.
How the stages are defined - Ownership
- EVP and CITO Hans Brown; Technology Organization moves under CLO Sterling Spainhour on Jan 1, 2027
- Platform
- Hybrid: Databricks data and AI platform; Copilot agents at Southern Nuclear; vendor AI in operations
- Models
- Microsoft Copilot at Southern Nuclear; vendor models such as ThermalLimits.ai; other LLMs not disclosed
- Hosting
- Microsoft's Copilot service at Southern Nuclear; Databricks on an unnamed cloud; no data center named; public AI tools barred for company data
- Reach
- 850+ active Copilot users at Southern Nuclear (Dec 2025); no systemwide count
How they deploy
Govern first, approve the tools centrally
Southern Company set its employee AI rules early: the board's Business Security and Resiliency Committee was overseeing management's use of AI by Apr 2024, an AI Acceptable Use Policy followed in 2024, and the refreshed Code of Ethics allows only company-approved AI tools. Southern Company's Apr 2026 proxy says management set up an executive steering committee, with the board's input, that reviews internal AI use cases and drives broad adoption of AI tools across the enterprise.
Buy specialist AI for operations
Southern Company's named AI deployments are vendor or co-developed tools aimed at operating problems: Blue Wave AI Labs' ThermalLimits.ai at Southern Nuclear, Urbint's risk models at Southern Company Gas and Georgia Power, Skydio's AI-guided drones, Exodigo's sensor and AI mapping, and the RAMP reliability platform that Alabama Power built with E Source. Southern Company described Urbint in Jun 2023 as one of the emerging companies its subsidiaries work with through its investment in Energy Impact Partners, a utility-backed venture fund.
A shared data platform and employee-built agents
Southern Company has moved its smart meter and grid data off on-premises systems onto a cloud data and AI platform standardized on Databricks, with Unity Catalog for governance and streaming pipelines for meter, SCADA and IoT data, according to a Feb 2026 Databricks post co-written by Southern Company's director of AMI and MDM systems and its data analytics manager. Southern Nuclear's employees build their own Microsoft Copilot agents through an AI Working Group that works with the Southern Company AI Center of Excellence (Dec 2025), and CDO Magazine's 2026 list of Atlanta data and AI leaders names Kelly Moncrief as Southern Company's Head, AI Technology Center of Excellence.
Technology moves under the legal chief
Southern Company hired Hans Brown from BNY as Chief Information Technology Officer in Jul 2025 to lead technology strategy and digital transformation, and said Brown would play a vital role as it works to embrace data and analytics and AI. Chris Womack announced on Oct 30, 2026 that Chief Legal Officer Sterling Spainhour will add the Technology Organization from Jan 1, 2027 to align technology and AI strategy, governance and management of emerging technologies, while Chief Human Resources Officer Sloane Drake takes on systemwide training as technology changes how work gets done. The announcement does not mention Hans Brown.
AI as a customer
Southern Company's 2025 Form 10-K says most of the new electricity demand its utilities project comes from data centers serving the digital economy and supporting AI. Southern Company joined the federal Ratepayer Protection Pledge in Jul 2026, and Georgia Power agreed to serve OpenAI's planned 3,200 MW Effingham County facility, with OpenAI paying for the infrastructure and offering up to 1,000 MW of flexible demand response.
Industry research and collaboration
Southern Company is listed as a member of EPRI's Open Power AI Consortium and presented at its Jul 15, 2026 meeting, inviting members to the 2026 Southern Company Technical Conference in Birmingham on Aug 17 to 21, whose instrumentation and controls track was themed on emerging technology, AI and automation. Southern Company's research and development roadmap includes an AI and robotics area (2024 Sustainability Summary).
- Deployment model
- Southern Company runs technology as a shared service and applies AI inside the operating companies. Southern Company Services, the system service company, furnishes information technology and other services to the utilities at cost, and Chief Information Technology Officer Hans Brown leads technology strategy and digital transformation. A Southern Company AI Center of Excellence works with operating-company teams such as Southern Nuclear's AI Working Group, which builds Microsoft Copilot agents (Dec 2025), and smart meter analytics run on a Databricks data and AI platform (Feb 2026). Other AI projects run in the subsidiaries with vendors: Southern Nuclear with Blue Wave AI Labs, Southern Company Gas with Urbint and Exodigo, Alabama Power's Power Delivery organization with E Source, and the aerial services group, which reports to Chief Legal Officer Sterling Spainhour, with Skydio. An executive steering committee reviews internal AI use cases, and the board's Business Security and Resiliency Committee oversees management's use of AI (Apr 2026 proxy). From Jan 1, 2027 the Technology Organization sits under Chief Legal Officer Sterling Spainhour.
- Model providers
- Southern Company has not disclosed which large language models sit behind its company-approved AI tools, apart from Microsoft Copilot, on which Southern Nuclear builds its agents (Dec 2025 and Mar 2026). Databricks provides the cloud data and AI platform for smart meter analytics (Feb 2026). Southern Company's other named AI suppliers are specialists: Blue Wave AI Labs, whose ThermalLimits.ai uses physics-informed machine learning and deep neural networks trained on fuel cycle data and plant instrumentation; Urbint, whose models score excavation and worker-safety risk; Skydio, whose AI guides inspection drones; Exodigo, which combines sensors and AI to map underground utilities; and Sense, whose home monitors Georgia Power piloted to detect grid anomalies.
- Data and infrastructure
- Southern Company standardized its cloud data and AI platform on Databricks, moving smart meter data off on-premises systems, with Unity Catalog for governance and lineage and streaming pipelines for AMI, SCADA and IoT data (Feb 2026); the Databricks post does not name the cloud provider underneath, and Southern Company has not said which data centers host its AI models. Southern Nuclear's agents are built on Microsoft Copilot. RAMP, the Reliability Analytics and Monitoring Platform that Alabama Power developed with E Source, is a cloud-based application that combines grid data, customer experience data and equipment failure records (Jul 2025), and Southern Company was rolling it out across the system in 2025. Alabama Power and E Source also built an enterprise graph database that links grid assets, outages and their causes in one place; Alabama Power's data analytics manager said in Aug 2024 that it would let the team build machine learning and AI projects faster, and the project won the Department of Energy's Digitizing Utilities Prize in Feb 2025. Southern Company's Code of Ethics bars employees from uploading company internal, confidential, proprietary or personal information into public AI tools.
Platforms and internal tools
Company-approved AI toolsBy Apr 2026
Southern Company's Code of Ethics tells employees to use only company-approved AI tools, never to put company internal, confidential, proprietary or personal information into public AI tools, and to review and validate any AI output. Southern Company has not named the tools systemwide; Southern Nuclear builds agents on Microsoft Copilot (Dec 2025), and an executive steering committee reviews AI use cases and drives broad adoption (Apr 2026 proxy).
- Users
- Not disclosed
Databricks data and AI platformBy Feb 2026
Southern Company standardized its cloud data and AI platform on Databricks, with Unity Catalog providing governance, lineage and discoverability and streaming pipelines ingesting smart meter, SCADA and IoT data; a central environment brings data from more than 4.6 million smart meters together with other datasets for analytics and predictive models.
Southern Nuclear Copilot agentsJun 2025
Southern Nuclear employees build Microsoft Copilot agents for maintenance, safety and performance work: the Fleet Operating Experience agent, first deployed in Jun 2025, finds internal operating experience for issue response teams, the Safety Advisor agent surfaces safety procedures and OSHA guidance, and the OR/PI agent helps write improvement plans. Microsoft said in Mar 2026 that the agents run across the fleet, including engineering and licensing.
- Users
- 850+ active Copilot users (Dec 2025)
- Models
- Microsoft Copilot
RAMP (Reliability Analytics and Monitoring Platform)By Jul 2025
RAMP is a cloud-based application that Alabama Power's Power Delivery organization developed with E Source to combine reported reliability values, customer experience data and device failure records, find the root causes of reliability problems and guide planning. RAMP won the Southeastern Electric Exchange Chairman's Award in 2025, and Southern Company's 2025 year in review calls it an AI analytics platform being rolled out across the system.
ThermalLimits.ai at Southern NuclearBy Sep 2025
ThermalLimits.ai, from Blue Wave AI Labs, forecasts online thermal limits for boiling water reactors with physics-informed machine learning and deep neural networks, which Southern Company's Apr 2026 proxy says enables optimized fuel designs and helps lower fuel costs. Southern Nuclear, Blue Wave AI Labs and Constellation won the IAEA's 2025 Global ISOP Innovation Award for AI for deploying it.
- Models
- Blue Wave AI Labs' Nuclear-Grade AI models
Southern Nuclear AI Workforce Enablement ProgramBy Sep 2026
Southern Nuclear's AI Workforce Enablement Program introduces AI to nuclear employees with tools and guardrails meant to help them work more efficiently while keeping nuclear industry standards, and won an NEI Top Innovative Practice award in Sep 2026.
Urbint damage preventionBy Apr 2022
Urbint's software scores daily excavation requests with AI to predict which digs are most likely to damage gas lines, so asset protection teams can focus where damage is likely. Southern Company Gas developed the solution with Urbint, first deployed it at Nicor Gas and later expanded it across the enterprise (Jun 2023).
Enterprise graph database2024 to 2025
Alabama Power and E Source built an enterprise graph database that links poles, wires, transformers, meters and outage history so the utility can trace outages and predict future ones; the project won $275,000 in the Department of Energy's Digitizing Utilities Prize (Feb 2025).
Vendors and partners
MicrosoftBy Jun 2025
Copilot, on which Southern Nuclear builds its AI agents · Microsoft named Southern Nuclear in Mar 2026 among early adopters of AI for nuclear, with Copilot agents deployed across its fleet, including engineering and licensing.
DatabricksBy Feb 2026
Cloud data and AI platform for smart meter and grid data · Databricks published a Feb 2026 post co-written with Southern Company's director of AMI and MDM systems and its data analytics manager.
Blue Wave AI LabsBy 2025
ThermalLimits.ai thermal-limit forecasting at Southern Nuclear · Blue Wave AI Labs, Constellation and Southern Nuclear shared the IAEA's 2025 Global ISOP Innovation Award for AI (Sep 2025).
Constellation
Co-recipient of the 2025 ISOP award; partner on fuel performance monitoring · Southern Nuclear's fuel performance monitoring work with Constellation won an NEI Top Innovative Practice award in Sep 2026.
Urbint2022
AI risk models for excavation damage prevention and worker safety · Virginia Natural Gas adopted Urbint in Apr 2022; Georgia Power and Urbint won EEI's 2024 Thomas F. Farrell, II Safety Leadership and Innovation Award for an AI-powered hazard recognition and reporting tool (Apr 2025 proxy).
E Source
Co-developer of RAMP and Alabama Power's enterprise graph database · E Source and Alabama Power won the Department of Energy's Digitizing Utilities Prize in Feb 2025.
Skydio2023
AI-guided drones and docks for remote, autonomous inspections · The FAA granted Southern Company a waiver in Jun 2023 for dock-based, beyond visual line of sight drone operations with Skydio X2 drones and Skydio Dock.
Exodigo2025
Sensor and AI mapping of underground utilities · Southern Company Gas completed a pilot with Exodigo in the Atlanta metro area (Aug 2025).
Energy Impact Partners
Utility-backed venture fund; channel to new technology companies · Southern Company is a founding investor in Energy Impact Partners, managed by the new ventures group under Chris Cummiskey.
EPRI Open Power AI Consortium
Industry AI research consortium · Southern Company is listed among members on the consortium's site (checked Nov 2026) and presented at its Jul 15, 2026 meeting.
Leadership
AI, data and platform leaders
Executives
Board
AI org map
Shared technology service with AI applied inside each operating company; board committee oversight
Southern Company runs information technology through Southern Company Services and a Technology Organization, with Chief Information Technology Officer Hans Brown leading technology strategy, while AI projects sit with an AI Center of Excellence and in the operating companies, among them Southern Nuclear, Alabama Power, Georgia Power and Southern Company Gas. An executive steering committee reviews AI use cases, and the board's Business Security and Resiliency Committee oversees management's use of AI. Under changes Chris Womack announced on Oct 30, 2026, the Technology Organization moves under Chief Legal Officer Sterling Spainhour and the generation fleet, nuclear included, moves under Kim Greene as president of Southern Company Operations on Jan 1, 2027.
Southern Company has not published how many data scientists or AI engineers it employs; its technology organization had more than 2,000 professionals in Oct 2024, when CIO Martin Davis announced his retirement. Southern Company Services, which furnishes information technology among other services to the utilities, had about 4,800 of the system's 29,800 employees at Dec 31, 2025. Named AI work sits with a Southern Company AI Center of Excellence and with operating teams: Southern Nuclear's AI Working Group, which draws members from all major functions and sites, Alabama Power's Power Delivery data analytics team, the AMI data analytics team, and Southern Company Gas's data governance and system integrity groups.
Reporting lines
Chairman, President and CEO
Chief Legal Officer
Adds the Technology Organization on Jan 1, 2027; management liaison to the board committee that oversees AI
Technology Organization
Hans Brown, EVP and CITO
Line effective Jan 1, 2027 under the Oct 30, 2026 announcement, which does not name Brown; the line before then is not published
AI executive steering committee
Leaders from strategically relevant functions; reviews internal AI use cases and drives adoption (Apr 2026 proxy); members and reporting line not published
Southern Company Operations
Stan Connally, COO; Kim Greene from Jan 1, 2027
Generation, system planning, transmission, research and development and shared services
Southern Nuclear
Pete Sena
Line effective Jan 1, 2027, when the generation fleet including nuclear moves under Kim Greene
Southern Nuclear AI Working Group
Members from all major functions and sites; builds Copilot agents with the Southern Company AI Center of Excellence (Dec 2025)
Southern Company Services
Chris Cummiskey
System service company that furnishes information technology and other services at cost; also runs supply chain management and the Energy Impact Partners investment
Alabama Power
Jeff Peoples
Power Delivery built RAMP with E Source
Georgia Power
Kim Greene; Stan Connally from Jan 1, 2027
Southern Company Gas
Runs Urbint damage prevention across its gas utilities; has its own chief data officer
Mississippi Power
Pedro Cherry
Took part in the Hurricane Isaias response that used storm intelligence including AI (Oct 2026)
AI Technology Center of Excellence
Kelly Moncrief
Kelly Moncrief listed as head by CDO Magazine (2026); Southern Nuclear's AI Working Group works with a Southern Company AI Center of Excellence (Dec 2025); reporting line not published
Southern Company's leadership page, checked Nov 1, 2026, lists the Management Council and does not include Hans Brown, and the Hans Brown appointment release of Jul 21, 2025 does not say whom he reports to. The Oct 30, 2026 announcement moves the Technology Organization under Sterling Spainhour without naming Brown, so who leads the Technology Organization day to day from Jan 2027 is not published.
Where the AI workforce sits
Technology Organization and Southern Company Services
Southern Company has not published how many technologists, data scientists or AI engineers it employs.
Not disclosedOperating company teams that apply AI: nuclear, power delivery, gas operations, supply chain
Southern Company describes these teams as users of vendor and co-developed AI tools; no AI headcount is given.
Not disclosed
Named people
Use cases
Southern Company has described a small set of AI use cases in public, nearly all in operations: thermal-limit forecasting and Microsoft Copilot agents at Southern Nuclear, excavation-damage prediction at Southern Company Gas, the RAMP reliability platform, smart meter analytics on Databricks, storm forecasting, supplier risk monitoring and employee AI tools under company rules, plus pilots in worker safety, grid sensing, drones and underground mapping. Southern Company has published no business return for any of them; its only firm-level statement is the Apr 2026 proxy line that it deployed AI technology and data analytics in a wide range of operational processes in 2025 to improve the effectiveness and reliability of its system.
| Use case | Area | Status | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copilot agents for maintenance, safety and licensing Southern Nuclear employees build Microsoft Copilot agents that put operating experience, safety procedures and performance data in front of planners, technicians and engineers; the Fleet Operating Experience agent was first deployed in Jun 2025, and Microsoft said in Mar 2026 that the agents run across the fleet, including engineering and licensing. | Southern Nuclear | In production | |
| Thermal-limit forecasting with ThermalLimits.ai Southern Nuclear uses Blue Wave AI Labs' ThermalLimits.ai to forecast online thermal limits in boiling water reactors, which Southern Company says enables optimized fuel designs; Blue Wave reports prediction bias cut by up to 75% against traditional methods. | Southern Nuclear | In production | |
| AI Workforce Enablement Program Southern Nuclear built tools and guardrails so nuclear employees can use AI responsibly to work more efficiently, a program that won an NEI Top Innovative Practice award in Sep 2026. | Southern Nuclear | In production | |
| Excavation damage prevention Urbint's AI scores excavation requests each day so Southern Company Gas teams can focus on the digs most likely to damage gas lines; the tool was first deployed at Nicor Gas, used at Virginia Natural Gas from Apr 2022 and later expanded across the enterprise. | Southern Company Gas | In production | |
| Underground utility mapping Southern Company Gas piloted Exodigo's sensors and AI algorithms in the Atlanta metro area to map underground utilities and locate cross-bore risks without exploratory digging. | Southern Company Gas | Pilot | |
| RAMP reliability analytics RAMP combines grid data, customer experience data and equipment failure records to find the root causes of outages and guide reliability planning; Alabama Power developed it with E Source, and Southern Company was rolling it out across the system in 2025. | Power delivery | In production | |
| Smart meter analytics Southern Company analyzes data from more than 4.6 million smart meters at Alabama Power, Georgia Power and Mississippi Power on its Databricks platform to find faulty meters, unauthorized use and tampering, detect home EV charging, identify homes that may struggle in heat or cold snaps and forecast transformer overloads. | Electric utilities | In production | |
| Storm forecasting and crew positioning Southern Company's electric utilities used storm intelligence technologies, including AI and predictive analytics, to forecast Hurricane Isaias impacts and position crews and materials before landfall in Oct 2026. | Electric utilities | In production | |
| Supplier risk monitoring Southern Company's supply chain team uses risk management software and AI to monitor geopolitical and reputational risks among its suppliers, as part of a supplier risk assessment process it is expanding. | Supply chain | In production | |
| Company-approved AI tools for employees Southern Company employees may use only company-approved AI tools and must review and validate AI output, while an executive steering committee reviews internal use cases and drives adoption. | Firmwide | In production | |
| Worker safety hazard recognition Georgia Power piloted Urbint's AI-driven electronic job safety briefing, which flags hazards for each field task, at two distribution centers in 2023, and the partnership won EEI's 2024 safety leadership and innovation award. | Georgia Power | Pilot | |
| Grid anomaly detection from home monitors Georgia Power installed Sense monitors in volunteer customers' homes in the Atlanta area to see whether high-resolution data can spot tree contacts and other grid faults faster than visual patrols. | Georgia Power | Pilot | |
| Autonomous drone inspections An FAA waiver granted in Jun 2023 lets Southern Company's aerial services department fly Skydio's AI-guided drones from docks beyond visual line of sight to inspect plants, substations and other fixed sites. | Aerial services | Pilot |
Adoption
Southern Company's AI adoption runs on two tracks. Operational AI bought from or built with specialist vendors dates to at least Apr 2022, when Virginia Natural Gas adopted Urbint, and grew through Skydio drones in 2023, Blue Wave AI Labs at Southern Nuclear by 2025, the systemwide RAMP rollout in 2025 and smart meter analytics on a Databricks platform by Feb 2026. General AI tools for employees are governed by a 2024 AI Acceptable Use Policy and a Code of Ethics that allows only company-approved tools, and Southern Company's Apr 2026 proxy says an executive steering committee drives broad adoption without giving a user count. Southern Nuclear is the furthest along in public: it reported more than 850 active Microsoft Copilot users and a growing set of employee-built agents in Dec 2025, and its AI Workforce Enablement Program won an NEI award in Sep 2026.
By the numbers
Rollout, first pilot to today
Apr 2022
Virginia Natural Gas, a Southern Company Gas utility, began using Urbint's AI to predict which third-party excavation requests are most likely to damage its pipelines.
Jun 2023
Southern Company said Urbint's damage prevention tool, first deployed at Nicor Gas, had expanded across the enterprise, and Georgia Power began an Urbint worker safety pilot at two distribution centers.
Jun 2023
The FAA granted Southern Company a waiver for dock-based, autonomous drone operations beyond visual line of sight using Skydio's AI-guided drones.
2024
Southern Company adopted an AI Acceptable Use Policy covering data protection, accuracy, intellectual property, bias and keeping people involved in decisions.
Apr 2024
Southern Company's 2024 proxy listed oversight of management's use of AI among the duties of the board's Business Security and Resiliency Committee.
Nov 2024
Georgia Power began a pilot with Sense home monitors to detect tree contacts and other grid anomalies.
Jun 2025
Southern Nuclear first deployed its Fleet Operating Experience agent, one of the Microsoft Copilot agents its employees built for maintenance and issue response.
Jul 2025
Alabama Power's RAMP reliability platform won the Southeastern Electric Exchange Chairman's Award.
Jul 2025
Southern Company named Hans Brown, from BNY, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Technology Officer to lead technology strategy and digital transformation.
Sep 2025
Southern Nuclear, Blue Wave AI Labs and Constellation won the IAEA's 2025 Global ISOP Innovation Award for AI for deploying ThermalLimits.ai.
Dec 2025
Southern Nuclear reported more than 850 active Microsoft Copilot users and a growing portfolio of custom-built agents, developed by its AI Working Group with the Southern Company AI Center of Excellence.
Feb 2026
A Databricks post co-written by Southern Company managers said Southern Company had standardized its cloud data and AI platform on Databricks for smart meter and grid data.
Mar 2026
Microsoft named Southern Nuclear among early adopters of AI for nuclear, with Copilot agents deployed across its fleet, including engineering and licensing.
Apr 2026
Southern Company's 2026 proxy described an executive steering committee that reviews internal AI use cases and drives broad adoption of AI tools, and a refreshed Code of Ethics with a section on responsible AI use.
Sep 2026
Southern Nuclear won an NEI Top Innovative Practice award for its AI Workforce Enablement Program.
Oct 2026
Southern Company's electric utilities used storm intelligence technologies, including AI, to prepare for and restore power after Hurricane Isaias.
Economics & controls
Spend and ROI
Technology budget
Southern Company does not publish a technology or AI budget. Southern Company's 2025 Form 10-K attributes $57 million of the electricity business's rise in operations and maintenance expense to certain technology infrastructure and application production costs, and Georgia Power reported a $42 million rise in the same category. Southern Company plans to invest more than $80 billion over five years in the grid, generation and advanced technologies (2025 Annual Report), without breaking out technology or AI.
What AI itself costs
Southern Company has not disclosed what it spends on AI tools, models or vendors, and none of its AI vendor relationships carries a published contract value.
Reported ROI
Southern Company has published no revenue, cost, unit cost or headcount figure credited to AI as of Nov 2026. Southern Company says ThermalLimits.ai helps lower fuel costs and that Exodigo's mapping could lower costs, without figures; Blue Wave AI Labs' reported cut of up to 75% in prediction bias is a forecasting accuracy measure, not a business return. Southern Company's AMI data analytics manager said on a CGI podcast that data science on smart meter data brought back revenue from energy theft at every operating company, also without a figure, and Southern Nuclear's count of more than 850 active Copilot users (Dec 2025) measures adoption, not return.
AI as demand
Southern Company's utilities held about 16 GW of large-load contracts with data centers and other large customers signed since 2023 at Jun 30, 2026, about 11 GW reviewed by state regulators and 5 GW pending. Georgia Power says incremental revenue from large-load customers, OpenAI's 3,200 MW Effingham County project among them, should provide customer savings of about $950 million a year from 2029 to 2031 (Aug 2026).
Workforce
Southern Company had about 29,800 employees at Dec 31, 2025, all in the United States, and has made no statement tying headcount to AI. From Jan 1, 2027 Chief Human Resources Officer Sloane Drake adds systemwide training to connect workforce development with the skills Southern Company needs as technology changes how work gets done.
Governance and risk
Board oversight
Southern Company's Business Security and Resiliency Committee, chaired by Janaki Akella, oversees management's use of AI and its benefits and risk management alongside cyber and physical security, and met five times in 2025. Southern Company's Apr 2026 proxy says the board received regular updates in 2025 on AI strategy, AI governance and policy developments and AI use cases, and discussed AI among other topics at a multi-day off-site strategy session and system-wide board forum.
Acceptable use policy and Code of Ethics
Southern Company adopted an AI Acceptable Use Policy in 2024 to protect data, help ensure accuracy, respect intellectual property, help prevent bias and keep people involved in decisions. Southern Company's refreshed Code of Ethics requires employees to use only company-approved AI tools, keep internal, confidential, proprietary and personal information out of public AI tools, and review and validate AI output.
Management steering committee
Southern Company's management set up an executive steering committee, led by leaders from strategically relevant functions, to oversee internal AI use case reviews and the safe, transparent and effective systemwide implementation of AI (Apr 2026 proxy). Southern Company has not named its members.
AI and cyber risk
Southern Company's 2025 Form 10-K warns that generative AI has increased the frequency, scale and sophistication of cyberattacks and the capability of less sophisticated attackers. Southern Company's chief information security officer reports to the Business Security and Resiliency Committee at each regular meeting and meets regularly with the chief information technology officer and the CEO.
Nuclear guardrails
Southern Nuclear's AI Workforce Enablement Program pairs AI tools with guardrails meant to keep nuclear industry standards while employees use AI (Sep 2026), and its AI Working Group, which draws members from all major functions and sites, develops agents with the Southern Company AI Center of Excellence (Dec 2025). Southern Nuclear's own description of ThermalLimits.ai stresses physics-informed models built for precision over general-purpose large language models.
Recent signals
Oct 30, 2026
Chris Womack announced that Chief Legal Officer Sterling Spainhour will add the Technology Organization on Jan 1, 2027 to align Southern Company's technology and AI strategy and governance, and that Sloane Drake will take on systemwide training.
Oct 10, 2026
Southern Company said its electric utilities used storm intelligence technologies, including AI, to forecast Hurricane Isaias impacts and position crews, and had restored power to about 420,000 customers.
Sep 25, 2026
Southern Nuclear won four NEI Top Innovative Practice awards, one of them for an AI Workforce Enablement Program that gives employees AI tools with guardrails.
Aug 26, 2026
Georgia Power's contract to serve OpenAI's 3,200 MW Effingham County project, with up to 1,000 MW of flexible demand response, was approved in the Georgia Public Service Commission process.
Jul 23, 2026
Southern Company joined the federal Ratepayer Protection Pledge, with Chris Womack saying AI and advanced technologies are creating historic investment opportunities and that growth should protect rate stability for existing customers.
Jul 22, 2026
Georgia Power said it will serve OpenAI's planned Effingham County facility, with OpenAI paying the full infrastructure and electric service costs.
Jul 15, 2026
Southern Company presented at EPRI's Open Power AI Consortium meeting, inviting members to its Aug 17 to 21, 2026 Technical Conference in Birmingham, whose instrumentation and controls track focused on emerging technology, AI and automation.
Apr 3, 2026
Southern Company's 2026 proxy added a spotlight on AI oversight, described an executive steering committee driving AI adoption, and listed deploying AI technology in operational processes among the CEO's 2025 performance highlights.
Mar 24, 2026
Microsoft's AI for nuclear announcement with NVIDIA named Southern Nuclear as having developed and deployed Microsoft Copilot agents across its fleet, including engineering and licensing.
Feb 19, 2026
Southern Company's 2025 Form 10-K said generative AI has increased the frequency, scale and sophistication of cyberattacks, and that data centers supporting AI drive most of its utilities' projected demand growth.
Feb 4, 2026
Databricks published a post co-written by Southern Company's director of AMI and MDM systems and its data analytics manager, saying Southern Company had standardized its cloud data and AI platform on Databricks to analyze data from more than 4.6 million smart meters.
Dec 19, 2025
Southern Nuclear reported more than 850 active Microsoft Copilot users and custom agents for operating experience, safety and performance improvement, built by its AI Working Group with the Southern Company AI Center of Excellence.
Quick answers
- How does Southern Company deploy AI?
- Southern Company deploys AI mainly in operations: vendor tools such as Blue Wave AI Labs' fuel forecasting at Southern Nuclear and Urbint's damage prediction at Southern Company Gas, a data and AI platform standardized on Databricks, and Microsoft Copilot agents with more than 850 active users at Southern Nuclear by Dec 2025. Employees may use only company-approved AI tools. CITO Hans Brown leads technology strategy, Chief Legal Officer Sterling Spainhour takes on the Technology Organization on Jan 1, 2027, and Southern Company publishes no AI spend or return.
- What does Southern Company use AI for?
- Southern Company has described a small set of AI use cases in public, nearly all in operations: thermal-limit forecasting and Microsoft Copilot agents at Southern Nuclear, excavation-damage prediction at Southern Company Gas, the RAMP reliability platform, smart meter analytics on Databricks, storm forecasting, supplier risk monitoring and employee AI tools under company rules, plus pilots in worker safety, grid sensing, drones and underground mapping. Southern Company has published no business return for any of them; its only firm-level statement is the Apr 2026 proxy line that it deployed AI technology and data analytics in a wide range of operational processes in 2025 to improve the effectiveness and reliability of its system.
- Who leads AI at Southern Company?
- AI at Southern Company is led by Hans Brown (Executive Vice President and Chief Information Technology Officer); Sterling Spainhour (Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer; adds the Technology Organization on Jan 1, 2027). Ownership of AI on the org chart: EVP and CITO Hans Brown; Technology Organization moves under CLO Sterling Spainhour on Jan 1, 2027.
- What AI platform does Southern Company use?
- Southern Company standardized its cloud data and AI platform on Databricks (Feb 2026), has an AI Technology Center of Excellence, and lets employees use only company-approved AI tools, with an executive steering committee reviewing AI use cases (Apr 2026 proxy).
- Which AI models does Southern Company use?
- Southern Company has not named the large language models behind its approved tools; Southern Nuclear builds its agents on Microsoft Copilot, and operational AI comes from specialist vendors such as Blue Wave AI Labs, Urbint, Skydio and Exodigo.
- How many Southern employees use AI?
- Southern Company publishes no systemwide count of AI users; Southern Nuclear reported more than 850 active Copilot users in Dec 2025, against a system workforce of about 29,800.
- How far has AI spread at Southern Company?
- Southern Company has reported no business return it credits to AI, for any use case or for the company as a whole: its Apr 2026 proxy lists deploying AI technology in a wide range of operational processes among the CEO's 2025 highlights without a figure, and it says ThermalLimits.ai helps lower fuel costs at Southern Nuclear without giving an amount. Southern Company has not reported a company-wide AI rollout with a user count either: the only count is the more than 850 active Microsoft Copilot users reported in Dec 2025 by Southern Nuclear, a subsidiary with about 3,700 of the system's 29,800 employees, and the same proxy says an executive steering committee drives broad adoption of AI tools across the enterprise without saying how many employees use them. Southern Company therefore stays at Experimenting, although AI runs in production in nuclear fuel forecasting, gas damage prevention and smart meter analytics; one return it credits to AI, or a systemwide count of employees using its AI tools under a named owner, would move it to Piloting, and that ownership changes when the Technology Organization moves under Chief Legal Officer Sterling Spainhour on Jan 1, 2027.
Open questions
- Which AI tools besides Microsoft Copilot has Southern Company approved for employees, which models sit behind them, and which cloud runs its Databricks platform?
- How many Southern Company employees outside Southern Nuclear have access to approved AI tools, and how many use them each week?
- Does Hans Brown continue to lead the Technology Organization after it moves under Sterling Spainhour on Jan 1, 2027, and to whom does he report today?
- Who sits on Southern Company's AI executive steering committee, how does it relate to the AI Technology Center of Excellence, and how many use cases has it reviewed and approved?
- What fuel cost savings has ThermalLimits.ai delivered at Southern Nuclear, and on which reactors does it run?
- What business return do Southern Company's deployed AI tools deliver, such as Southern Nuclear's Copilot agents, Urbint damage prevention, RAMP, smart meter analytics and storm forecasting, and how much revenue has meter analytics recovered?
- Did Georgia Power's Urbint worker safety tool, the Sense grid pilot and the Skydio dock operations move into systemwide production?
- How much does Southern Company spend on AI, and how much of its technology cost growth in 2025 relates to AI?
Sources
Southern Company
- Leadership and Management Council
- Chris Womack, Chairman, President and CEO, biography
- Sterling Spainhour, Chief Legal Officer, biography (Oct 2025)
- Chris Cummiskey, Chief Commercial Officer and CEO of Southern Company Services, biography (Jan 2025)
- Southern Company aligns leadership and operations (Oct 30, 2026)
- Southern Company names Hans Brown EVP and Chief Information Technology Officer (Jul 21, 2025)
- Storm response and advanced storm intelligence after Hurricane Isaias (Oct 10, 2026)
- Southern Company joins the Ratepayer Protection Pledge (Jul 23, 2026)
- 2025 year in review
- Southern Company subsidiaries among the first to use AI to enhance worker safety (Jun 27, 2023)
- Georgia Power explores grid data and AI for vegetation management (Nov 4, 2024)
- Southern Company Gas pilots Exodigo for underground mapping (Aug 6, 2025)
- FAA waiver for autonomous BVLOS drone operations with Skydio (Jun 23, 2023)
- Southern Company CIO Martin Davis to retire Apr 1, 2025 (Oct 23, 2024)
- Code of Ethics, with the responsible AI section
Filings, reports and investor materials
- 2025 Form 10-K (filed Feb 19, 2026)
- Q2 2026 Form 10-Q (filed Jul 30, 2026)
- 2026 proxy statement (filed Apr 3, 2026)
- 2025 proxy statement (filed Apr 11, 2025)
- 2024 proxy statement (filed Apr 12, 2024)
- Form 8-K, 2026 annual meeting results (May 2026)
- 2025 Annual Report, chairman's message (Mar 2026)
- 2024 Sustainability Summary (Sep 2025)
- Shareholder engagement update (Jun 2026)
Subsidiaries
- Southern Nuclear wins IAEA 2025 Global ISOP Innovation Award for AI (Oct 3, 2025)
- Southern Nuclear wins four NEI TIP awards (Sep 25, 2026)
- Southern Nuclear innovation
- Richard Libra, Southern Nuclear Chief Nuclear Officer, biography
- Alabama Power honored for its Reliability Analytics and Monitoring Platform (Jul 2, 2025)
- Alabama Power and E Source earn DOE award for graph database project (Aug 13, 2024)
- Virginia Natural Gas incorporates AI to help protect infrastructure (Apr 25, 2022)
- Georgia Power to serve OpenAI project in Effingham County (Jul 22, 2026)
- Georgia Power's OpenAI contract approved (Aug 26, 2026)
Partners and industry
- Blue Wave AI Labs: IAEA honors Blue Wave AI Labs, Constellation and Southern Nuclear (Sep 18, 2025)
- E Source: Alabama Power and E Source win prize for data analytics innovation (Feb 20, 2025)
- EPRI Open Power AI Consortium
- EPRI Open Power AI Consortium meeting materials
- EPRI Open Power AI Consortium, Jul 2026 meeting presentations
- Microsoft: AI for nuclear energy, powering an intelligent, resilient future (Mar 24, 2026)
- Databricks: Southern Company smart meter analytics post (Feb 4, 2026)
- CGI podcast: How Southern Company turned governed data into enterprise AI value
Data confidence
- Confirmed
- Stated in a primary or reputable public source.
- Estimated
- Derived or approximated from public reporting.
- Unconfirmed
- Reported, but not yet corroborated.
Southern Company profile · Enterprise AI diffusion report by Imagine · facts checked against their sources on Nov 1, 2026
