AI-driven energy futures: Emerging sociotechnical imaginaries in the tech industry

As decarbonisation efforts intensify in the energy sector, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly viewed as a crucial enabler of smart grids and broader sociotechnical transformations. While sociotechnical imaginaries of smart grids and their users have been widely examined, little attention has been given to emerging imaginaries of AI within this context. This paper addresses this gap by exploring emerging imaginaries of AI-driven energy futures in the tech industry and how they interact with the wider landscape of dominant sociotechnical imaginaries of smart grids. Based on a two-month ethnographic study involving thirteen professionals across three tech companies (including eight in-depth and five go-along interviews), the study identifies three key emerging imaginaries: (1) The Frictionless Algorithm, (2) The Invisible Energy Optimiser, and (3) The Paradoxical User. Findings demonstrate that these emerging imaginaries are not only anticipatory visions of far-fetched futures, but they are also performative through the materialisation of technological artefacts, i.e., through the practices of designing and developing technologies. Furthermore, the results suggest that these emerging imaginaries are derived from and often reinforce existing stabilised imaginaries within both the tech and energy sectors, rather than challenging or disrupting current structures. These include technocratic and techno-economic paradigms centred on optimisation, efficiency, and automation; behavioural approaches focused on electricity data and individual responsibility, and design practices rooted in visions of comfort and convenience. By identifying and analysing these three emerging imaginaries, the study provides valuable empirical and methodological contributions to both energy research and industry.