California utilities try AI to combat costly wildfire liabilities

Utilities including PG&E use AI startups to analyze satellite images and identify trees most likely to topple onto power lines and spark wildfires.

The technology costs far less than burying lines underground at $3 million-plus per mile—an expensive approach driving urgent demand for alternatives amid litigation.

Power shutoff systems prevent about 80 percent of potential fire starts, while AI-targeted tree trimming in identified problem areas mitigates remaining risks more efficiently.

On the hunt for cheap and fast strategies to prevent deadly wildfires, utilities across the U.S. and Europe are contracting with a handful of artificial intelligence startups to map wildfire risk along thousands of miles of power lines, picking out individual trees to cut and poles to replace.

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