Ex-CIO Of Dept of Energy and EPA Ann Dunkin: Why Leaders Must Weigh AI Energy Demands As A Core Business Risk

Ann Dunkin, Distinguished Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, framed energy reliability as a CIO-owned strategic risk as AI demand collides with grid instability.

AI has upended a basic assumption of enterprise technology. Power can no longer be treated as cheap or assured, and as grid instability collides with always-on digital operations, energy has become a strategic risk landing squarely on the CIO’s desk.

Ann Dunkin, a Distinguished Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology with deep experience across the public and private sectors, brings a rare vantage point to the question of energy risk. A four-time enterprise CIO, she previously served as CIO for both the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, where she worked at the intersection of digital infrastructure, policy, and grid operations. That experience now informs her view that energy reliability has become a core technology leadership issue, not a background operational detail.

"Many CIOs have never thought about energy. That's changing fast. More organizations are exposed to energy risk, and leaders need to know what those risks are and who owns them," Dunkin said. She believes CIOs should start by rethinking their understanding of the grid as a cyber-physical system.