Technology Transformation
The creation of an AI avatar, named Aimee Silva, which distils the knowledge of experienced engineers and acts as a virtual mentor for new hires, is helping ensure vital expertise is retained as experienced staff retire.
National Grid is investing more than £30 billion between 2025 and 2029 to upgrade and expand electricity networks across England and Wales. However, what is being billed as the biggest expansion of the grid since the 1960s has come up against an acute shortage of people with the right skills to deliver this huge investment. Compounding the problem, those who do have the relevant expertise are nearing retirement: at National Grid, more than one-third of the workforce is over 50, and only 12% are under 30.
In response, National Grid aims to recruit 2,300 graduates and apprentices across its UK business over the next five years. Building the energy workforce of the future is one of the company’s key priorities. Equally important is the need to retain and pass on to new recruits the expertise that its seasoned engineers have built up over decades.
National Grid has been working with frog, Capgemini Invent’s creative consultancy division, for two years on opportunities for using data and AI to solve key organisational challenges. To address the risk of losing vital knowledge from the business as engineers retire, they decided to build and trial an AI avatar, trained on the practical insights and real-life experiences of existing employees, that trainees could talk to in a natural way and work with as a digital mentor.
The result was a generative AI-powered virtual substation engineer, crafted from scratch and tested over 12 weeks by the frog team. The AI mentor was named Aimee Silva. She was installed at National Grid’s electricity transmission training centre in Eakring, Nottinghamshire, and the results from users were overwhelmingly positive: 82% of the apprentices learned something new within five to 10 minutes of talking to Aimee; 98% said talking to the avatar supported their learning or revision; and 94% found using it highly engaging.
The pilot project was carried out with National Grid’s global head of training and learning and the electricity transmission division. Its success is building a case for AI-trained mentors to support staff across the company’s business functions. Using AI is an opportunity to preserve critical expertise and empower the next generation of energy professionals to learn quickly and confidently. It also builds up the company’s expertise in how colleagues work with AI assistants, as National Grid explores what the future of work will look like.
View the profile in the MCA Members Directory.