National Grid Partners said 78% of U.S. utility innovation leaders surveyed are deploying or operationalizing at least one artificial intelligence application to manage interconnection demand, as AI data centers increase pressure on power systems. Nearly three-fourths said AI-driven data center load growth is affecting grid reliability. Reliability ranked among the top three priorities for 73% of respondents, up from 43% in 2025, while net-zero priorities fell from 54% to 16%. Although 72% reported higher innovation budgets, 84% said moving projects from pilot to full rollout takes more than a year. The survey found that 59% of innovation spending goes to incremental improvements and 16% to transformational initiatives, while 87% cited regulatory and rate-case frameworks as limiting returns and 83% said infrastructure costs are being passed to residential customers. National Grid Partners also announced investments in Terragrit and LineVision, and National Grid joined the AI Energy Management Alliance, which supports flexible data centers that can reduce electricity use during peak demand.