It seems like everyone's getting into artificial intelligence (AI).
From big tech companies vying to perfect their AI chatbots and offer AI-enhanced workflows to their cloud platforms to former sneaker companies reinventing themselves as AI companies, it seems there isn't a single industry that isn't rolling out some sort of AI-enhanced product or service to try to boost sales (and stock prices).
And now, the nuclear industry has joined the AI race, thanks to nuclear start-up Oklo (OKLO +5.52%). Oklo just announced that it's launching a Strategic Partnership Project with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), to "use AI technologies to accelerate advanced reactor and fuel-system design work."
Here's what this means for Oklo, its shareholders, and nuclear investors in general.
Image source: Getty Images.
Is this really a good idea?
You might find the press release's headline phrase "AI-Enabled Reactor Design" concerning.
Given AI's propensity to "hallucinate," or invent statistics or references that don't actually exist, is it really a good idea to put an AI in charge of designing a device that contains and manages an inherently unstable and potentially catastrophic nuclear reaction?
But look carefully at the wording. It doesn't say the reactor would be "AI-designed"; it says the design itself will be "AI-enabled." So, what does that mean?
Well, according to the press release, it means that the project hopes to "bolster conceptual design work for an Oklo reactor system through the use of AI-enabled engineering workflows, modeling, simulation, and technical documentation." The project will include "the development and application of technical guidance on model setup, benchmarking and validation strategies, and AI agents to accelerate existing workflows."
NYSE: OKLO
Key Data Points
Is this really a novel idea?
Those details make it sound as if Oklo and INL will just be developing an AI-enabled design program. That's not exactly earth-shattering news. Most major 3D design software these days is AI-enabled to some extent. That includes Dassault Systemes' Solidworks and Autodesk's AutoCAD, both of which already offer AI assistants and agentic AI tools to improve workflows.
Some of the tasks Oklo and INL hope to accomplish include enabling an AI agent to interact with existing multiphysics workflows, monitor design pipelines, and process results. The press release adds that a human operator will always be kept in the loop "for oversight, review, and decision-making."
To be honest, this doesn't seem all that different from what engineers across the country in a variety of disciplines are doing every day with AI design tools, and it doesn't seem likely to have much of a long-term impact on Oklo's share price or its business strategy. At best, it might help Oklo finalize its designs a bit more quickly.
The real question for Oklo is whether it can ultimately turn its reactor designs -- AI-enabled or not -- into a self-sustaining power generation business. Even if AI accelerates the process, we're still years away from finding out. Until then, Oklo's stock is likely to remain volatile and speculative. Only the most risk-tolerant of investors should consider buying in now.
