British telecommunications giant BT Group recently revealed that it is planning to cut up to 55,000 jobs from its worldwide workforce by 2030. Stunned by this news, CEO Philip Jansen made an earnings call, where he stated that AI could possibly replace 10,000 of these cut jobs.
Presently, BT has 130,000 employees in its workforce, and the company has already implemented AI chatbot named “Amy”, which can answer customer inquiries. BT is now exploring the potential of advanced AI features, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, to develop more efficient products and services.
BT expects that through digitization and automation, at least 10,000 jobs can be replaced by AI. But with a slide in its earning presentation depicting headcounts from 2022 to 2023, BT now anticipates to have a headcount between 75,000 and 90,000 by 2030.
AI applications have already been adopted by various institutions and companies since a few years. For example, an American Fortune 500 company adopted an AI based chat program that improved average productivity by 14% for its customer service representatives with less experience.
CEO Philip Jansen is a veteran business leader with a career spanning over 25 years. Prior to taking up the role of CEO at BT Group, he has served as the Chief Executive of Worldpay Group, now a part of FIS, and has held several other senior roles. Jansen is a firm believer that Artificial Intelligence is set to benefit his organization now more than ever.
The BT Group is a British multinational telecommunications company, more commonly known as BT, with its headquarters situated in London, England. It is one of the world’s leading suppliers of communication services and products, and a provider of direct telecom services in the United Kingdom. The Group also offers fiber and Ethernet services to customers inside and outside the UK. In 2020, it reported a revenue of ₤21.9 billion and an operating income of around ₤1.3 billion.
