Telcos May Have Something to Gain From AI

In a survey published last Thursday by Capgemini, it’s evident that 69% of operator respondents agree that the benefits generative AI brings to the table far outweighs the negative. So, despite the concerns of misinformation or reinforcing prejudice, it can provide a useful insight on the right plan for a customer, or direct a question to the right place.

The collective interest in risk for telcos is below the average 74%- a reassuring number st least. 84% of high tech firms think that AI is worth sticking to and pushing on. But as the firms on the leading end of AI development, are we really surprised? A more worrying statistic is 82% of aerospace and defense organisations are all in for AI too- when they have to be the most careful with swapping out real brains for some robot ones.

As has been dominating our headlines for a while now, the concerns about what dangers AI could cause are rife and governments have been moving quickly to try and make regulations to keep it in check.

At the end of June, US President Joe Biden gave an outline on recent meetings with AI experts to try and inform the government on what approach they should take to managing AI risks. Having worked even faster, the EU has already held its first vote on what should be in the proposed AI Act, which would create some serious guidelines as to the creation and use of AI.

The results of Capgemini’s survey give an interesting insight into the overall perception of AI, and how it could be utilised in the average workplace.

69% of answers think that AI could lead to new job titles, roles like AI ethicists or AI auditors. 68% think that bringing AI into everyday jobs will require the pre-existing staff to be invested in for upskilling and cross-skilling. As for the benefits, there seems to be some generally-thought answers.

83% say chatbots to automate customer service would be the most relevant gen AI-based tools, as well as improving knowledge management. 75% also pointed out its abilities in designing, collecting, and summarising data, while 78% think it’ll assist in product design efficiency. A further 71% look back to customer service again, thinking that AI will make customer experiences more interactive and engaging.

Another broad agreement was regarding the possible environmental impact regarding companies running compute-intensive AI processes.

78% of enterprises understood that generative AI can leave a much larger carbon footprint than traditional IT programmes, with a further 80% understanding the importance of keeping it sustainable when implementing these systems into their workforce. While only 8% intend to train their own AI model, about half have already taken steps to mitigate the environmental impact of them doing so.

”Generative AI is a transformational force for innovation in organisations, accelerating industry specific use cases to create value, and it’s no surprise that it’s already at the top of the agenda of virtually every large organisation.

While generative AI can enable numerous benefits for businesses and employees alike, adopting a human-centric approach while scaling the technology and implementing necessary guidelines will be key to fostering trust in the workplace. As businesses accelerate their generative AI journeys, they must prioritise implementing it sustainably across the organisation.”

Franck Greverie, Chief Portfolio Officer and Group Executive Board Member at Capgemini