Will Telcos Miss Out on Generative AI?

Will telecom providers miss the boat on generative artificial intelligence (AI)? As the technology that generates text, images, and more from natural language takes the tech world by storm, there are signs that telecom service providers may be lagging behind the trend.

While hyperscaler cloud providers have been pursuing tactical and strategic moves to keep pace not just with generative AI’s massive compute requirements but to create their own models for use in cloud services, the world’s leading telcos haven’t joined the crowd. Focused instead on fiber, fixed wireless access, and 5G, they appear to be at risk of ending up as mere consumers of AI instead of market leaders in creating new services.

Of course, the cloud titans have a lot to gain from rushing into generative AI. By creating partnerships with leading startups, they can ensure enormous business by becoming favored platforms for the massive compute requirements those startups require to develop their models and applications. In addition, the cloud providers can benefit by offering services based on those models.

Telcos, in contrast, appear to be relegating the use of generative AI in their networks to revamping customer services. Notably, the top three U.S. telcos were subdued in their mention of AI in their latest first-quarter earnings calls. Verizon and T-Mobile didn’t mention it at all. AT&T's CEO John Stankey had this to say:

“Another contributing element relies on unlocking new capabilities that make it easier to collaborate and get work done by leaning into our digital transformation. We're seeing this already come to life through early trials in our collaboration with NVIDIA, where we're testing the use of artificial intelligence to improve fleet dispatches so our field technicians can better serve customers. Separately, we're using AI to match customers with the right customer care support path, resulting in more effective issue resolution. We think this is only the tip of the spear of what's possible.”