BT Group, a British telecommunications company, plans to cut between 40,000 and 55,000 jobs by 2030, with at least 10,000 of those jobs being replaced by artificial intelligence. The company’s CEO, Philip Jansen, stated that the company will be a “beneficiary of AI unequivocally.” The company’s chatbot, named “Amy,” can already handle most customer questions, and the company’s experimentation with generative AI, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, could lead to new products and services. The company expects AI and improved networks to reduce its need for thousands of full-time customer service employees and third-party contractors. Jansen estimated that about 10,000 of the jobs BT will eliminate can be replaced by processes of “digitization and automation,” like AI replacements. A study involving more than 5,000 customer service representatives at an unidentified Fortune 500 company found that an AI chat program increased productivity by roughly 14%, but only for agents who needed more training and experience. The tool did not increase productivity for agents with more expertise. BT projects that by 2030, it will employ anywhere from 75,000 to 90,000 workers.
