BT is planning significant workforce reductions, with up to 55,000 employees potentially let go by 2030, driven largely by advancements in AI. CEO Allison Kirkby indicated that prior layoffs projections may underestimate AI's impact. While the company aims to reduce jobs, particularly in customer service, previous cases like Klarna raise concerns about the effectiveness of AI in customer interaction, leading to rehiring human agents due to dissatisfaction. BT’s move underscores the tension between technological advancement and the need for effective customer service.
Not content with a corporate blueprint to cut up to 55,000 employees by 2030, UK telecoms giant BT now says even more staff could be replaced with AI.
In an interview with the Financial Times, BT Group chief exec Allison Kirkby said previously announced plans to slash headcount did not reflect the full potential of AI.
There is a sort of 10,000 reduction from that sort of automated digitization, we will be a huge beneficiary of AI. I believe generative AI is a huge leap forward.
Kirkby and the rest of the BT leadership should look at what happened with Klarna, which introduced an AI assistant but later rehired human agents due to customer dissatisfaction.
Collection
[
|
...
]