Industry
UK comms giant BT to replace some staff with AI as it cuts 55,000 posts
UK telecoms company BT has announced plans to cut 55,000 jobs in a major overhaul and says some tasks will be undertaken by artificial intelligence.
The company said that over the rest of the decade it expects to complete the most labour intensive part of the rollout of next-generation full-fibre and 5G networks across the UK, meaning fewer engineers will be needed.
The company also aims to benefit from a broader move to digitise its business and take advantage of new technology, such as artificial intelligence, which could be used to make areas such as call handling and network diagnostics less labour intensive.
BT, which has 130,000 workers including both staff and contractors, said in its latest earnings report that its number of employees would be reduced to between 75,000 and 90,000 by 2030.
