BT job cuts may deepen as AI advances, says Allison Kirkby
Advances in artificial intelligence could deepen significant job cuts under way at BT, the telecoms company's chief executive has said.
In the latest pronouncement by a leading chief executive on the impact of AI on the labour market, Allison Kirkby said BT's plans to cull more than 40,000 jobs and reduce costs by £3 billion by the end of the decade did not reflect the full potential of the technology.
'Depending on what we learn from AI … there may be an opportunity for BT to be even smaller by the end of the decade,' she said in an interview with the Financial Times.
In May 2023, BT said that it would replace 10,000 jobs with artificial intelligence by the end of the decade, which would include call handling and network diagnostics.
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