BT will shed as many as 55,000 workers by 2030
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Re: BT will shed as many as 55,000 workers by 2030
#2Will they? Do we think any of the executives making this decision have any idea of the problems of adopting AI? Most companies today can barely create a functioning website that allows you to see and pay your bills.
Re: BT will shed as many as 55,000 workers by 2030
#3They're doing a massive build out of fibre to the premises (replacing old copper) and VOIP at the moment so I guess it makes sense that they'd need a lot fewer people once that's complete. They're assuming the new fibre will take much less maintainace than old copper. And better chatbots will replace a lot of CS staff.
Re: BT will shed as many as 55,000 workers by 2030
#442% fewer employees, 7 years in the future? Including hopes for things like this:
"Jansen also said that around 10,000 fewer people would be needed to service and repair digital networks, which “go wrong less often” and can be fixed more easily than older networks."
That feels optimistic. Modernization does help with that sort of thing in some ways. But it also often adds complexity, higher dependency counts, etc.
Re: BT will shed as many as 55,000 workers by 2030
#5“Adopting AI” before there is any definitive proof that replacing workers with GPT tools is actually effective, is just cover for layoffs they were already planning on doing.
If I needed to do a layoff now I’d just say “AI LLM Chatbot!!” woo-woo as cover.
Re: BT will shed as many as 55,000 workers by 2030
#6Now I know that employers will ultimately replace many employees with automation but this plan as stated seems rather ambitious if not completely unrealistic.
Based on the last few lines of the article I think this CEO is trying to hype up a company that is facing serious struggles and decline of their core business:
> BT said revenue fell 1% to £20.7 billion ($25.8 billion) for the year to March, with growth in Openreach, its fibre broadband network, “more than offset” by declines in other businesses. Its adjusted earnings rose 5% to £7.9 billion ($9.8 billion).
> Shares in the company tumbled 8% in London, as higher expenditure leading to a drop in free cash flow disappointed investors.
This other quote is hilarious to me as well:
> “Our chatbot Amy deals with lots of customer queries already”
Any time you see a company that has a chatbot with a friendly human name you know it’s going to be a completely useless hunk of garbage. I am highly skeptical that “Amy” does anything besides delaying customers from talking to the human who can actually fix their problem (or just throwing them into a frustration loop that leads them toward canceling their service).
Re: BT will shed as many as 55,000 workers by 2030
#742% fewer employees, 7 years in the future? Including hopes for things like this: "Jansen also said that around 10,000 fewer people would be needed to service and repair digital networks, which “go wrong less often” and can be fixed more easily than older networks." That feels optimistic. Modernization does help with that sort of thing in some ways. But it also often adds complexity, higher dependency counts, etc.
> That feels optimistic.
Sure, but nobody will remember someone said that seven years before. They might be hiring by that point, too.
Re: BT will shed as many as 55,000 workers by 2030
#8Around 2026, look for massive hiring as these large scale AI Automation projects colossally fail. It is quite simple: the AI surface is moving to fast for large scale automation because the "must have latest candy" executives will not be satisfied with a solution using the SOTA when they started the project because by the time that project is up and operating the SOTA will be a milestone ahead - so the executives will insist/demand on an update. Rinse and repeat, the project will never complete before expectations and financing die for the vast majority of these AI ambitions.
Re: BT will shed as many as 55,000 workers by 2030
#9Now I know that employers will ultimately replace many employees with automation but this plan as stated seems rather ambitious if not completely unrealistic. Based on the last few lines of the article I think this CEO is trying to hype up a company that is facing serious struggles and decline of their core business: > BT said revenue fell 1% to £20.7 billion ($25.8 billion) for the year to March, with growth in Open…
Amy is doing a great job telling customers: "You're number 3453245 in the queue, waiting time is about 3 days"
Re: BT will shed as many as 55,000 workers by 2030
#10> “Our chatbot Amy deals with lots of customer queries already,” he added. BT was beginning to explore new products and services that might come from “generative AI and large language model AIs.”
Im quite sure the chat bot is an annoying veneer over the help pages, and a hindrance to actually speaking to a human, because youve already checked the help pages and need to talk to a human to sort the problem.
the games industry moved from guess the verb to point and click adventure games over 30 years ago. why is customer service going the other way?