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Obviously everyone is focussing on the AI part.
EDIT: Sorry scratch that. I've confused the URL. I didn't see this is a CNN article. This one https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65631168 from bbc is much better (which I had read earlier). It shows the breakdown of where the jobs lost come from.
42% 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.
I assume they've already converted part of the network, and this is empirical data. But I'm with you in the sense that new technology that does more than what they replaced will absolutely be added and need fresh workforces.
“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.
What strikes me as odd is they're viewing 'modernisation' efforts as one-time activities. Come 2030 are they saying they won't need to invest in their network as much or upgrade things? I think that's what they are saying, and I don't think they're going to be right.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Once in a while, you should swap out the PM’s personality with a new one and your robot HR manager can make the firing announcement. Come to think of it, every company could use a few AI-based middle managers for entertainment purposes.
Thats a fantastic idea. I'll add it to my roadmap!
Will 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.
> Most companies today can barely create a functioning website that allows you to see and pay your bills. I haven’t dealt with them in recent years but based on previous dealings, I would put BT firmly in that category.
Their checkout flow can break. In some browsers it'll get stuck in an infinite redirect loop. If you're using edge you'll get redirected to a page that shows the ~10 year old BT Infinity branding, with a totally different style, packages, and prices.
Their chat bot is of the kind that decides whether or not you're allowed to speak to a human based on what it thinks your question is.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thats a fantastic idea. I'll add it to my roadmap!
As somebody who went through the MBA education for defensive reasons (i.e. acquiring skills to protect me from managerial BS), I would say you can extend it to most business jobs excluding accountants and quants.
42% 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.
Modernization does help with that sort of thing in some ways. But it also often adds complexity, higher dependency counts, etc. The complexity is inside opaque boxes that BT deploys though. Rather than fixing things like they did in the past, sitting at the end of a street patching cables in a roadside cabinet, BT's engineers of the future will just unclip a box that's returning an error code and plug in a new one. O…
So you don't need phone operators to wait for calls about interrupted service, the software will just detect some unreachable part of the network and dispatch a team to investigate.
It's buried in the article, but they were doing a massive modernisation project so hired to deliver it. Now that it's done they'll downsize. Obviously everyone is focussing on the AI part. EDIT: Sorry scratch that. I've confused the URL. I didn't see this is a CNN article. This one https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65631168 from bbc is much better (which I had read earlier). It shows the breakdown of where the jobs…
Broadly right, but your tense is wrong. Openreach's[1] FTTP rollout program extends to the end of December 2026. Realistically, it may be delayed, because the scale is rather huge.
[1] A subsidiary of BT who own the infrastructure, for competition grounds