British telecom giant BT, under the leadership of CEO Allison Kirkby, is exploring the potential for artificial intelligence to significantly reduce its workforce beyond the current target of 55,000 job cuts by 2030. Despite challenges faced by other organizations implementing AI, Kirkby suggests the technology could allow BT to operate with fewer employees in the future. The initial cuts aimed at enhancing profit margins were outlined by her predecessor.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Kirkby highlighted the unrealized potential of AI within BT, suggesting the company could become leaner by the decade’s end. The reductions include trimming network engineering roles as the labor demand diminishes post-FTTP rollout to 25 million UK properties.

BT has already mentioned that around 10,000 reductions could occur in its customer service sector through digital automation, leveraging AI advancements.

However, as seen with other companies like Klarna and Duolingo, reliant AI strategies have faced setbacks due to customer dissatisfaction, prompting some firms to revert to human-led services. Gartner recently noted that half of the organizations it surveyed were abandoning plans to automate customer service roles due to similar concerns.

Kirkby also addressed potential divestiture of BT’s infrastructure arm, Openreach, citing that its current market valuation does not reflect its full worth. This evaluation may prompt future strategic considerations, although no immediate actions are under way. Meanwhile, BT is concurrently negotiating with managerial staff over unsatisfactory pay rise proposals, further intensifying the company’s internal pressures.