AT&T is laying off 8,000 workers and phasing out copper wire networks as it shifts to AI-driven automation, reducing energy use by 13.1% since 2020.
The telecommunications giant is also eliminating its old-school landline service, using artificial intelligence to automate internal processes and cut costs.
According to public financial disclosures, AT&T generated less revenue per employee last year than its competitors Verizon and T-Mobile, both of which have let go of workers in recent months.
AT&T's chief technology officer, Jeremy Legg, said the company is not going to have the same headcount in five years as it does today. He added that comparing staffing levels to that of peers plays a role in its decisionmaking.
If AT&T continues cutting jobs at the same pace as last year, its workforce could approach 85,000 employees by 2030. A person familiar with the matter described that number as the company’s target, though AT&T called the figure inaccurate.
By the end of the decade, AT&T wants to be seen as a “dramatically different” company with a “fantastic” fiber internet service and “kickass wireless network,” AT&T CEO John Stankey said at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference in San Francisco earlier this month.
The company is using AI systems for customer service, to help identify locations for new cell phone towers, and to find maintenance issues on existing ones.
"We’re not going to have the same headcount in five years as we do today," Legg said. He added that comparing its staffing levels to that of peers plays a role in its decisionmaking.
AT&T is also using AI to generate software code and help manage service issues. Starting next year, the telecom giant will replace physical hardware at thousands of central hubs with cloud software from Israeli startup DriveNets, in which AT&T is an investor.
AT&T’s transition provides a window into how legacy companies are trying to rebuild their operations as artificial intelligence tools become increasingly capable. The company has been around for 150 years and still plays a major role in the global economy.
Legg said it handles about 15 percent of the world’s internet traffic, and the company employed nearly 131,000 people as of June.
The question is whether it can drive innovation while also shedding costs and trying to keep up with the likes of Elon Musk.
AT&T is focusing now on its high-speed fiber and wireless service that Stankey has described as “exactly the asset base we want as AI begins to shape the next era of connectivity.” But Wall Street has quizzed AT&T and its peers about looming competition from Musk’s SpaceX, which offers the nascent, but fast-growing satellite internet service Starlink.
Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T are cooperating on satellite service, with an eye toward working with a variety of tech providers, including potentially Starlink.
Source: wired
