British telecoms major BT is planning to cut nearly 55,000 jobs by 2030 and replace some of them with artificial intelligence tools, the company announced during its latest quarterly earnings call, highlighting the potential disruptive impact AI may have on the job market.
A BT Group Plc logo on a store in London, UK, on Wednesday.
The massive cut represents more than 40% of the company’s 130,000-strong workforce—including 30,000 contractors—and it will impact both BT employees and third-party contractors, according to the Financial Times.
BT CEO Philip Jansen told reporters that the cuts are part of the company’s efforts to become “leaner” but added that he expects around 10,000 of those jobs to be replaced by AI.
Jansen said the company intends to automate most of its customer service and network management roles, stating the company will “be a huge beneficiary of AI.”
Calling generative AI “a huge leap forward,” Jansen added that it gives him confidence the company’s automation efforts “can go even further.”
Citing an unnamed source close to the company, the FT report added that the cuts will also affect 15,000 fiber engineers and 10,000 maintenance workers.
The company is currently in the midst of a nationwide fiber rollout and a telecom workers’ union spokesperson told the Guardian they had expected the newer infrastructure would lead to lower labor requirements but said they have told the company that “any reduction should come from subcontractors…and natural attrition.”
BT’s announcement comes just days after another British telecoms giant, Vodafone, announced it was planning to cut 11,000 jobs over the next three years. Unlike BT, Vodafone said its cuts were part of an effort to remain competitive as it negotiates a potential merger with another British telecoms operator, Three. If the merger goes through, the U.K. could be left with just three major mobile operators—the other two being O2 and EE.
The rapid emergence of generative AI tools like ChatGPT has triggered a discussion on how the tool could be used in the workplace, with companies taking different approaches. Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs disclosed it was using generative AI tools to help its software developers write and test code. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna was more direct, telling Bloomberg that the company will stop hiring people for roles that AI can fulfill. Others like Samsung, Amazon, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo have banned their staffers from using AI-powered chatbots at work. These bans, however, stem from concerns about the data handling practices of companies operating the chatbots and potential leak of proprietary data, rather than broader concerns about the use of AI.
BT to cut up to 42% of workforce by end of decade (Financial Times)