Liberty Global CTO outlines cautious approach to AI

• Liberty Global hosted a panel discussion focused on AI 
• The company is taking a cautious approach to AI, stated CTO Enrique Rodriguez
• The technology is set to affect four key areas at the telco group’s business
• Rodriguez targets up to three ‘superstar’ use cases for AI

LONDON – Caution appears to be the buzzword at Liberty Global as it considers its AI options, with the telco group’s technology chief noting during a media briefing here in the UK capital this week that the company believes AI can ultimately reshape four key elements of its business.

During a panel discussion in central London, the CTO of Liberty Global, Enrique Rodriguez (pictured above, second from left to right), outlined the company’s plans to adopt AI across its operations.

“We are generally cautious about it,” stated Rodriguez. “We did not start by getting a $200m budget and spending it on fancy stuff. But we think that we’re going to deploy at scale as we encounter these places where we can get significant benefits,” he added.

Diving into specific areas of interest, he pointed to four key pieces of Liberty Global’s business that AI is set to impact. AI will affect “the way we communicate and interact with customers  – that’s everything from the way we market, to the way that we provide customer care and how we package our products and services.”

Then there is “the way that AI will improve our operations – these are things like using AI to save power on mobile towers”, he said.

Another area of exploration involves assessing how AI can improve features, products and services, including how to make them “more approachable to end customers”.

Lastly, the company is exploring how to use AI to make its employees “more efficient, more satisfied with their jobs”.

But overall, “we don’t think that there will be a material change to business,” noted Rodriguez. “Across those four different pillars, we have identified some initiatives that we think are going to help us both get educated about AI as the technology is getting developed, as well as identify the places where it has the most impact both to our customers and to our business,” Liberty Global’s tech chief explained.

Looking beyond Liberty Global’s own operations, he also shared his vision on the overall impact of AI on the telco industry. Rodriguez believes the sector will find between one and three ‘superstar use cases’, and he pinpointed customer care and network energy management as likely contenders.

Aside from these two applications – which have also been repeatedly highlighted by many other telco executives – he pointed to another, less obvious, area that he believes will be affected by AI. “I would love to find a superstar use case that is more about happy moments, when the customers are actually using the products, and making AI a better tool to delight customers as they consume our services,” stated Rodriguez.

He believes that, as a whole, the industry will find up to three use cases and then “the ball will just start rolling from there, because the fundamentals of AI as an overall benefit are there – and we just have to make sure that we find them and get something tangible”.

- Yanitsa Boyadzhieva, Deputy Editor, TelecomTV