BT to replace people with AI as up to 55,000 job cuts announced

The telecoms giant BT Group has said it will cut up to 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade as it completes its switch to fibre-optic broadband, with up to 10,000 of them lost to artificial intelligence.

It currently has 130,000 employees but it said that jobs will be lost as customers rely more on app-based communication rather than call centres.

BT said that once its new network full-fibre broadband and 5G network is rolled out, it will not need as many engineers to build and maintain it.