Telstra to splash $700m on AI joint venture

Australia’s largest telco, Telstra, will splash $700 million on rolling out artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities across the company, through a new joint venture with consultancy giant Accenture.

Telstra’s manoeuvre comes after investment giant Macquarie also raised its bets on AI, announcing that the funds it manages will invest up to $US5 billion ($8 billion) in data centres, through a partnership with US-based data centre provider Applied Digital.

Telstra chief executive Vicki Brady said on Wednesday the company would invest $100 million per year over seven years, which will see specialists from the telco and Accenture team up to improve business processes through AI. The telco will consolidate its 18 data and AI providers down to just two, and will build specialised AI tools for its teams to “work smarter and faster”.

The spending represents one of the largest investments in AI by an Australian company to date. It could lead to further job losses for Telstra, however, which last year announced plans to cut up to 2800 workers, about 10 per cent of its workforce.

The joint venture will be subject to consultation with employees and unions, and the Communications Workers Union was contacted for comment.

“We’ve made strong progress on our AI goals and already have hundreds of value-driving AI use-cases across the business,” Brady said.

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“But our data and AI ambition goes well beyond introducing AI tools … From building self-healing, resilient networks to reinventing experiences for our customers and the way we work, AI will help power an exciting, connected future.”

Telstra announced in June it was the first Australian company and one of six companies globally to join the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) business council focused on ethical AI, which will work to develop an ethical impact assessment tool and joint initiatives to ensure the technology serves the public good.