Generic telco AI platforms will be driven by open source, but it will be years before widespread commercial deployment [telecom]

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Oyster Bay, New York - 17 Oct 2018

The use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in the telecom domain is now an established practice and chatbots, customer services, and network management are areas where AI is part of everyday operations. The latest report by ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing strategic guidance on the most compelling transformative technologies, has identified that the latest trend for AI development in telecoms: AI platforms that focus on generic use rather than individual use cases.

"Despite the widespread use of AI and machine learning across many separated telecoms domains, AI platforms are now the top concern for leading mobile service providers globally, including AT&T, Deutsche Telecom, Telefonica, and Vodaphone." said Dimitris Mavrakis, Research Director at ABI Research. "The promise of these platforms is great, but there is still heavy development to be done and many mobile service providers are still not sure where to place their bets. Initiatives like AT&T's open sourced Project Acumos illustrate that open source will be the most suitable development environment for these telecom AI platforms, potentially meaning trouble for established AI vendors, such as Amazon, Google, and IBM."