'Start of a trend' | BT's 55,000 jobs cuts ahead of AI ramp-up causes concern for HR experts

BT is to cut 55,000 jobs before the end of the decade - potentially over 40% of its workforce – and up to a fifth of these roles could be replaced with AI.

As per Reuters, the telecoms giant’s chief executive Philip Jansen said that after completing an ambitious national fibre network roll-out, digitising the way it worked, adopting artificial intelligence (AI) and simplifying its structure, BT would rely on a much smaller workforce and significantly reduced cost base by the end of the 2020s.