Unprecedented T-Mobile investment making employees wonder if jobs are on chopping board

In September, T-Mobile announced it was entering a multi-year partnership with ChatGPT creator OpenAI to develop an AI-powered decision-making platform called IntentCX. A report has now unearthed the monetary value of the carrier’s investment in the AI behemoth.

According to a paywalled report from The Information, T-Mobile will pay OpenAI around $100 million over the next three years as part of the deal.

T-Mobile had previously revealed that IntentCX would be able to access customer data and real-time information from the company’s network and T-Life app to provide individualized, context-based solutions to customers and take action on their behalf. The company also said that it was planning to launch the platform in 2025.

T-Mobile had not disclosed the extent of the investment. It has now come to light that the deal with T-Mobile is potentially one of the largest contracts OpenAI has struck with a business customer.

The carrier will use OpenAI’s models to develop its new customer service chatbot, which will handle most interactions without the need for a human agent. The report notes that as companies increase their AI budgets, they are cutting back elsewhere.

This development has T-Mobile employees worried, many of whom are wondering whether the rollout of the new platform will lead to job cuts.

Customers, on the other hand, are not happy with the prospect of their data being handed off to OpenAI.

While those are valid concerns, it’s also possible that IntentCX will make things better for everyone – stepping in to help customer service representatives with mundane and repetitive staff and improving the support experience for clients.

Mike Sievert, T-Mobile CEO, September 2024