AT&T trains 50,000 employees in AI, achieves 2x ROI, and sets sights on billions in savings

These days, it's all about AI, and it's not just Galaxy AI or Apple Intelligence that the typical smartphone user has close encounters with. Carriers like AT&T are betting heavy on artificial intelligence… and it pays off handsomely.

For example, AT&T has been investing in AI and these investments are already pulling double duty. For every dollar the company has poured into generative AI, it's getting two back, and that can't be bad (for AT&T shareholders, at least). With a $3 billion savings target in sight, it turns out AT&T and AI go hand in hand together.

It's especially important for AT&T to embrace AI – after all, that's a company rooted in technological innovation since the days of Alexander Graham Bell.

Chief Data and AI Officer at AT&T Andy Markus had a chat with Forbes about AI and the company's goals:



Markus, who joined AT&T in 2020, oversees AI and data initiatives that span consumer, business, and internal functions. He explains that AI is no longer limited to technical teams; it is being embedded into everyday workflows across the company. As a result, over 50,000 employees have already completed formal AI training, preparing the workforce to fully participate in this shift.



AT&T currently runs more than 600 machine learning and AI models in production, with thousands of generative AI use cases under review. The company's efforts are already paying off: for every dollar invested in generative AI, AT&T has seen a 2X ROI (Return of Investment). Markus sees this momentum continuing, with AI contributing toward AT&T's broader cost-savings goal of $3 billion annually by the end of 2027.

The company's commitment to AI includes tangible applications like fraud detection, robocall prevention, dispatch optimization, and a generative AI-powered employee tool known as Ask AT&T. These initiatives not only improve customer experience but also enhance internal efficiency.

AT&T's approach is grounded in governance, cross-functional collaboration, and data integrity. With nearly 900 petabytes of data flowing across its network daily, responsible management is a top priority.

Looking ahead, AT&T is preparing for the next phase of AI: agentic systems that can take autonomous actions. Markus sees no ceiling to what AI can bring.

Personally, I'm excited for tools that aid us, but I can't ignore the increasingly loud warnings from left and right regarding AI. Some analysts argue that today's market darlings are more overvalued than tech stocks were before the dot-com crash, driven by inflated expectations and sky-high price-to-earnings ratios. Billions are being poured into infrastructure and talent, but with no clear endgame and growing global competition, there's a creeping sense that this AI gold rush might end in a painful market reckoning.

Let's hope that's not the case, though!

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