Deutsche Telekom, SK Telecom e& and Singtel had previously formed the Global Telco AI Alliance
Korean carrier SK Telecom (SKT) and German operator Deutsche Telekom will jointly develop an industry-specific language model (LLM) as the initial step of the “Global Telco AI Alliance”, previously announced by Deutsche Telekom, e&, Singtel and SK Telecom.
The two telcos said that the new offering will be specially tailored to the requirements of digital assistants in customer service and will make easier for telecommunications companies to deploy generative AI models efficiently and quickly.
“AI shows impressive potential to significantly enhance human problem-solving capabilities. To maximize its use especially in customer service, we need to adapt existing large language models and train them with our unique data. This will elevate our generative AI tools,” said Claudia Nemat, member of the board of management for technology and innovation at Deutsche Telekom.
SKT and Deutsche Telekom plan to collaborate with AI companies such as Anthropic and Meta to co-develop a multilingual large language model (LLM) tailored to the needs of telcos. They plan to unveil the first version of the telco-specific LLM in the first quarter of 2024.
“Through our partnership with Deutsche Telekom, we have secured a strong opportunity and momentum to gain global AI leadership and drive new growth,” said Ryu Young-sang, CEO of SKT. “By combining the strengths and capabilities of the two companies in AI technology, platform and infrastructure, we expect to empower enterprises in many different industries to deliver new and higher value to their customers.”
The two telecommunications companies recently signed an agreement in Seoul for the joint development.
The partners highlighted that a telco-specific LLM provides a better understanding of customer inquiries about telecom services than general models, which makes this offering optimally tailored for use in customer service.
The aim of this new offering is to support telecommunications companies in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, in setting up their own digital assistants based on generative AI.
In July, SK Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, e& and Singtel had formed the Global Telco AI Alliance, with the main aim of creating a new customer experience through the use of AI technology.
The four members of the Global Telco AI Alliance agreed to make joint efforts to accelerate AI transformation of the existing telco business as well as develop new growth drivers through new AI-powered business models.
The four carriers said they will jointly develop the Telco AI Platform by combining their respective technologies and capabilities. The Telco AI Platform is expected to serve as the core foundation for new AI services, including those designed to improve the existing telco services, digital assistants and super apps that offer a wide range of services.
Also, in order to facilitate the cooperation, the carriers will form the Global Telco AI Alliance Joint Working Group, which will have detailed discussions on issues such as co-investment opportunities and the co-development of the Telco AI Platform to reach a definitive agreement.
The telcos also plan to support each other in operating AI services and apps in their respective markets and cooperate to build an ecosystem.