BT CEO Allison Kirkby warns AI could force deeper job cuts
British telecom giant BT is bracing for more layoffs thanks to AI. CEO Allison Kirkby told the Financial Times on Sunday that the firm’s planned cut of 55,000 jobs by 2030 "did not reflect" AI’s "full potential." She added BT might shrink further by the decade’s end depending on AI progress.
BT already leverages AI for customer service and sales. In 2024, it rolled out generative AI across BT and EE, its mobile unit. EE’s virtual assistant “Aimee” now handles 60,000 customer conversations weekly. 
Swedish payments firm Klarna is on the same path. Its OpenAI-powered AI took over the work of 700 customer service agents. Klarna’s CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said their workforce shrank from 5,500 to 3,000 in two years due to AI efficiency. However, he recently softened on cost cuts, saying they went too far and started hiring again.
Siemiatkowski also warned AI threatens white-collar jobs, possibly triggering a short-term recession.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei raised the alarm that AI might wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs in the next five years.
Amodei told Axios:
"We, as the producers of this technology, have a duty and an obligation to be honest about what is coming."
"I don’t think this is on people’s radar."
