LIVE FROM GSMA MOBILE 360 SERIES – LATIN AMERICA, BUENOS AIRES: There are many ways operators can take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) including to improve security and repair networks, panellists explained in a session dealing with the economic opportunities of the technology.

Sanjay Aiyagari, telecommunications solutions architect at Red Hat (pictured, far right) noted that as the amount of data operators have on users increases at a staggering speed, methods to hack it are also becoming more and more sophisticated.

It is no longer enough to use traditional methods of security and AI can be used to, for instance, detect unusual patters of behaviour in systems, he explained.

Another area operators should look into is proactive fault management. Aiyagari said network failure is a key reason customers can become frustrated and it can be mitigated if AI is used to pick up on issues as soon as they arise, rather than when the network goes down. This will also help keep repair costs down.

He said other common problems can be fixed with intelligent network management, citing users being unable to access data services in a large stadium when it is full due to insufficient routing capacity as an example.

Max Izatt, director and chief data scientist at Hitachi Consulting (pictured separately, right), echoed these sentiments, adding operators which take a lead in deploying AI and machine learning will gain a competitive advantage.

He said operators can use AI to dramatically improve customer experiences; increase access to services; make operational processes efficient and less expensive; and enable new revenue streams.

Bots
Meanwhile, Juan Andres Biondi, head of AI at Aivo (pictured, second from right), which offers enterprises customer service solutions, said its clients are typically able to cut their customer service costs by 52 per cent.

He noted using chatbots to establish first contact with customers improves relationships because bots are available 24 hours a day, are empathetic and can respond without delays.

Jeronimo Martinez Campins, business development executive at IBM Latin America, (pictured, centre) said in the future AI will evolve and be integrated with IoT, blockchain, big data and quantum technology.