New GSMA Roadmap aims to Offer Responsible AI in Telecoms
A new tool designed by non-profit mobile organisation GSMA is designed to help telco organisations adopt and measure responsible and ethical approaches to AI.
As McKinsey predicts AI opportunities in the telecoms sector to reach US$680bn over the next 15-20 years, the GSMA aims to unite the industry in using AI technology ethically and responsibly. This is one of the first times a whole sector has committed to a common approach to AI.
Known as the Responsible AI (RAI) Maturity Roadmap, it is designed to provide telecoms operators with the appropriate tools and guidance to test and assess their responsible use of the technology.
It is based on insights by McKinsey and a group of operators and hopes to allow telecoms organisations to assess where they currently stand in terms of their existing AI. It then provides clear guidance and measurement tools to help fulfil those ambitions, while ensuring industry-wide best practice.
The growing influence of AI in the telco sector
AI remains a vastly disruptive technology within the telco sector, as operators harness it to improve network performance and analyse data. As a result, telecom providers can be more proactive with their infrastructure and improve customer experience.
In developing guidelines, GSMA is just one of many mobile network operators (MNOs) that seek to ensure the exploration and integration of AI within their work. They seek to ensure that AI is being developed and deployed ethically - which is timely, given the continued global conversation surrounding AI regulation.
"The speed with which AI has now become a central part of tech and telecoms operations demonstrates its power and undoubted value, but also the risks we must consider as an industry and the need to include ethics at the heart of AI to prevent its uncontrolled development. It is crucial for us all to ensure responsible guidelines for the use of AI are implemented now, and it is great to see the telecoms industry leading the way on this with the GSMA’s new roadmap."
The organisation has taken extensive consultation across the industry to ensure its approach complies with existing global AI regulations, recommendations and standards. Some of the organisations it considered when making its roadmap include UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI to ensure its roadmap for the whole industry align on the use of RAI.
According to GSMA, its initiative has already been championed by Axiata, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica and Telstra. Likewise, 19 MNOs have already committed to using the roadmap as a way of tracking, maintaining and improving their responsible use of AI.
Maintaining AI governance
- The vision, values and strategic goals of an organisation
- Its operating model and how to maintain AI governance across all operations
- Technical controls aligned with regulatory requirements
- Collaboration with third-party ecosystems
- Corporate change management and communication strategies
For each of these dimensions, GSMA states the roadmap will guide organisations to take the appropriate steps to use AI responsibly relative to their level of maturity. It will also build on well-established best-practice principles, which include fairness, human agency and oversight, privacy and security, safety and robustness, transparency, accountability and environmental impact.
With this renewed clarity and cohesive approach to the responsible use of AI, GSMA’s roadmap hopes to offer MNOs greater confidence to commit to AI adoption - something which is now viewed as necessary in order to remain competitive. This can also act as an extra layer of reassurance, with MNOs aware they are harnessing AI in established and agreed ways, therefore enabling them to unlock greater technological value.
“The transformative potential of AI has long been apparent but its integration in our work and our lives must be done in a responsible and transparent way for it to be truly effective and sustainable,” says Mats Granryd, Director General of the GSMA. This roadmap will now empower more MNOs to embrace AI in the knowledge they, in line with the whole sector, are doing so responsibly and ethically.”
Mats adds: “Responsible AI is the right way to explore and unlock the many opportunities the technology presents, and the telecoms industry is proud to lead the way as the first sector to commit to this approach – we hope others will follow our example.”
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