The GSMA has launched the first industry-wide Responsible AI (RAI) Maturity Roadmap to provide telecoms operators with the tools and guidance to test and assess their responsible use of the technology.
Recognizing that the overall opportunity derived from the expanded use of AI within the telecoms sector is estimated by McKinsey to be as high as USD 680 billion over the next 15-20 years, the GSMA is uniting the industry, imploring stakeholders to use the technology ethically and responsibly. This is the first time a whole sector has committed to a common approach to AI.
Nineteen MNOs—Axiata, BT Group, Deutsche Telekom, du, e& UAE, Globe, KPN, MTN, Orange, Singtel, stc, Telefónica, Telenor, Telia, Telstra, Turkcell, TIM, True, and Vodafone—have already committed to using the roadmap as a way of tracking, maintaining and improving their responsible use of AI.
José María Álvarez-Pallete López, GSMA Board Chair and Chairman & CEO of Telefónica, said, “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.”
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Providing Guidance for Telcos
The roadmap, developed based on insights by McKinsey and a group of operators, will allow telecom players to assess where they currently stand in terms of their existing maturity in using AI responsibly against where they want to go, i.e. their ambitions and needs. It then provides clear guidance and measurement tools to help fulfil those ambitions, while ensuring industry-wide best practice in the responsible use of the technology.
Its development follows the well-established commitments of many mobile network operators (MNOs), which have, thus far, committed to ensuring the exploration and integration of AI within their initiatives has been (and will be) implemented in ethical and responsible ways.
Following extensive industry consultation, the GSMA has taken these approaches and combined them with existing global regulations, recommendations and standards from international organizations including the OECD, and the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI, resulting in a roadmap the whole industry can refer to during the implementation of RAI.
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Five Core Dimensions
The RAI Maturity Roadmap is underpinned by five core underlying dimensions: the vision, values and strategic goals of an organization; its operating model and how to maintain AI governance across all operations; technical controls aligned with regulatory requirements; collaboration with third-party ecosystems; as well as corporate change management and communication strategies.
By providing greater clarity and a common approach to the responsible use of AI, the GSMA’s industry roadmap will give MNOs the confidence to commit to its adoption, while soothing them with the knowledge that they are doing so in established, agreed upon, and ethical ways. This approach will unlock the technology’s full potential quicker.
Mats Granryd, Director General of the GSMA, said, “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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