Mobile Industry Launches Open AI Standard
The GSMA, the global mobile industry association, has launched the “Open Telco AI” initiative. The project aims to bring together major carriers and vendors to create open standards for deploying AI in network management, automation, and customer experience.
The push for this standard stems from a significant performance gap; general-purpose AI models often struggle to understand the specific complexities of network data and operational standards. This has limited progress, with only 16% of generative AI deployments in the telecom sector being applied to network operations. Founding supporters of the initiative include carrier AT&T and chip manufacturer AMD. AT&T is contributing by releasing a family of open telco AI models, while AMD, in partnership with TensorWave, is providing the necessary computing power for training and fine-tuning these systems. The collaboration extends beyond the founding members to include over two dozen organizations worldwide. Key contributors providing data, models, and use cases include Huawei, KDDI, KPN, LG Uplus, Nvidia, Ooredoo, Orange, SK Telecom, Softbank, Swisscom, and Turkcell. A central part of the initiative is a new online portal that offers access to open models, curated datasets, and benchmarking tools. This includes knowledge graphs and synthetic data pipelines from partners like NVIDIA and various universities. The goal is to create AI that can handle the precision and reliability demanded by the telecom industry. Performance and progress will be measured through a new "Telco Capability Index." This index will assess how well different AI models perform on a range of tasks specifically designed for the telecommunications field.
