Technology and Innovation
Artificial Intelligence
We live in a world with intelligent machines and software agents that can better understand and assist us.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science that focuses on the development of smart machines or technologies capable of performing tasks that normally require a human brain.
AI is already starting to touch elements of everyday life—common use cases would include voice-activated mobile or home assistants that can respond to queries in real-time.
AI is often also considered a pot of mechanisms for solving complex problems that have remained unsolved so far. For example, fast search algorithms were once considered part of AI. Therefore, by its definition, AI is an ongoing, ever-changing field—there will always be new challenges to solve.
AI at Vodafone
Developing this technology and understanding what it could mean for both our business operations and our customers is something we’re passionate about exploring.
As AI grows in usage and impact across geographies and industries, Vodafone has a responsibility to consider how our use of this technology affects our customers, our employees, and wider society.
We believe it is critical to ensure that the AI technologies we create and employ are designed to respect the privacy and security of the end user’s data and their associated fundamental rights. The customer data we use is pseudonymised and permissioned. We will also seek to make AI-driven decisions that are fair and free of any harmful bias.
How we work with AI
We are using AI to power applications that help us operate our networks smartly or optimise them across markets. For example, AI helps:
Spot anomalies in our radio networks, or detect radio interference and determine where it is coming from.
Predict future problems with equipment, enabling us to act faster and carry out preventative maintenance.
Predict changes in network traffic, allowing us to ensure we can meet demand and continue providing a great user experience for our customers.
AI helps us engage with our customers and manage enquiries
TOBi, Vodafone’s virtual customer assistant, is a good example of how we’re using AI technology to help improve our customer experience across our markets. TOBi offers 24/7 customer support and uses AI to help answer customer queries in a matter of seconds, enabling our customer call teams to focus on supporting customers with more complicated needs or requests.
Putting customer and business security first
AI technology is at the heart of various security technologies produced by Vodafone and also assists our teams in areas such as fraud detection.
AI-powered chatbots increase the speed with which customer enquiries can be resolved
AI techniques in our networks are used to identify where capacity is needed so that our customers can enjoy optimised data services, such as high-quality video streaming
An ethical approach to AI
We are committed to ensuring that our approach to working with AI technologies and the applications we create is responsible, respectful of data privacy and security, and able to make AI-driven decisions that are fair and free of any harmful bias.
All our work in the AI space is guided by Vodafone Group’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Framework.
View our Artificial Intelligence (AI) Framework
Growing AI responsibly
AI has the potential to unlock huge gains in productivity and efficiency. But for the promises of AI to be kept, the systems and their operators must be trustworthy, and reflect what users want.
We need intelligent regulation to grow AI responsibly. Governments, policymakers and the technology industry must strike the right balance between capturing AI’s potential to greatly increase productivity for businesses and improve everyday life for citizens, and tackling the risks that could be exploited by wrongdoers.
What is the future of AI at Vodafone?
We are developing new AI technologies and innovations to support our business activity and customers in a range of areas.
For example, AI innovations could play an active role in reducing our carbon footprint by supporting intelligent energy saving in operational networks and datacentres, or within new hardware and chipsets that operate more efficiently than current systems.
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