This is a guest post from Sharad Mehrotra, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of True Corporation
Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to rapidly transform Thailand in the next couple years. In the telecommunications space, it is already a powerful driver for change. As deputy CEO of True Corporation, I lead teams using machine learning and AI in three key areas: to better serve customers, to work more efficiently, and to improve our networks. In each of these cases, AI is accelerating our ability to perform as telecom tech company, bringing advanced services to our customers unlike anything before.
AI FOR CUSTOMERS
For consumers, AI is already revolutionizing the speed and level of personalization in the services True and dtac provide. In digital channels, such as our customer apps, machine learning is used to analyze usage patterns and best determine what is most valuable to each individual customer.
Even customers in shops benefit from these recommendations. Our salespersons and retailers can access AI-powered tips so that their knowledge and experience is enhanced with information that matches the specific customer they are serving.
The meshing of AI with brick and mortal shops is set to completely reshape retail experiences. True Digital has developed a solution for our business customers that can analyze customers’ behaviors in shops in real time to ensure shelves are always fully stocked and prices can be adjusted in seconds. This solution, named Virgo, has already been piloted at a Lotus’s, to create a convenient, cashier-less experience.
The power of AI to analyze vast amounts of data nearly in real-time—and to provide recommendations that are more accurate and timely—is not limited to retail. True has also developed business solutions in the fields of agriculture and health. This will boost the spread of smart farming and telemedicine, which can vastly improve healthcare at a time when the country’s population is aging and there are never enough doctors.
AI FOR NETWORKS
As our world becomes more complex, the use of AI becomes obligatory in some areas. Mobile networks, for example, have never been more complicated. Today, 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G technologies are all running simultaneously. We must rely on the power and intelligence of machine learning to operate these systems smoothly.
In addition, AI can reduce networks’ energy consumption. True Corporation has committed to very ambitious climate targets: carbon neutral by 2030 and net zero by 2050. To support these targets, AI is able to analyze usage at specific sites to accurately predict future usage. This allows the site to shut down some antennas during off-hours, and ramp capacity back up when needed. In doing so, we can achieve energy savings of up to 20% without affecting the customer experience.
AI FOR THE FUTURE
These use cases prove that the convergence of 5G, the internet of things and artificial intelligence can be a game changer for the industrial internet in terms of resilience and efficiency. And True is ideally positioned to bring these benefits to Thailand’s cities, its factories and its energy grid.
We also recognize that as the use of AI grows, so do ethical concerns about its use. However, AI can also be an opportunity to improve the safety of consumers. For example, dtac and True shops are already on track to become 100% paperless thanks to AI. Instead of keeping customer records and photocopies of their IDs as paper documents, this data is entirely digitalized and processed by AI technology to ensure all customer data is kept digitally and securely.
In addition to privacy, we are committed to developing clear ethical boundaries for this technology. AI must not be biased and we must be able to explain its decisions to humans. Most crucially, an AI must do no harm to humans to be allowed to exist.
With clear ethical guidelines, AI will be a powerful tool for True’s transformation into a telecom tech company. And it will be a critical force to achieve Thailand’s goals in terms of climate, healthcare and digitalization.
