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How much will AI boost telecom, media, and tech sectors
McKinsey said that anything not connected to AI will possibly be considered “obsolete” or “ineffective” within the next three years.
The use of generative AI (gen AI) in the technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) space is expected to generate between $380b to $690b for the sector’s economy, McKinsey and Company forecasted.
In its report, McKinsey said gen AI is projected to inject between $2.6t and $4.4t into the economy annually, while increasing the impact of all artificial intelligence by 15 to 40 percent.
In the TMT sector, the firm estimated a staggering economic impact across key domains: $60b to $100b in telecommunications, $80b to $130b in media, and about $240b to $460b in high-tech
According to McKinsey, telcos have the potential to achieve significant impact with gen AI across all key functions. Customer care and sales stand to gain the most, potentially improving productivity by 30% to 45% and a revenue increase of 3% to 5%.
On the labour side, up to 70% of repetitive work activities could be automated via gen AI to improve productivity. There is also potential for new efficiencies in knowledge search, validation, and synthesis, where some 60% of activity has the potential for automation, and gen AI tools could boost developer productivity by 20% to 45%.
With this, McKinsey said that anything not connected to AI will possibly be considered “obsolete” or “ineffective” within the next three years.
Hurdles in AI integration
Amid these opportunities, McKinsey research also emphasized the challenges in the journey towards AI integration such as organisational culture shifts, data quality, talent shortages, and regulatory complexities.
McKinsey added that effective risk mitigation strategies, change management, and deep embedding of technology into operations are essential for overcoming these challenges.
“Developing a system of protocols and guardrails (such as building ‘moderation’ models to check outputs for different risks and ensure users receive consistent responses) will be a crucial step toward mitigating the new risks introduced by gen AI,” McKinsey said.
“Another key will be change management—involving end users in the model development process and deeply embedding technology into their operations,” it added.
