Move over, 5G: There’s a new acronym dominating telecom boardrooms.

A majority of surveyed telecom professionals reported that “AI is important to their company’s success,” according to a recent Nvidia report that queried more than 400 people, from C-suite executives to IT managers.

• 48% of respondents said they were assessing or using AI technology in a pilot phase as of 2023
• 41% reported they were actively implementing AI
• Only 10% of those surveyed weren’t using or experimenting with AI at all

Breakout star: Nvidia found that generative AI—in which large language models can spin up new content based on the data fed into them—broke into the industry in a big way last year.

• The application didn’t even factor into the company’s 2022 survey, but in 2023, 43% of respondents “reported they were investing in it, showing clear evidence that the telecom industry is enthusiastically embracing the generative AI wave to address a wide variety of business needs,” according to the report.

Improved customer service and employee productivity are the main areas where telecom companies are applying AI, Nvidia found, but it’s growing in popularity for internal management, too.

Keep reading here.—KG

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EE, one of the UK’s largest telecommunications companies, opened a new flagship in 2023 in the Westfield London shopping center in the capital’s White City district.

Mobile carriers and internet service providers, like Verizon and Comcast on US shores, tend to be boutique-sized, which is plenty of space to show the latest phone models and accessories, but the new store occupies 4,230 square feet of space.

More than just showcasing products, it functions in some ways like a science museum, with what the brand calls “experience zones” that essentially are interactive exhibits. Each evokes a different room of the home and demonstrates how technology could transform those rooms.

Richard Bennett, creative director at London’s Dalziel & Pow, which designed EE Studio in collaboration with Your Studio, explained that the store was designed to be an “experiential platform” to tell a “connected home technology story.”

Bennett said stores need to embrace such trends as storytelling and experiential design to engage consumers.

Keep reading on Retail Brew.—AAN

Coworking is a weekly segment where we spotlight Tech Brew readers who work with emerging technologies. Click here if you’d like a chance to be featured.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in tech?

I think about my role in comparison to a producer on a film set: Essentially, the core of my work as chief product officer at 1Password is establishing a continuous feedback loop between our existing and future customers, as well as the product team of engineers, designers, and product managers. My role is dynamic and constantly evolving because our customers’ needs are never static—and that’s why I love it.

I’m in an interesting spot where I have one foot planted in the world of our customers’ business outcomes and the other in building technology, which has forced me to grow both of these skills.

What’s the most compelling tech project you’ve worked on, and why?

One of the most notable projects I’ve been a part of was centered around offline login to laptops.

At Duo, we had a really interesting Challenge: To facilitate offline multi-factor authentication (MFA) for users in sensitive government buildings or on airplanes. I was really proud of the engineer who ended up designing the solution for that problem, which ultimately led to a patent application. Our success came from being incredibly entrenched in emphasizing our customers’ needs.

What technologies are you most optimistic about? Least? And why?

I’m most optimistic about going passwordless with passkeys; they’re our best shot at eliminating the hassles that come with passwords and MFA, while removing the reward for hackers. It’s been exciting to see adoption taking off this past year, especially with Big Tech giants like Amazon, X, Google, and TikTok leading the way.

Keep reading here.

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