Orange CTIO Bruno Zerbib (pictured) put forward the case for generative AI (GenAI) to live up to the hype, telling Mobile World Live there is a difference between the chat around the technology and metaverse excitement of 2022.

In what was a rare mention of the once massively hyped metaverse from a mobile executive in 2024, Zerbib believes there is no doubt GenAI is delivering on its lofty billing in some areas, though acknowledged there had been some underwhelming use cases.

“Clearly we got burned with the metaverse two years ago”, he said while discussing the current hype technology. “I think here we have use cases where AI has been underwhelming, so if you want to be a detractor of AI you have enough to say it’s too expensive, it didn’t pay off, why would I need this kind of assistant on my PC to do this and that?”

“At the same time, if you’re talking about operational excellence, transforming your network, reinventing customer relationships, all those things, there’s no doubt it’s living up to the hype”.

Speaking at the operator’s OpenTech 2024 event in Paris earlier this week, where Orange outlined progress with the technology, the executive noted there remained a “major question mark around cost” for some AI applications, citing speech-to-speech as “very costly”.

As the technology continues to evolve, Zerbib said “we are going to have to ask ourselves what are the economics” for specific use cases.

“We’re not dogmatic about AI. We love it but we’re not dogmatic. We’re balancing out cost, responsibility and, at the same time, the potential to make the company a better company”.

Environmental impact
Orange, as with many others in the ecosystem, has longstanding environmental commitments in place, including a pledge of achieving net zero carbon by 2040. The executive noted “AI doesn’t help us right now” in this regard.

“As you know it’s not just up to us, it’s the entire ecosystem” he highlighted pointing to a need to see “what are the providers of AI doing as well”.

“What we see clearly right now with those big hyperscalers, there are a lot of worries about having access to clean energy”, he said, pointing to deals between big tech providers and nuclear energy companies.

“But that’s not enough and we’re not completely fully relying on the world going nuclear to address the problem, we also believe in frugal AI”.

In terms of Orange’s own use of GenAI, Zerbib highlighted its policy is to be “very diligent with regards to what use cases are going to be powered by AI, not using GenAI everywhere where it’s not justified”.

He also noted “sometimes humans will be more interesting and competitive”, highlighting the technology would aid employees rather than replace them.