The Pulse
AT&T Plans More Job Cuts as AI Reworks Its Telecom Network
AT&T has cut about 2,100 jobs in the first half of 2026 and says its workforce will shrink further as AI and network automation spread. The company is also retiring copper infrastructure, moving telecom functions into software and hiring fo
AI.info Team ·
AT&T employed nearly 131,000 people as of June, but the company says it will not have the same headcount five years from now. The telecom giant has already cut about 2,100 jobs in the first half of 2026, after eliminating 8,000 positions in 2025, and it is tying further reductions to AI, network automation and the retirement of older infrastructure.
“We’re not going to have the same headcount in five years as we do today,” Jeremy Legg, AT&T’s chief technology officer, tells WIRED. AT&T disputes a figure described by a person familiar with the company as a possible target of about 85,000 employees by 2030, but Legg confirms that staffing will continue to decline.
AT&T’s workforce is already less than half its former size
AT&T has shed more than half of its workforce over the past decade. The company’s latest reductions come as executives argue that its operations remain more labor-intensive than those of rivals Verizon and T-Mobile, which have also cut staff.
Public financial disclosures show AT&T generated less revenue per employee last year than those competitors. Legg says the company’s staffing decisions take peer comparisons into account, alongside the savings created by software that can handle work once assigned to customer-service teams, developers, technicians and managers.
John Stankey, AT&T’s chief executive, described the company’s target for the end of the decade as a “dramatically different” business built around fiber internet and wireless service. The shift leaves less room for the company’s legacy telephone operations, which still depend on aging systems and manual processes.
AI reaches from customer service to network repair
AT&T uses AI in customer service, software development and network operations. Its systems help identify locations for new cell towers, detect maintenance problems and manage service issues. GeoModeler, a generative AI system developed by AT&T, can adjust network settings during rare events such as extreme weather.
The company is also automating work that still depends on paper records. A customer disconnecting a traditional phone line can trigger processes that once required employees to handle forms and update systems manually. AT&T is replacing parts of that workflow with software as it dismantles the business built around landlines and DSL.
AT&T says its internal AI platform, Ask AT&T, processed an average of 27 billion tokens per day during 2025. The company’s sustainability report says its use of generative AI contributed to $1 billion in total cost savings last year and that AT&T expects AI to support a broader $4 billion savings commitment through 2028. The report also says 20,000 employees received Microsoft Copilot licenses in 2025.
Central offices give way to cloud software
Beginning in 2027, AT&T plans to replace physical equipment at thousands of central hubs with cloud software from DriveNets, an Israeli startup in which AT&T is an investor. The change will let technicians make certain network adjustments remotely, including changes requested by customers who want faster internet service.
That transition is expected to reduce the need for some middle managers and junior developers. It also changes the work left for technicians: fewer tasks will involve maintaining hardware in central offices, while more will involve fiber networks, software platforms and automated systems.
AT&T’s shift away from copper has an energy component as well. The company says total energy consumption fell 13.1 percent from 2020 through the end of 2025. Since 2024, moving away from copper has saved 660,000 megawatt-hours of electricity, according to AT&T—roughly the annual consumption of 65,000 homes.
Fewer workers, different jobs
Legg says AT&T expects to keep hiring even as its total workforce contracts. The new jobs will center on developing and governing AI agents, monitoring automated processes and maintaining fiber lines.
AT&T’s own responsible-AI policy says the company intends for AI to enhance rather than replace its workforce. It requires employees to complete training on AI policies before accessing internal generative-AI tools, and its Ask AT&T Academy offers foundational, intermediate and advanced courses.
The company’s public position does not remove the tension between reskilling and reduction. Jobs in the US telecommunications industry have declined for 25 years, according to federal data cited by WIRED, and AI may accelerate that trend even where executives describe the change as productivity improvement.
The copper network is leaving with the old AT&T
AT&T is also decommissioning the copper network that carried traditional telephone service and DSL internet. The company must often obtain state or federal approval before ending those services, particularly in rural areas where customers may lack a practical alternative. Local opposition has already emerged in communities concerned about losing landline access.
The company’s future network will rely more heavily on fiber, wireless systems and software-controlled operations. That model promises lower maintenance costs and fewer manual interventions, but it also leaves AT&T with a smaller workforce responsible for a more automated system.
AT&T’s calculation is direct: fewer employees, less legacy equipment and more software should produce a leaner company. The open question is how many of the jobs being removed will return in new technical roles—and how many workers can make that transition before the older work disappears.