Optus turns to Google and Anthropic to power its AI strategy
The telco says AI tools developed under its new strategy are lifting productivity and sales as it works to rebuild trust after a string of reputational hits.
Optus has partnered with Google and Anthropic to develop a suite of artificial intelligence tools that now underpin its broader AI strategy — one the telco says is both boosting revenue and cutting costs.
Revealing the strategy for the first time to Capital Brief, Optus vice-president of AI, Samantha Lawson, said the company had stayed quiet until it could point to measurable outcomes, and because it was focused on recovering its reputation.
“We had bumpy media coverage around the cyber event and the outage, it was a period where we wanted to focus on building trust,” Lawson told Capital Brief. “AI could go one of two ways, it can go into, ‘Does that mean you’re harvesting jobs, cost cutting' — doom and gloom.”
“I felt like it was an exposure we didn’t necessarily need to invite at that particular time.”
