AT&T and T-Mobile are expanding AI use in network operations while keeping engineers involved. T-Mobile’s differing storm-recovery figures complicate assessment of its automation claims.
AT&T Chief Technology Officer Jeremy Legg told Reuters that full control of network operations by AI remains years away because complex failures still need human intervention. He also told Reuters that risks from third-party software and AI agents reach beyond AT&T’s own systems. T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer John Saw said the company is increasing investment in monitoring and response, and is working with vendors on security gaps. “Yes, we are increasing our investments in how we monitor and react,” Saw told Reuters at the Reuters Global Markets Forum.
AT&T says its agent workflows include human checkpoints, logged actions and role-based access controls. In a company example, agents triage a network incident and prepare a repair option for an engineer to review.
T-Mobile says its AutoPilot capability builds on its Self-Organizing Network, or SON. When a cell site goes offline, AutoPilot can determine adjustments for surrounding sites to help limit coverage loss as engineers work to fix the failed site. The company says it is expanding AutoPilot nationwide.
During Winter Storm Fern in January 2026, T-Mobile said SON made more than 30,000 antenna adjustments and, along with generator deployments, helped restore coverage to 68% of customers who lost service within one hour and 98% within eight hours. The company also reported more than 250,000 additional minutes of site uptime across more than 30 states. Reuters reported that Saw gave different recovery figures: about 66% within an hour and 90% within eight hours. Reuters also reported that most customers regained service before power was restored. The two accounts do not explain the difference in recovery rates.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said T-Mobile agreed in 2024 to a $15.75 million civil penalty and a separate $15.75 million cybersecurity investment after investigations into incidents in 2021, 2022 and 2023. AT&T agreed to a $13 million settlement over a January 2023 breach of a vendor’s cloud environment. The FCC required AT&T to improve data governance and vendor oversight.
