T-Mobile employees get AI superpowers to ‘predict’ and solve your problems

T-Mobile is rolling out some impressive AI-powered tools, hoping to transform customer service within its retail and care channels. Internal documents obtained by The Mobile Report have revealed T-Mobile’s Superpowers project, which uses three core tools to streamline support for both retail stores and customer care channels.

• GenAI Chat: Think of it as T-Mobile’s own ChatGPT, an always-available expert that can sift through T-Mobile’s vast internal knowledge base resources and help employees who need quick, accurate answers to complex questions and support them during difficult customer conversations.
• Promo Genius: This tool tackles the challenges of matching the perfect promotion to a customer’s needs. It uses dynamic filters to pinpoint the most relevant and value-focused promotions quickly.
• Next Best Action (NBA) in Retail: Probably the most impressive feature is the NBA, which is set to debut on May 1. As the name suggests, this system will provide real-time, personalized recommendations for the next best action during a customer interaction, fueled by vast amounts of data points about the customers.

The publication also came across a now-deleted Reddit thread that gave a glimpse into how some employees feel about these new AI tools. While some were excited about the potential to compare device specs easily, others bemoaned outdated information and clunky prompt requirements. Some users also raised concerns about AI being used for employee feedback, suggesting a distrust in whether the technology can replace the nuance of human leadership.

The future of customer service

T-Mobile’s Superpowers project could be the foundation of a radically automated future for the company and the industry in general. The above image obtained by The Mobile Report reveals further automation initiatives by T-Mobile, such as Expert Head Start and Expert Recap.

Expert Head Start is the name of the company’s predictive system, which would tap into “network, billing, and customer data” ( possibly including data collected from T-Mobile’s controversial customer profiling feature) to predict why someone is reaching out.

It would then proactively suggest the ‘next best action,’ arming employees before the conversation even begins. If executed without rigorous data anonymization, this could raise some privacy concerns as it blurs the boundaries between personalized service and potential data overreach.

Expert Recap would use the power of generative AI to summarize entire calls and chat conversations automatically. Employees, managers, and even customers would have an easily digestible reference point detailing the discussion, actions taken, and what to expect next.

These tools point to a future where AI isn’t just a support assistant for T-Mobile employees — it could become the driving force behind customer interactions. In the short term, customers may benefit from smoother interactions, better-matched promotions, and more informed support. As for the long-term impact of relying so heavily on AI, well, we’ll probably find out soon enough.

Is T-Mobile’s embrace of AI a step forward for customer service or a worrisome trend? Share your thoughts in the comments.