The Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price is currently up as its artificial intelligence play makes headlines.
Telstra’s AI idea
The telco giant is going to work with Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) controlled Quantium to help accelerate its use of AI, according to reporting by the Australian Financial Review.
The AFR reported that Telstra and Quantium form a joint venture that will start by developing products and services for Telstra’s enterprise customers in industries like mining, agribusiness and logistics.
Telstra can provide the data, whilst the analytics and AI capabilities will be provided by Quantium.
The Telstra CEO, Andy Penn, believes that this partnership will mean that it will be able to attract some of the top data talent. Mr Penn said to the AFR:
“We will effectively identify the problems and the projects that we can work jointly on, and then we’ll apply our respective resources to go solve them. This is about accelerating what we’re already doing, but accelerating it by partnering with these guys, who are absolutely world-leading in the work that they’re doing.”
What is the telco going to do with the data?
There is a lot more data since the onset of the pandemic, with 5,000 internet of things (IoT) devices being connected every week.
Quantium co-founder and chief executive Adam Driussi said work on these IoT data sets was a large attraction of the deal:
“We think there’s a big opportunity to turn it from basically network and connectivity to actual insights and value for businesses. And that’s what we’re really interested in.”
This is just one area of the partnership. In time, Telstra hopes the JV will mean more AI can be used throughout the business. For example, the AFR reported that AI could help with personalised offers and loyalty rewards, make better credit decisions or identify and prevent fraudulent activity.
Summary thoughts on the Telstra share price
Telstra shares have risen by 26% over the last year as the outlook for the business improves. It’s expecting profit growth to return and it’s making interesting diversification plays like Digicel. As a blue chip, I think Telstra could be worth watching. It seems to be turning things around, but it’s not high on my overall watchlist at the moment.
There are quite a few other ASX dividend shares I believe have more growth potential.
