AI Governance / Security / Privacy
AT&T and T-Mobile tighten safeguards as AI agents gain access to customer data and network systems
The two US carriers told Reuters they are increasing security investment as AI takes on network tasks. AT&T is checking whether third-party AI agents seeking account access act for real customers.
AT&T and T-Mobile are increasing cybersecurity investment as they expand AI across network operations, according to CDO Magazine, which reports comments their technology chiefs gave Reuters on 23 October.
According to the report, AT&T uses encryption, multifactor authentication and human oversight of data access. It is also working to verify whether third-party AI agents requesting customer-account access act on behalf of legitimate customers. AT&T CTO Jeremy Legg warned that third-party software and AI agents create risks beyond a carrier’s own network, including both data breaches and network disruptions. T-Mobile CTO John Saw said the carrier is investing more in threat monitoring and response and working with vendors to close security gaps.
Both carriers already use AI operationally: AT&T to analyse trouble tickets and sometimes apply fixes automatically, T-Mobile to adjust cell-site antennas when nearby sites fail. Legg said fully autonomous networks remain “years away”.
Editor’s note: This article relies on a single secondary report, which itself draws on executive comments given to Reuters.
Why it matters
The AT&T example shows that agent identity is becoming an access-control problem: organisations exposing customer data through APIs or service channels need a way to tell whether an inbound AI agent is genuinely authorised by the customer. Internally, agent permissions should be defined at the level of which data an agent may read, which actions it may trigger and where human approval is required, rather than inherited from conventional application roles. Where agents interact with third-party software, data owners and security teams should map where responsibility for protecting the data sits across that boundary.
Status: Published. Executive comments to Reuters on 23 October, reported by CDO Magazine
Sources
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Governance areas
Who should care
- CISO
- AI governance lead
- CDO
- DPO