Vodafone is betting $1.5 billion on an AI deal

British telecom giant Vodafone is betting $1.5 billion to bring generative AI, digital, enterprise and cloud services to more than 300 million businesses and consumers across its European and African markets.

In a 10-year deal with software giant Microsoft, the company plans to replace its physical data centres with cheaper and scalable Azure cloud services. It now plans to use customer-focused AI developed with Microsoft's Azure OpenAI and Copilot technologies.

According to the company, the technology would help its customer service staff improve productivity and the quality of their conversations, instead of replacing them with AI.