British telecoms giant BT may shed even more jobs than originally planned by 2030 due to the accelerating adoption of artificial intelligence, according to CEO Allison Kirkby.

In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Kirkby said that the company’s widely publicized plan to slash up to 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade may underestimate the full impact of emerging AI capabilities on the workforce.

“Depending on what we learn from AI… there may be an opportunity for BT to be even smaller by the end of the decade,” she said.

BT, which has more than 130,000 employees including contractors, first announced the 55,000 job-cut target in 2023 under former CEO Philip Jansen as part of a sweeping cost-reduction drive. But Kirkby, who took over in early 2024, said the plan “did not reflect” AI’s full potential to reshape operations and reduce the need for human involvement in key service areas.

The telecoms firm has increasingly turned to AI to automate functions across its core and mobile units. Last year, BT confirmed it was deploying generative AI tools to support customer service and sales functions across its consumer-facing businesses, including EE. One such tool, a virtual assistant named “Aimee,” was reportedly handling around 60,000 customer queries per week. The company says it has been able to resolve nearly half of those issues without needing human intervention.

The use of generative AI has allowed BT to “reinvent” its customer-facing operations, especially in call handling and diagnostics, two areas previously earmarked for automation. The firm had already anticipated that as many as 10,000 roles could be eliminated through AI alone. Kirkby’s latest remarks suggest that the figure could be significantly higher.

Wider Trend Across Industries

BT is not alone in this shift. Swedish payments company Klarna announced last year that its OpenAI-powered chatbot had taken over tasks equivalent to 700 full-time customer service staff. Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said the company’s workforce dropped from 5,500 to about 3,000 over the past two years, largely due to efficiency gains driven by AI.

He has since admitted that the cuts may have gone too far and said the firm is now rehiring, but he continues to warn of wider implications for white-collar workers.

“My suspicion again is that there will be an implication for white-collar jobs, and when that happens, that usually leads to at least a recession in the short term,” Siemiatkowski said in a podcast interview earlier this month.

Dario Amodei, CEO of leading AI startup Anthropic, also issued a stark warning recently, saying AI could wipe out up to half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within five years.

“We, as the producers of this technology, have a duty and an obligation to be honest about what is coming,” Amodei told Axios.

Kirkby’s Broader Vision for BT

Since assuming the role in February 2024, Kirkby has pushed to restructure BT into a leaner, more focused business. Under her leadership, the company has exited several international operations and is now exploring the future of Openreach—BT’s broadband infrastructure arm—which could be spun off after reaching its target of connecting 25 million UK homes with fiber by the end of 2026.

Openreach alone is estimated to be worth over £30 billion, exceeding BT Group’s entire market capitalization of about £18.5 billion. Analysts say the unit’s eventual separation could unlock significant value, although Kirkby has not confirmed if a spin-off is imminent.

BT has also achieved a £3 billion cost-saving milestone and aims to double that by 2029. Since Kirkby took charge, BT shares have surged by 65 percent, reflecting investor confidence in the new leadership’s direction.

However, the company’s challenges have refused to go away. Kirkby recently warned that a proposed hike in employer national insurance contributions could cost the company more than £100 million, urging the UK government to avoid imposing additional tax burdens on large employers as they invest in digital transformation.

Balancing Innovation and Jobs

While BT sees AI as a lever to boost efficiency and cut costs, the company maintains that it is also investing in reskilling initiatives. Kirkby, who recently spoke at a Google event, said BT is collaborating with tech partners to offer digital upskilling to UK small businesses and individuals navigating the shift toward an AI-enabled economy.

But the signals remain clear: the company’s future will rely heavily on automation, and the scale of its human workforce is likely to continue shrinking.

Kirkby, echoing her long-term goal of preparing the 180-year-old telecoms giant for the challenges and opportunities of the digital age, indicated that there is an opportunity to make BT a simpler, leaner, and more resilient business.

With the AI tide rising rapidly, what once seemed like a theoretical threat is now reshaping hiring, job descriptions, and long-term employment strategies across industries. For telecoms like BT and fintechs like Klarna, the pressure to stay competitive is pushing them to experiment with AI more aggressively. But for millions of workers, the question remains: who’s preparing them for what comes next?

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 22.97% in May 2025, marking a second consecutive month of decline, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The new figure, down from April’s 23.71%, points to a gradual cooling of inflationary pressures, though many Nigerians still say the impact has yet to be felt in household expenses.

The annual inflation rate is now 10.98 percentage points lower than the 33.95% recorded in May 2024. This year-on-year decline is partly attributed to the recalibration of the inflation measurement framework, as the NBS now uses November 2009 as the new base year. On a monthly basis, inflation slowed to 1.53% in May, down from 1.86% in April, suggesting a reduced pace in the general price level increase.

Urban-Rural Divide Persists

Despite the overall slowdown, the disaggregated data reveals contrasting inflationary trends across Nigeria’s urban and rural communities. Urban inflation stood at 23.14% in May, a sharp drop from 36.34% in the same month last year. But on a monthly basis, urban prices ticked upward, rising to 1.40% from 1.18% in April.

Rural areas fared better month-on-month, with inflation dropping significantly to 1.83% in May from 3.56% in April. The rural year-on-year inflation rate stood at 22.70%, down from 31.82% in May 2024. Yet, the cost of living in rural Nigeria remains high, and analysts say security challenges and poor infrastructure continue to undercut efforts at easing inflation further in those regions.

Food Inflation Drops Sharply—But Not for Everyone

Food inflation dropped dramatically to 21.14% in May 2025 from 40.66% in May 2024, one of the largest year-on-year declines in recent years. However, this sharp fall is largely the result of statistical adjustments rather than tangible relief in the markets. On a monthly basis, food inflation actually increased slightly to 2.19% in May from 2.06% in April, driven by slower declines in the prices of staples such as yam, maize flour, sweet potatoes, and fresh pepper.

NBS attributed the month-on-month uptick to reduced momentum in food price reductions, as insecurity in food-producing regions and early-season flooding have started to disrupt supply chains again.

Core Inflation Also Eases

Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural items and energy prices, fell to 22.28% in May from 23.39% in April. Compared to the 27.04% recorded in May 2024, core inflation has now dropped by 4.76 percentage points. This easing reflects relatively stable pricing in housing, transport, and communication services, though rising utility costs in urban areas remain a concern.

Financial analysts had projected the May inflation slowdown, crediting improved macroeconomic conditions. Damilare Asimiyu, Head of Research at Afrinvest West Africa, said, “The naira appreciation in the NAFEM window helped ease import-driven inflation. We’re also seeing early gains from the government’s fiscal interventions, particularly in reducing logistics costs.”

According to Nairametrics Research, three factors were central to the slowdown:

• Exchange Rate Gains: The naira appreciated slightly by 1.03% in the NAFEM window to N1,585.50/$ in May, helping to ease pressure on the costs of imported goods.
• Lower Fuel Prices: Reduced petrol costs contributed to declining transport and logistics expenses, particularly for food, thereby softening inflation in retail and wholesale markets.
• Seasonal Harvest and Food Supply: Temporary improvements in food distribution helped moderate prices in major cities like Abuja and Lagos. However, this gain may not last as early flooding and persistent insecurity in key agricultural states threaten future supply.

Nigerians Still Waiting to Feel the Relief

While the headline numbers suggest relief, the reality for many Nigerians remains starkly different. Despite the deceleration, prices are still far higher than what the average household can afford. Food accounts for more than 50% of household expenditure in Nigeria, and even small monthly increases weigh heavily on already strained incomes.

The back-to-back easing in inflation has also sparked renewed calls among economists for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to consider reducing the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which currently stands at a historic high of 26.25%.

Some analysts believe that maintaining high interest rates amid declining inflation is unnecessary and potentially harmful to credit availability in the economy.

“The CBN must now balance its inflation-targeting mandate with the need to support real sector growth. If inflation continues to ease, we expect a downward adjustment in the MPR within the next policy cycle,” Asimiyu said.

However, the concern is now shifting to whether this inflation trend holds through the third quarter, especially as climatic conditions, global energy prices, and domestic insecurity continue to pose major risks.

Crude oil prices surged Monday night following an incendiary post by President Donald Trump, warning of imminent danger in Iran’s capital and renewing his vow to prevent the country from acquiring nuclear weapons.

The post marked a significant escalation in U.S. rhetoric, deepening concerns that the ongoing Israel-Iran confrontation could spiral into a full-blown regional crisis with dire implications for global energy markets.

“IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” Trump posted on Truth Social, the platform owned by his media company.

Within minutes of the post, oil markets reacted sharply. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures jumped as much as 2.7%, before stabilizing at $72.05 a barrel, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, surged 2.2% before settling 0.4% higher at $73.50. The sharp movement reflects deep market anxiety over the possibility of military escalation in one of the world’s most volatile and energy-critical regions.

Global Markets Rattle as Tensions Rise

The reaction extended beyond oil. U.S. equity futures dropped, signaling investor concern that further escalation could destabilize global markets:

• S&P 500 futures were down 0.4%
• Dow futures slipped 0.4%
• Nasdaq futures fell 0.5%

Financial analysts said the president’s post added fuel to a fire already burning. Israel has continued its campaign of airstrikes on Iranian military targets in recent weeks, and Tehran has warned that it will respond decisively to any threat against its sovereignty.

“Trump’s comments inject even more uncertainty, risk, and volatility into the market,” said Vishnu Varathan, head of macro research for Asia (ex-Japan) at Mizuho Bank. He noted that the statement could be interpreted as either a calculated warning to deter Iran or the opening salvo of a broader escalation.

The most immediate market concern remains the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow maritime chokepoint between the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. Roughly 20% of the world’s oil passes through this strait. Iran has long threatened to close it in retaliation to any perceived aggression from the U.S. or its allies.

As global oil markets head into the peak summer demand season, even the slightest disruption through the Strait could cause a dramatic spike in prices and lead to global energy shortages.

“A blockade remains the key risk that could push markets into uncharted territory,” said Janiv Shah, vice president of oil markets at Rystad Energy, indicating that even if the probability of a blockade is low, its potential impact is enormous. That’s why we’re seeing the market price in that risk.

The U.S. Navy maintains a strong presence in the region to ensure the strait remains open, but a direct confrontation with Iran would significantly raise the stakes — and likely trigger retaliatory moves by Iranian proxies across the region, including in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.

Brinkmanship, Regime Survival, and the Shadow of 2019

This is not the first time oil markets have been shaken by brinkmanship involving Iran. In 2019, under Trump’s first administration, a similar standoff over Iran’s nuclear ambitions led to tanker seizures, drone shootdowns, and a spike in oil prices, though it ultimately stopped short of open warfare.

What makes the current situation more dangerous, according to Varathan, is the lack of viable diplomatic off-ramps. Trump’s renewed emphasis on Iran’s nuclear capabilities may corner Tehran into abandoning cautious survival strategies in favor of more aggressive posturing.

“If the leadership in Iran smells regime change on the agenda, the risk is that it may shift from loss-minimizing survival strategies to destruction-maximizing end-game,” Varathan warned.

As of Tuesday morning, there was no follow-up statement from the White House or the State Department clarifying the context of Trump’s warning or confirming the credibility of the threat to Tehran. Iran’s government, for its part, has remained defiant but cautious, indicating it will respond to any aggression “at a time and place of its choosing.”

Markets will be watching for movement on several fronts, including: Whether Israel intensifies its strikes or announces broader military objectives, any sign of Iranian retaliation or closure of shipping lanes, a formal U.S. military repositioning in the Gulf region and diplomatic efforts from regional powers like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, or Turkey to mediate or de-escalate tensions.

However, oil markets are expected to remain highly volatile, with prices sensitive to even the slightest development or signal from Washington, Tehran, or Tel Aviv.