(Yicai) Dec. 12 -- China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom -- the country’s three largest telecom operators -- have begun using vertically trained and self-developed large language models in various ways, according to the Global System for Mobile Communications Association.

The successful ways in which the three carriers have applied their LLMs include flood prediction, artificial intelligence customer service, and assisting local governments in urban governance, the GSMA announced yesterday.

China Mobile has allied with water resource agencies on AI flood forecasting, early warning, simulations, and response plans in the Helan Mountains in northwestern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China Telecom has built an AI customer service system using a dialect from Sichuan province, while China Unicom and local governments have co-developed an AI that can assist in urban government decision making, according to the GSMA.

These scenarios involve the use of LLMs in various sectors, including governmental affairs, customer service, medical care, education, culture and tourism, and urban governance, said Lin Li, general manager for ecological partnership at GSMA China, without disclosing how much the companies and their partners spent on such projects.

The application path of their LLMs may follow that of fifth-generation technology, Lin noted. The models can first be used in industry office systems, then in auxiliary production processes such as inspection and quality checks, before being gradually applied to core factory operations like automatic control, he pointed out.

The earliest AI applications in the three operators' businesses were in network operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting, Lin said, adding that they then moved on to customer service.

Using LLMs in the real economy is the next step to achieve deep integration with the manufacturing sector, noted Li Jun, deputy general manager of China Telecom. This is a significant challenge but also a major opportunity, he pointed out.

The global generative artificial intelligence market is still in its infancy and is expected to grow to USD72.8 billion in 2029 from USD14.6 billion this year, driven by key applications in consumer industries, enterprise services, retail, media and entertainment, and healthcare, according to market research firm Canalys.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev