How AI earns trust in autonomous operations: A live discussion

“It’s about letting the machine convince you.”

Before AI can power autonomous operations, it must first gain the confidence of the engineers that run the network.

On this week’s Zero-Touch Live, Rakuten Symphony CMO Geoff Hollingworth spoke with VP of Network Transformation Ahmed Gamal Abdelaziz about how that trust is built to gradually introduce AI into the network for eventual autonomous reality.

📺 Watch the replay now below.

The journey to high confidence

During the conversation, Ahmed described how automation at Rakuten Mobile advanced through deliberate, trust-building steps rather than a single leap to autonomy, laying out what operators might expect in their own journeys:

• Engineers began by automating low-risk, high-reward tasks like network audits to prove reliability.
• Guardrails akin to “bumpers in a bowling alley” were created so AI could act safely within defined limits.
• Explainability became essential, fostering understanding of why the system acted, its confidence level, data source and fail-safes determined when it could be trusted.
• Trust was tracked through quantifiable confidence thresholds, linking data quality, model performance and engineer feedback to when AI could take independent action.

“Over time, engineers learn to mentor the machine, guiding and challenging AI much like they would an intern until it consistently delivered accurate, explainable results.”

What comes next

Ahmed closed by noting that the next transformation in telecom won’t come from another “G” but from new ways of creating and monetizing value through intelligent, trustworthy automation as confidence, explainability and business needs align.

‍