Deutsche Telekom is replacing phone menus with AI agents

Deutsche Telekom is replacing automated phone menus on its customer service lines with AI agents, chief AI officer Kartik Sheth said. The agent answers 24/7 in 40 to 60 languages with no hold time, and the share of interactions handled without a human grows 1–2 percentage points monthly. The company works with Decagon and other AI startups and plans to launch a call assistant with real-time translation this year.

• AI agent answers 24/7 in 40–60 languages with no hold time
• Share of interactions without a human grows 1–2 points per month
• New use case: agent handles 20% of calls, 40% within two months
• Call assistant with real-time translation to launch this year