
As much of corporate America weighs AI costs against a dizzying array of AI models to choose from, AT&T already has a clear answer: It’s betting on open models specifically to manage those costs and keep control over the flow of its proprietary data. “You hear the stories of the ‘token apocalypse,’ and we’re not scared of the token future,” said AT&T Chief Data and AI Officer Andy Markus. While the company still uses closed, proprietary models today, it eventually wants open models to power 70% to 80% of its total AI usage.

