AT&T says it's developed a ChatGPT-based tool with help from Microsoft so that its employees can safely use it

• AT&T is deploying an OpenAI-based tool to help employees with their work.
• The company said the tool is helpful for coders and software developers.

AT&T has created a ChatGPT-based tool called Ask AT&T for employees to use internally.

In a Tuesday blogpost, Andy Markus, AT&T's chief data officer, wrote that the company had worked with Microsoft — a major OpenAI investor — to develop the tool safely.

There have been concerns that coders could lose out amid the rapid rise of generative AI, but AT&T said its tool is being used to assist its coders and software developers with their work, as well as translate customer and employee documentation.

AT&T is also exploring use cases such as upgrading legacy software code, helping employees get answers to some HR questions, and streamlining some of its customer services.

"We are profoundly optimistic about the present and future of AI," Markus said in the blogpost. "We expect it to help businesses serve their customers better, enable new products and services that weren't previously possible, and make our employees more effective and innovative."

The blogpost said AT&T had worked with Microsoft to ensure the tool was secure for corporate data, something that has been a concern for companies with ChatGPT. Ask AT&T has been "pressure tested for leakage" to ensure private material does not spill into the public domain, per the blogpost.

Companies have been cautiously moving to incorporate AI tech into their workflows after the launch of ChatGPT sparked a frenzy of investor excitement. However, AI-powered tools are not perfect, and bringing them into business operations too early has caused issues for some companies.

As AT&T said in the blogpost, generative AI tools are "not magic or infallible" and it was ultimately up to employees to check the tool's results were "accurate and appropriate."