A perfectly reasonable question. And one I hear more and more often.

If you are comfortable uploading your telecom billing data into an AI system, or you have a private AI solution that keeps data fully contained, there is a lot you can do with today’s tools.

AI is advancing. Every month it gets better at reading bills, extracting line items, and generating variance reports comparing your current bill with last month’s.

So, why not just use AI?

Because AI can accelerate a process, but it cannot replace the process.

Below is what executives need to understand when evaluating whether AI can realistically manage telecom costs and other vendor costs today.

1. AI Is Only as Good as the Data You Feed It

Telecom bills do not contain all the information required to manage telecom costs.

• Bills are incomplete views of your services.

• Vendor billing portals contain additional data AI needs.

• Contracts contain terms, pricing rules, discounts, commitments, and penalties, none of which appear on the bill or in the portal.

• Organizational need data, such as who uses what and which locations require which circuits, lives outside vendor systems entirely.

If AI does not have all three sources, bills, portals, and contracts, it misses errors.

A competent AI might tell you, “I am missing the contract for this circuit,” or “I need the underlying location inventory to confirm this service is required,” but while it can invent data that does not exist, it should not.

2. AI Can Identify Anomalies, But It Cannot Provide Context

Today’s best models can say things like:

• “This circuit increased in price by 22 percent this month.”

• “This location has three redundant internet services.”

• “This account has inconsistent usage patterns.”

But AI cannot explain:

• Whether a circuit is actually needed by the business

• Whether the increase is due to a term change, contract breach, hidden surcharge, or vendor mistake

• Whether a service is unused, underutilized, misprovisioned, or ghost-billed

• Whether the vendor should have issued a credit or waived a charge

• Whether the contract is being applied correctly

AI can observe patterns. It cannot know intent, operational reality, or vendor behavior.

This limitation matters more than people expect.

3. AI Hallucinates, Which Means Humans Must Verify Everything

Despite enormous progress, AI still:

• Mislabels fields

• Misreads line items

• Invents explanations

• Assumes facts that are not present

This does not make AI useless. It means human oversight is mandatory, especially when dealing with items that impact budgets, compliance, or contracts.

Using AI without verification is how you get phantom savings, inaccurate recommendations, or missed errors that cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

4. Tools Do Not Produce Outcomes, People Do

A recurring misconception is that an AI tool will “take over the work.”

But tools do not yet change how vendors bill you. People change vendors.

Even if AI produces a flawless list of savings opportunities, someone still needs to:

• Contact the vendor

• Navigate their internal structure

• Provide documentation

• Escalate when required

• Negotiate pricing

• Confirm completion

• Ensure credits appear

• Ensure circuits disconnect

• Ensure rates update

AI can produce a task list. But task lists do not save money. Execution saves money.

Without follow-through, nothing changes.

5. Negotiation Still Requires Humans

Contracts, pricing, escalations, and compliance issues are human systems, not technical problems.

Vendors respond to:

• Pressure

• Leverage

• Escalation

• Relationships

• Persistence

• Documentation

• Knowledge of contract terms

AI can draft an email. But it cannot negotiate meaningfully, apply pressure, or detect when a vendor is stalling.

Most large vendors, including AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen, do not adjust your bill because a clever AI asked them to.

6. Where AI Is Heading, And What It Needs To Do

Looking to the future, I am optimistic about the possibilities. We expect a lot of value from a true agentic AI that can:

• Gather portal data

• Read all bills and contracts

• Reconcile them

• Identify savings

• Explain the reasoning

• Draft requests for approvals

• Message vendors automatically

• Monitor vendor completion

• Escalate if work is not completed

But as of Q4 2025, we have not seen a production-ready system that can reliably do all this.

The parts exist. The complete system does not.

7. What You Should Ask Vendors Offering AI Telecom Savings Solutions

Before choosing any AI-based solution, ask:

Data Completeness

• Does the AI tell you what data it is missing?

• Can it identify which portal data, bills, contracts, and inventories must be integrated?

Automated Collection

• How does the system retrieve billing and contract data every month?

• Does it require manual uploads?

Operational Context

• Does the AI ask why services were purchased and who uses them?

• Can it differentiate necessary services from unused or unnecessary services?

Execution Support

• Does the AI assist with execution?

• Or does it generate new tasks for already overloaded staff?

Accountability

• Does it track whether vendors completed the work?

• Does it confirm that pricing changes take effect and services disconnect?

If a tool cannot manage execution, it is not a cost savings solution. It is a to-do list generator.

Conclusion: AI Helps, But It Does Not Replace Expertise

AI accelerates analysis. It improves visibility. It eliminates repetitive work.

But it does not replace:

• Judgment

• Negotiation

• Vendor management

• Persistence

• Context

• Accountability

• The ability to know whether a vendor is being truthful

AI is part of the solution. But in telecom cost reduction, human oversight is still the difference between identifying savings and actually capturing them.

If you’re interested in spending less on your IT and telecom vendors, without having to do all the work or change vendors, please reach out. We can help.