From automation to autonomy: Building AI-native network operations

Chair: George Glass, CTO, TM Forum

9:00 - 9:35
Panel: Can we trust autonomous networks?
As AI begins making operational recommendations and decisions inside telecom environments, CSPs must rethink operational trust, governance, and workforce transformation. This panel explores how operators are introducing AI into live operations - from copilots to autonomous decisioning - and what it takes to run AI-native networks with confidence, balancing speed, risk, and control. 

• Who owns the decision - humans or AI? 
• How far can autonomy go without breaking trust? 
• What governance looks like in AI-native operations 
• What changes for people, not just platforms 

Moderator: George Glass, CTO, TM Forum 
Peter Briscoe, VP, Head of Pre-Sales, Blue Planet (a division of Ciena)
Matt Olson, Global Strategist, Communications and Media, Splunk (a Cisco company)
Rob Backhouse, VP, Network Technology, Bell   

9:35 - 9:45
From domain automation to end-to-end autonomy 

• How CSPs are connecting AI-driven automation across mobile, transport, cloud, edge and other network domains  
• Moving beyond individual use cases to end-to-end, intent-driven orchestration across the network  
• Balancing network performance, capacity, resilience, customer experience and business priorities in real time  
• What it takes to break down the technical, data and organisational silos that stand in the way of cross-domain autonomy  

George Glass, CTO, TM Forum in conversation with
Eoin Coughlin, Global CTO & Industry Lead, Telco & Media Entertainment Industry, IBM