The GSMA Responsible AI Maturity Roadmap, launched in 2024, is the first industry-wide framework to help mobile operators embed ethical and responsible AI practices across their operations. The roadmap provides operators with structured guidance for assessing and enhancing their Responsible AI (RAI) maturity: recognising that trust, safety and accountability are foundational to the telecoms sector’s AI future.
Why Executive Sponsorship Matters
One of the most critical markers of maturity is Executive Sponsorship. This asks a simple but fundamental question: are senior leaders going beyond statements of intent to actively shape how Responsible AI is delivered?
True sponsorship means embedding RAI into strategy, resourcing its implementation, building governance structures, and holding teams accountable. In other words, it is about leadership that translates principles into practice.
KT Corporation: From Commitment to Action
KT Corporation, one of South Korea’s largest telecom operators, demonstrates what this looks like in action. Guided by the GSMA Responsible AI Maturity Roadmap, KT has moved beyond good intentions to embed Responsible AI into its strategy, structures, and day-to-day operations.
Building Structures for Responsible AI
In 2024, KT launched their Responsible AI Centre and introduced a new executive role: the Chief Responsible AI Officer (CRAIO) to provide leadership with genuine AI decision-making authority.
The centre is built on a dual-track model:
- – Policy and Governance: focusing on ethics, regulation, and oversight
- – Technology and Risk: developing technical safeguards and risk management tools
Together, under the CRAIO’s leadership, these teams ensure both ethical principles and operational safeguards are fully integrated.
Embedding Responsibility into Workflows
Crucially, KT has introduced a mandatory pre-deployment review process, every AI system must undergo ethical and risk assessments before launch, making responsibility a built-in part of innovation, not a bolt-on afterwards.
Collaboration at the Core
Collaboration is central to KT’s approach. The CRAIO works across business units to apply ethical standards consistently and is supported by an external advisory committee of academics, startups, and industry experts.
Internationally, KT is helping shape policy on Korea’s AI Basic Law and collaborating with partners such as Microsoft and the GSMA to align with global best practice.
Lessons for the Wider Industry
By anchoring RAI in strategy, creating executive accountability, resourcing its implementation, and embedding it into workflows, KT’s approach offers broader lessons for any organisation seeking to evolve beyond treating AI ethics as an afterthought.
The lessons are clear: Responsible AI requires the same level of strategic commitment and operational rigor as any other business-critical initiative.
- – Dedicated leadership roles with decision-making authority
- – Governance processes integrated into workflows
- – Partnerships that expand expertise and help tackle complex ethical questions
These are the hallmarks of mature, future-ready AI practices.
Leading from the Top
By anchoring RAI at the executive level, KT has shown that executive sponsorship is more than just talk. It is the key to building trust with customers, enabling innovation at scale, and ensuring AI is developed and deployed responsibly.
Quote from Silviu Petricescu, Director AI for Impact, GSMA:
“What we’re seeing with organisations such as KT is exactly the kind of strategic commitment the industry needs. When Operators move beyond viewing Responsible AI as a compliance checkbox and instead proactively integrate it into their core business strategy with dedicated leadership and structured governance, they’re not just managing risk; they’re building the foundation for sustainable AI innovation while driving the entire ecosystem towards greater positive impact in society. KT’s approach of combining policy frameworks with technical implementation demonstrates the practical application of the principles we’ve outlined in our Responsible AI Maturity Roadmap.”