Virgin Media has launched a smart free upgrade that uses artificial intelligence to monitor its television network, ensuring customers get the best experience 24 hours a day. The telecoms and broadband giant announced the rollout of its "AI robots," which are designed to detect issues such as degradation, poor video images, and bad audio quality.
How the AI Robots Work
The new artificial intelligence watches TV services exactly as customers experience them. If an issue is detected, instant alerts are automatically sent to human monitoring teams to check and fix the problem. Virgin says this enables faster identification, investigation, and resolution of service-impacting faults, with greater accuracy than ever before.
Over 220 channels are constantly monitored, with the most-watched channels checked every 6 minutes to spot annoying issues. This new monitoring technology has already rolled out, with homes hopefully suffering fewer glitches when settling down for a boxset binge.
Comments from Virgin Media O2's Chief Technology Officer
Jeanie York, Virgin Media O2’s Chief Technology Officer, said: “Creating and launching these new TV robots means we’re able to identify and address any service issues faster and more accurately than ever before, and in some cases before a customer even realises there was a problem.
“Whether our customers are watching the big final on Sunday or other live sport, their favourite film or the season finale of their favourite programme, reliable TV makes these moments possible. This new capability is another innovative step in giving our customers a great experience and ensuring we provide the reliable TV service they expect.”
Future Enhancements
Following this initial launch, the UK telecoms company, which is now part of O2, is already exploring the potential for future enhancements – for example, how AI can be used to identify a broader range of service issues and further strengthen monitoring capabilities.
