Circles is using AI to turn telecom support from a cost centre into a faster, more personalised growth engine
Updated
May 1, 2026 2:04 PM
A woman holding a phone while using a laptop. PHOTO: ADOBE STOCK
Circles, a Singapore startup that builds software for digital telecom operators, has launched an AI concierge as part of its partnership with OpenAI. The release marks a new step in the company’s effort to modernise how telecom providers serve and retain customers. The move reflects a wider shift in the telecom sector. Many operators still rely on older support systems that can be slow, fragmented and costly to run. AI is now being tested as a way to improve service while creating new revenue opportunities.
Circles said the concierge is built on OpenAI’s API platform and sits within what it calls an AI-native telecom stack. In practical terms, the system is designed to handle customer support, account changes and personalised offers through automated interactions.
One part of the platform is called CareX. According to the company, it can deal with billing issues, service requests and network-related problems. Circles said CareX currently resolves 85% of customer queries globally without human intervention and reaches a 95% resolution rate on end-to-end tasks. That matters because customer support remains one of the larger operating costs for telecom providers. Faster automated handling could lower pressure on service teams while reducing wait times for users.
The second part of the platform is Xplore IQ, which focuses on revenue growth. The tool is designed to predict what a customer may need, recommend a suitable plan or offer and complete upgrades or downgrades automatically. Circles said the early rollout has led to a 22% rise in average revenue per user for Circles.Life Singapore. It also said personalised offers helped reduce customer churn by 9%.
"AI should empower users - not force-fit into outdated journeys. OpenAI's role has been critical in enabling Circles to scale this vision globally. With the AI concierge, we are moving beyond providing simple answers to delivering real-world outcomes, along with balancing cost and latency to maximize value for operators and customers alike", said Awais Malik, Global Chief Growth Officer at Circles.
"Circles is demonstrating how advanced AI can modernize essential industries like telecommunications at scale. By combining frontier models with multi-agent systems, they are enabling telecom operators globally to deliver faster, smarter and more personalized customer experiences. This milestone is a strong example of how AI can deliver tangible value for businesses and customers they serve", Oliver Jay, Managing Director, International for OpenAI, added.
Together, the tools are intended to connect customer service, operations and sales into one system. Rather than treating support and monetisation as separate functions, the company is combining them into a single digital layer.
Circles said the partnership will continue over the next two years as both companies work toward a more autonomous telecom model. Whether that vision is achieved remains to be seen, but the direction is clear: telecom operators are increasingly treating AI as core infrastructure rather than an optional add-on.
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A closer look at how machine intelligence is helping doctors see cancer in an entirely new light.
Updated
January 8, 2026 6:33 PM
Serratia marcescens colonies on BTB agar medium. PHOTO: UNSPLASH
Artificial intelligence is beginning to change how scientists understand cancer at the cellular level. In a new collaboration, Bio-Techne Corporation, a global life sciences tools provider, and Nucleai, an AI company specializing in spatial biology for precision medicine, have unveiled data from the SECOMBIT clinical trial that could reshape how doctors predict cancer treatment outcomes. The results, presented at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2025 Annual Meeting, highlight how AI-powered analysis of tumor environments can reveal which patients are more likely to benefit from specific therapies.
Led in collaboration with Professor Paolo Ascierto of the University of Napoli Federico II and Istituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS Fondazione Pascale, the study explores how spatial biology — the science of mapping where and how cells interact within tissue — can uncover subtle immune behaviors linked to survival in melanoma patients.
Using Bio-Techne’s COMET platform and a 28-plex multiplex immunofluorescence panel, researchers analyzed 42 pre-treatment biopsies from patients with metastatic melanoma, an advanced stage of skin cancer. Nucleai’s multimodal AI platform integrated these imaging results with pathology and clinical data to trace patterns of immune cell interactions inside tumors.
The findings revealed that therapy sequencing significantly influences immune activity and patient outcomes. Patients who received targeted therapy followed by immunotherapy showed stronger immune activation, marked by higher levels of PD-L1+ CD8 T-cells and ICOS+ CD4 T-cells. Those who began with immunotherapy benefited most when PD-1+ CD8 T-cells engaged closely with PD-L1+ CD4 T-cells along the tumor’s invasive edge. Meanwhile, in patients alternating between targeted and immune treatments, beneficial antigen-presenting cell (APC) and T-cell interactions appeared near tumor margins, whereas macrophage activity in the outer tumor environment pointed to poorer prognosis.
“This study exemplifies how our innovative spatial imaging and analysis workflow can be applied broadly to clinical research to ultimately transform clinical decision-making in immuno-oncology”, said Matt McManus, President of the Diagnostics and Spatial Biology Segment at Bio-Techne.
The collaboration between the two companies underscores how AI and high-plex imaging together can help decode complex biological systems. As Avi Veidman, CEO of Nucleai, explained, “Our multimodal spatial operating system enables integration of high-plex imaging, data and clinical information to identify predictive biomarkers in clinical settings. This collaboration shows how precision medicine products can become more accurate, explainable and differentiated when powered by high-plex spatial proteomics – not limited by low-plex or H&E data alone”.
Dr. Ascierto described the SECOMBIT trial as “a milestone in demonstrating the possible predictive power of spatial biomarkers in patients enrolled in a clinical study”.
The study’s broader message is clear: understanding where immune cells are and how they interact inside a tumor could become just as important as knowing what they are. As AI continues to map these microscopic landscapes, oncology may move closer to genuinely personalized treatment — one patient, and one immune network, at a time.