{"slug": "calix-ceo-is-a-firm-believer-that-ai-changes-everything", "title": "Calix CEO is a 'firm believer that AI changes everything'", "summary": "Calix CEO Michael Weening said he is a 'firm believer AI changes everything' and predicted the pace of change will be 'mind boggling,' during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar. Calix has invested over $200 million in its agentic AI-enabled broadband platform since 2023 and expects a 50-60% velocity gain in customer capabilities by 2027.", "body_md": "Featured Story\n\n## Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung clash over 6G's need for Nvidia\n\nThe technical strategies of the main RAN vendors are diverging radically, with Nokia championing GPUs as a 6G essential and its rivals arguing otherwise.\n\nAs Calix enters its third phase as an AI company, its CEO is adamant about the transformational change to come from artificial intelligence but predicts the pace of change brought by AI will be 'mind boggling' overall.\n\nCalix's CEO Michael Weening exudes optimism when discussing the changes to be brought by the dawn and development of artificial intelligence. But he also acknowledges the shift won't be easy.\n\n\"I'm a firm believer AI changes everything, absolutely flat-out everything,\" Weening said this week in conversation with Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) CEO Gary Bolton on a Fiber for Breakfast webinar. \"My prediction is the pace of change is going to be so mind-boggling that people are going to struggle with it. And in the end, that's the problem, right? Is that this pace of change is like nothing human society has ever seen.\"\n\nCalix – which delivers platforms, systems and services to broadband providers – is [nearly a year into its official agentic AI era](/broadband/calix-goes-all-in-on-agentic-ai-for-broadband-providers), having announced the debut of its [agentic AI-enabled broadband platform](https://www.calix.com/products/platform/agentic-ai.html), built on Google Cloud's AI and data infrastructure, at its Calix Connexions conference in Las Vegas last October. According to Weening, the company has now invested over $200 million in developing the platform since starting this journey in 2023.\n\nSince launching the platform, Calix has been rolling out AI agents and initial workflows via its Agent Workforce Cloud – adopted by broadband customers including [RTC Networks](https://www.calix.com/press-release/2026/08/rtc-networks-calix-agent-workforce.html) and [Tombigbee](https://www.calix.com/press-release/2026/07/tombigbee-calix-one-platform.html). Starting in September, the company will be releasing additional AI-driven workflows, or what Weening describes as \"simple\" workflows to help broadband providers drive revenue growth and operational efficiency.\n\n\"So, do a workflow that actually identifies who are the customers that are going to churn. Do a workflow that identifies who are the customers who haven't bought outdoor Wi-Fi, and correlate in that workflow data points that would indicate that they would want it,\" suggested Weening.\n\nThose data points might include a layer of behavioral data paired with external data – \"like warranty information,\" said Weening. That might then reveal that the customer has a warranty for pool equipment, for example.\n\n\"That means they have a pool. They don't have outdoor Wi-Fi. I need to sell them an outdoor Wi-Fi system,\" said Weening. \"I get $10 or $20 a month incremental. But more importantly, I'm making that customer incredibly happy because now by the pool they're not going, 'my Wi-Fi sucks,' right?\"\n\nCalix expects these platform developments to lead to quicker results and value for customers in the next year.\n\n\"Our head of product basically said, with all the changes that we're making in the platform and the investment that we've made, we expect that we're going to see in 2027 a 50-60% velocity gain in capabilities for our customers, and so it's crazy exciting,\" Weening said.\n\nA key to that is making the AI part easy: \"This stuff's just going to show up, and all they have to do is decide that they want to use it,\" he added.\n\nReferencing recent news about AI agents [going rogue and hacking into other systems and services](https://www.wired.com/story/ok-well-there-are-even-more-ai-agent-hacking-incidents/) (apparently, in an [effort to please us](https://www.wired.com/story/rogue-ai-is-just-misunderstood/)...), Weening acknowledged that \"AI is very dangerous if not properly managed.\" To that end, he said, in the course of developing its AI-native platform, Calix focused primarily on both the information provided by its AI and the security of its data.\n\nStill, the dangers associated with setting AI agents loose aren't just specific to data and information security (and [bioterrorism](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/26/technology/bill-gates-ai-risks.html)), but costs as well, which Weening noted can \"cycle out of control quickly.\" That's a fact he's learned in part while working on a \"personal AI coding project.\" But he added that Calix has eliminated that worry for its customers \"because we really know what we're doing.\"\n\nWeening further acknowledged that we don't need AI for everything, exactly: \"I don't need to have an AI engine that paints Gary Bolton on a unicorn flying over a mountain, right?\" [Ed. note: Very much right.] \"What I need it to do is when a customer calls in, listen to their voice, you know, hear the problems that they're having, and solve them faster,\" he said.\n\nStill, Weening's vision for what's ahead extends well beyond invisible agents quietly improving the broadband networking experience, into what some would indeed perceive as a \"mind-boggling\" future.\n\n\"I can't wait to be sitting in the backseat of a car and not driving, right?\" said Weening, referring to Waymo's robotaxis. \"Like the whole world is going to change by AI. I was driving into the office and I saw a bunch of people picking garbage up in the middle of the road, and the first thought to my mind was 'why is a robot not doing that?'\"", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/calix-ceo-is-a-firm-believer-that-ai-changes-everything", "canonical_source": "https://www.lightreading.com/ai-machine-learning/calix-ceo-is-a-firm-believer-that-ai-changes-everything-", "published_at": "2026-08-27 12:00:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-27 12:20:58.853006+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-agents", "ai-products"], "entities": ["Calix", "Michael Weening", "Fiber Broadband Association", "Gary Bolton", "Google Cloud", "RTC Networks", "Tombigbee"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/calix-ceo-is-a-firm-believer-that-ai-changes-everything", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/calix-ceo-is-a-firm-believer-that-ai-changes-everything.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/calix-ceo-is-a-firm-believer-that-ai-changes-everything.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/calix-ceo-is-a-firm-believer-that-ai-changes-everything.jsonld"}}