AT&T bought assets with that money. They're receiving income that in theory should be offsetting what they spent. It's not like they bought a car and a nice dinner. The money isn't gone.
I'm programmer and I'm always saying (something like this) - the program / AI can be able to do things the best way how it can be done the best way by its programmer(s)
My point is - this is completely nonsense. IT world and Real world are two difference worlds.
Which is why positive AND negative feedback loops from your users/customers/<people whose lives your software will affect> are vital to building great software.
My point is the no real activity is bad intepretion of this chart.