AI is coming for our wireless networks

Politico

18 hours ago

With help from Aaron Mak
Artificial intelligence feels like it's everywhere these days, and the wireless networks connecting our devices will soon be no exception.
Telecom wonks are determining how AI should be built into sprawling cellular networks to better transmit phone calls and allocate resources for the hundreds of data-hungry apps that people use each day.
Every decade or so, a new generation of wireless technology arrives for our phones, marked in the transitions from 2G to 3G and so on. We're on 5G now, which brought the fastest speeds people have seen to date, starting in 2019. That means it's time to prepare for 6G in the next five years. That's the era when many people believe AI will play a significant role in juggling and allocating the resources powering devices and AI-related tools.
'The transition to 6G will be a lot more visible,' Ronnie Vasishta, senior vice president of telecom at Nvidia, told DFD during a recent visit to Washington. 'For a long time, 5G was looking for that monetizable killer app, and I think that check mark comes with these generative AI use models.'
6G's more expansive promises, where cellular networks converge with AI, quantum and other tech efforts premised on explosive speeds and better computing power, have taken shape since the start of the decade and finally feel at hand.
Initial 6G deployments could come as soon as 2028 or so, Vasishta believes, with many companies eyeing 2030 as the big 6G year. The new era could see smart glasses and autonomous vehicles competing for 6G bandwidth in a sea of internet-connected devices and more widespread integration of generative AI.
At play will also be better sensing technology, which will have both commercial and defense applications, and better tools to fight spam calls (although spammers will likely have their own enhanced tools).
This parade of new applications will strain the capacity of 5G networks.
'We're going to see the network holding us back,' Vasishta added. 'All of a sudden, we'll start seeing a pressing need for 6G. But 6G will be kind of a different type of network.'
And it's meant a broader industry conversation about how to handle this transformation.
The fact that Nvidia, a tech giant best known for chipmaking, cares at all about 6G is a sign of how broad the transition — and AI's role in it — is likely to be. Vasishta is focused on the company's AI platform that's intended to blend wireless network operations with faster computing power. The goal is what the industry calls 'AI-native 6G wireless,' which could bring a host of benefits, including the more efficient use of spectrum and better network operations.
Nvidia's efforts picked up last fall as the company announced a partnership with cellular heavyweight T-Mobile and expanded it in March to a broader coalition of like-minded players, including the MITRE Corp, Cisco, Open RAN Development Company and Booz Allen Hamilton, all trying to figure out how these new systems are supposed to work. The participants also know they need to keep 6G secure, and that includes the global push against Chinese telecom giants like Huawei.
Nvidia's 6G ambitions are also far-reaching. It just announced a collaboration with the British government on the topic and touts ongoing research in Finland, Germany and France.
Much of the global story around 5G involved fighting between the U.S. and China over the sway of Huawei and fellow Chinese powerhouse ZTE. The U.S. has decreed both companies national security threats and sought to minimize their global presence — but China is very much still a part of the story.
'6G is not far away — the standards process has started and is being fully engaged by the global U.S. competitors,' Douglas Robbins, vice president of engineering and prototyping at MITRE Labs, told DFD. 'Huawei is very active, just presented recently their vision for AI in 6G.'
That means, per Robbins, 'the time is now' for the U.S. to assert a leadership role in crafting 6G, which means creating the technical standards for it, and fostering research for the transition. He hopes to see flexible standards that allow companies to regularly update their software-based wireless architecture and that embrace post-quantum cryptography and security protocols.
Washington, of course, is paying attention, at least in fits and starts.
The Biden administration had hammered out high-level 6G principles. Last month the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a subcommittee hearing on AI's role in communications infrastructure, where Vasishta testified about Nvidia's endeavors. And the GOP is now seeking to free huge tranches of wireless frequencies for the private sector in the party's reconciliation package — 'serious power for American Leadership on 6G,' President Donald Trump proclaimed on Truth Social in June.
But the road to wireless supremacy may come with bumps. U.S. policy, as this year shows, can swerve in unexpected directions.
Although lawmakers devoted $1.5 billion to advanced wireless research in the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act — grants aimed at fostering 5G open radio access networks, intended to help boost U.S. competition with China — Republicans are now looking to scrap the remaining funds in their reconciliation bill. That cut was included in the Senate legislation that passed Tuesday. The country's R&D efforts also face heightened pressure as the Trump administration eyes restricting foreign student visas and scaling back federal support for research.
'We need government help in fostering research,' Vasishta said. 'In the U.S, there's some amazing research that's happening in the area of AI native wireless. … At the end of the day, those researchers also need research funding, and there's some fundamental research that's coming out of the U.S. that I think could make a big difference to standards committees.'
The iPhone antitrust case moves forward
A federal judge has ruled Apple must face claims that it has an illegal smartphone monopoly.
In his ruling Monday, Judge Julien Neals of the U.S. District Court for New Jersey wrote that the Justice Department and several states adequately presented evidence showing Apple allegedly has a smartphone monopoly given its 65 percent share of the market. He also found it was plausible that Apple intended to maintain its dominance through monopolistic practices.
The decision points to barriers such as third-party phones having difficulties connecting to Apple Watch, accessing iMessage features, and making digital payments without Apple Wallet.
Apple, which is represented by a legal team from Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, said in a statement, 'We believe this lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law, and we will continue to vigorously fight it in court.'
Denmark wants age verification across the EU
Denmark is looking to make age verification for children on social media a priority as it takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union starting Tuesday.
'All European countries have the opportunity to demand from the Big Tech platforms that they introduce this [age verification],' Caroline Stage Olsen, Denmark's digital affairs minister, told POLITICO Europe's Eliza Gkritsi.
Olsen has also been pushing to adjust the EU's General Data Protection Regulation to raise the threshold for parental consent for data processing of minors from its current standard of children under 13 up to 15.
These efforts build on momentum in Denmark and other European countries to more tightly regulate kids' online activities. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called for a ban last year on social media use by kids under 15. Danish officials have also said they believe that online platforms are fueling a spate of youth gang violence.
French President Emmanuel Macron threatened last month to ban social media for those younger than 15 if the EU did not institute more youth internet restrictions for the bloc. Spain, Greece and the United Kingdom have also moved to institute additional age-based restrictions for platform use.
post of the day
THE FUTURE IN 5 LINKS
Stay in touch with the whole team: Aaron Mak ([e-mail]); Mohar Chatterjee ([e-mail]); Steve Heuser ([e-mail]); Nate Robson ([e-mail]); and Daniella Cheslow ([e-mail]).