Page 6 - First special issue on The impact of Artificial Intelligence on communication networks and services

ITU JOURNAL: ICT Discoveries, Vol. 1(1), March 2018

Foreword

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are certain
to influence a broad scope of ITU’s technical work. This first
special issue of the ITU Journal provides the context for this
influence from the perspectives of technology as well as business,
law and ethics.

Standardization experts contributing to ITU-T Study Groups are
accelerating their studies of AI’s potential to assist their
preparations for the 5G era.
These studies are looking to AI to bring more automation and
intelligence to network design, operation and maintenance,
introducing greater efficiency with network self-optimization.
Automated virtual assistants are expected to support the
customization of multimedia services, and learning algorithms are
playing an increasing role in the development of video
compression algorithms and algorithmic tools to monitor quality
of service and user experience. Cities of the future will be built on
the smart use of data, with AI and machine learning delivering
data-driven insight to assist cyber-physical systems in adapting
their behavior autonomously in the interests of efficiency.
A new ITU Focus Group on ML for 5G is offering essential support to these studies by proposing technical
frameworks to assist machine learning in contributing to the efficiency of emerging 5G systems.
Machine Learning is expected to assist the ICT industry in meeting the challenges brought on by 5G and the
Internet of Things, shifts representative of considerable increases in network complexity and the diversity of
device requirements. The new ITU Focus Group on ML for 5G will define the requirements of machine
learning as they relate to technology, network architectures and data formats. Key to this work will be the
definition of required data formats and associated mechanisms to safeguard security and privacy.
The AI for Good Global Summit is the leading United Nations platform for dialogue on AI, aiming to ensure
that AI accelerates progress towards the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.

nd
The 2 AI for Good Global Summit at ITU Headquarters in Geneva, 15-17 May 2018, will continue to
formulate strategies to ensure trusted, safe and inclusive development of AI technologies and equitable access
to their benefits. The action-oriented 2018 summit will identify practical applications of AI and supporting
strategies to improve the quality and sustainability of life on our planet. It builds on the success of the ground-
breaking AI for Good Global Summit in June 2017, the first event to launch inclusive global dialogue on the
actions necessary to ensure that AI benefits humanity.
ITU’s standardization sector will continue to play an important role in ITU’s expanding set of activities on AI.
This first special issue of the ITU Journal, the AI and Machine Learning studies of ITU-T Study Groups and
our new Focus Group – alongside the AI for Good series – will be of great value to ITU standardization experts
in their efforts to determine how their work could be of most value to AI innovation.

Chaesub Lee
Director
ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

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