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Enabling smart cities, industries and services with AI and automation

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Aaron Richard Earl Boasman-Patel

Vice President, AI & Data, TM Forum

Now is the time to take AI and automation seriously, if we are to make digital societies better.


“Big Brother is Watching You” is a famous quote from George Orwell’s novel 1984, which centres on the consequences of mass surveillance, totalitarianism and repressive regimes.

The very mention of artificial intelligence and automation and the role it will play in running our cities, the services we consume and in some ways our lives, conjures up for many this Orwellian vision of a future repressive state.

Indeed, in October 2019, California lawmakers passed a bill (the third US state to do so) placing a three-year wide state moratorium on the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement agencies.

Concerns around the use of AI didn’t stop there and in January we saw widely publicised patent documents for AI systems which could detect people from certain ethnic minority backgrounds. This patented technology could be used as a tool for suppression and even more worryingly ethnic cleansing.

Technologies designed to do good can, of course, be used for maleficent means but that does not mean that we shouldn’t accept and use them. We need to ensure they are used appropriately and the necessary robust safeguards, laws and governance procedures are put in place.

The increase of use of digital services means that there are currently over one billion devices connected to the internet and this is expected to increase fivefold by 2025.

The need to embrace AI and automation

If we wish to live in a digital age whereby we embrace smart technologies, control our home heating, lights and security systems by the press of a button on our smart phones, or if we want road travel to be safer with the use of autonomous vehicles, then we have to adopt AI and automation.

Data explosion

The increase of use of digital services means that there are currently over one billion devices connected to the internet and this is expected to increase fivefold by 2025.

Many of these new services (self-driving cars, industrial automation, remote surgery), require ultra-low latency and high reliability. You simply could not suffer a network outage or degradation of service quality in an autonomous vehicle of if you were undergoing remote surgery for example.

Smart societies will make better societies

The future ahead for digital societies, cities and industries is revolutionary. It will change the way we live, work and interact with each other as well as how we experience and perceive the world around us. Smart societies will make better societies, we just need to ensure we build, design and use new technologies and services in a way which ensures our safety, freedoms and liberties.

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