The Intelligence Era: Experts explain the impact of Cloud, Connectivity in AI revolution

The growth witnessed in generative AI has caused major disruptions in various industries, prompting more efforts to harness the power of the technology, while mitigating risks involved. 

Shaun Collins, the Chairman of CCS Insight, and Brian Chamberlain, the Executive Advisor with Carrier Marketing, Huawei, explain that AI is now playing an enormous part in the thinking and planning of what’s coming next.

“I think it is fair to say when we asked the enterprises and employees and consumers what they think are going to make the biggest impacts difference in their businesses and individual lives, almost everybody said it is AI. But as to the why and how, it is much more difficult to say,” Shaun said during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) held in Shanghai, China. 

Brian notes that AI is being used in a way much broader than expected, and it is now important to think about where it is going and who has access to it.

According to Shaun, AI is a complimentary technology, which will make other operations and workflows better.

He adds that AI also has the capability to enhance 5G Network, to see its adoption as a standalone technology. 

On his part, Brian describes AI as an equaliser to both developed and developing nations, as it presents equal opportunities. 

“AI is levelling out the playing field in the developing world. One of the surprising experience is that we heard some amazing applications from Algeria, from Zimbabwe … coming from the emerging world, because they were looking at the problems from a very different angle from people in the advanced countries. That has helped me realise that AI, Cloud and connectivity will level out the world in a way we’ve never seen before and that you don’t have to be living in the most advanced economy to be able to have the most advanced and exciting jobs,” notes Brian. 

The technology expert adds that connectivity will enable people to reach a global market and take advantage of the most advanced technology. 

The Infrastructure puzzle 

In developing countries, lack of infrastructure is termed as a major barrier to connectivity and adoption of digital technologies. 

The fast-paced development in AI raises concerns about whether the underprivileged markets will miss out on the full benefits of technology due to a lack of infrastructure to access digital services. 

Today, a number of African countries lack advanced digital infrastructure and enablers such as power and connectivity. This poses as a threat to AI adoption in such areas. 

According to Shaun and Brian, the infrastructure barriers in underdeveloped nations will not fully block them from the AI experience. 

They say that even though deploying 5G-A network is a challenge for now, AI will work on 4G as it is already being deployed in mid-tier devices. 

“The unified standard is only here with 4G. The benefits of it is extraordinary. We are going to lose it if we don’t protect it,” says Brian. 

The experts also present cloud technology as a key enabler of AI. 

“It is not just 5G. It is connectivity. It is essential to be connected all the time. It is the combination of these technologies, not just the connection, but the connection plus those services, delivered by the Cloud, and powered by AI, that is going to create incredible things going forward.”

The user matrix in Mobile AI era

In the Intelligence Era, users are now at the centre of major developments. Most users interact with digital technologies using mobile phones. 

This has led the industry to develop more AI features in mobile devices. 

Shaun and Brian also note that users are already changing the matrix of search, where they are parting with search engines and opting for AI assistants. 

The advancements in search therefore present a change in prompting for AI assistants.