Saima Ansari, Deutsche Telekom/NGMN Alliance (00:20):
The role of AI is definitely significant in predicting traffic patterns and dynamically also adjusting the parameters to save energy in radio access networks, for example. However, it's important to be mindful here and differentiate between predictive versus generative ai. We see a lot of progress around generative AI lately, but we need to focus on what benefits our networks the most and depending on which use case what we are trying to achieve. So that is something which I definitely would like to highlight when it comes to the role of ai.

Fernando Castro Cristin, HPE (01:00):
Well, ai, we all heard it several times, can help into network optimization in the predictive maintenance, which will drive cost savings in terms of energy. But let's not forget liquid cooling. It's a cool approach to ai and we announced recently the first fundless direct cooling. And again, AI drives a lot of innovation and that innovation can be put back into standard compute for way lower purposes in terms of workloads, and that will drive energy savings. AI is good for that.

Aji Ed, Nokia (01:39):
So we are seeing that AI ran or AI becoming one of the hot topics in the industry. The AI RAN alliance, which was established in early 2024, and it is focusing on AI based innovations in ran around three key pillars. Number one, AI for ran. Number two, AI on ran. Number three is AI and ran. The AI for ran working group, focusing on areas like spectral and energy efficiency. It defines the use cases and testing for sustainable evolution towards 6G and today's 5G networks already leverage AI in many different aspects. For example, Nokia is using AI and digital twins to embed energy efficiency in the network design. With our MantaRay SON AI can predict and manage energy consumption autonomously, identifying the inefficiencies and applying the corrections. And SON also uses AI to automate energy saving optimization based on real network traffic patterns. So AI is going to be an integral part of the whole Telco network way forward.

Francis Haysom, Appledore Research (02:50):
AI has a major potential role, but in most cases only where the network can easily and dynamically be changed to use its insight. AI could enable the balance of network energy usage against other things. AI could overcome the operational challenges that currently mean many networks are left as is because there is no operational reward and high risk of fowling things up. AI could have a big role in identifying shared network savings, enabling regulators to balance the energy benefit versus the loss of competition. And AI success requires telcos to be willing to buy innovative solutions as part of a wider ecosystem - buying the best ai.