Charlotte Kan (00:16):
Welcome back to Extra Shot, and we are live from the DSP Leaders World Forum in Windsor. I'm Charlotte Khan. I'm delighted to welcome you back for more discussions around the sessions happening here today. So we together for about 10 minutes before we break away for lunch for about an hour. So let's keep it quite general To start with, I am delighted to welcome Robert Prince. Robert is Director Network and telecommunications group at Intel Corporation. Thank you for joining us. Our pleasure.

Robert Prince, Intel Corporation (00:44):
Great to be here.

Charlotte Kan (00:45):
We've got Dafna Yanay, who's head of marketing at AWS. Thanks for being with us.

Dafna Yanay, AWS (00:49):
Thanks for having me.

Charlotte Kan (00:51):
And we have, Francis has principal analyst at Appledore Research. Thank you for coming. Great to be here.

Robert Prince, Intel Corporation (00:58):
Thank you.

Charlotte Kan (00:59):
So the second session of the forum was dedicated to, was constantly hitting the headlines for good and bad reasons, actually generating an equal amount of fear and excitement. It's ai of course. So can I ask you about the key takeaways of the session according to you?

Robert Prince, Intel Corporation (01:18):
Yeah, I think first of all it was a fantastic session that the discussions were really interesting. I think for me, having been here last year there clearly there's quite a lot of progress. I think in terms of the clarity, at least as it relates to the what relating to ai. I think the couple of open questions for me was what about how we moving from, we understand the areas in which we can focus ai, but specifically how do we actually go and action that into the organizations? And I think for me, the whole people process piece was also a fairly significant topic that really came out very, very strongly. Where many of us, of course are technology led or technology companies, but some of the key issues that obviously we face as an industry is really that culture, the ability to think differently and approach these kind challenges and opportunities really through a kind of ground zero lens versus looking through a legacy lens, if you will. So I think for me, obviously the particular use cases that were called out, and maybe I'm sure we'll talk about some of those we're interested in, but it's that people aspect, it's the ability for the industry to actually galvanize its capabilities in a way that turns it from a, Hey, we understand what we need to do to how do we actually go and make that happen.

Charlotte Kan (02:38):
So a few very interesting points from you here, Robert. First of all, you mentioned the fact that last year it was all about use cases, the potential of ai, and now we're thinking about how we're going to deliver all the benefits of ai. Do you want to follow up on this actually? What really resonated with you during this previous session on ai? Yeah,

Dafna Yanay, AWS (02:58):
Absolutely. So I actually wanted to say the same because I think what I was really picking up from the session was the fact that it's very, very clear that AI is here to stay, right? Generative ai. After one year of POCs and different experimentation and checking the technology and using many, many things now everyone realized that it's about how to move this stuff to production. And it's not anymore just about the shiny use cases and the chatbots, it's really more about how we set up the right data foundation, how we reskill the people, how we take care of security and governance topics. Cost is a very big power. So it's really about how we take things to the next level. We talked a lot about maturity right on day. We are on day one in a s, we use a lot the day one, but how we are evolving, how we are building it around foundation, how we tackling people, processes and the technology. But definitely it's not just about the technologies and how we are getting better and trying to see what are the right use cases that really drive the right value for the organization. So definitely I really enjoyed the panel, really enjoyed the discussion, really enjoyed your question and it's spot on about moving things from experimentation to production.

Charlotte Kan (04:18):
That's right. Francis, you were very engaged during the session and you asked this big question around the value of human input and decision making in particular.

Francis Haysom, Appledore Research (04:27):
Yeah, I really enjoyed the panel, Mike. My observation from it was that we've clearly come off what I would term as the hype. We're slightly off the hype cycle. We discovered the easy use cases that work. We've also discovered the subtle horrors, the hallucinations that gen AI can deliver. It's good and it's bad. So I think we're now at that sort of realism stage. I'm very conscious, we've just done some research which we describe as kind of the autonomy chasm and there's a fundamental change in thinking that needs to happen between what we term mechanization of what you do at the moment versus how do you fully autonomize automate a network. And I think the reason for my question was that quite often I think we put tools like AI in a kind of, it has to be perfect bucket rather than comparing it with the reality of how we actually run networks.

(05:36):
Where quite often we can make crazy decisions in the network, but they appear to have no, well they do, they have big consequences, but they do not have a big consequence in terms of the way we rethink the whole process. So for me, I think what we are seeing is still degree of met in the panel was a lot of discussion about really still mechanizing what we do at the moment. I was really pleased to see the gentleman from Deutsche Telecom who was sort of saying that there are three phases. My only worry in that one is that if we only get to phase one, I think we will only see the limited opportunities from AI and we really need to be thinking about that. How could we do this completely differently at the same time? But it was a great panel and I think a degree more realism in this panel than last year's

Charlotte Kan (06:36):
Realism. But we're talking about hallucinations, nightmares, horrors. Doesn't sound that good. We're going to take a break. So you're going to be back with us after the lunch break to explore how AI can help automate networks. Obviously that was the crux of our conversations here earlier today. So do stay tuned, stay with us. Okay. And hear more from Robert Prince at Intel, Francis Hasham at Apple Door Research and Dafta y at AWS. Thank you for watching. Welcome back to Extra Short. I'm Charlotte Khan. We are live from Windsor at the DSP Leaders World Forum where I'm delighted to be with Robert Prince. Robert is director network and telecommunications group at Intel Corporation. Thanks for joining us again, Robert. My

Robert Prince, Intel Corporation (07:37):
Pleasure. Great to be

Charlotte Kan (07:38):
Here. So before the launch break, we started to talk about all the benefits of AI and the fact that we've entered a second phase. I'm tended to say initially we're talking about the potential benefits, of course the power of ai and now we're talking about how to harness the power of AI and how to go about to delivering all its benefits. So let's go back to it a little bit. What's the best way to implement ai, explore or plan?

Robert Prince, Intel Corporation (08:05):
I think explore is important and I think reflecting on the panel earlier on, that was a key part of the discussion. Clearly there are parts where you have to test it, make sure it works to deploy in critical areas. But I think one of the areas that came out quite strongly, at least for me was the need for experimentation. The opportunity to work probably much, much more closely with the value chain, the ecosystem, which is obviously continuing to develop so that organizations collectively we can build our skill sets and capabilities so that we can move much, much faster in this particular space. Clearly it is got massive implications across a number of different areas and I think part of for the industry is we dunno what we don't know. So that experimentation is going to be super important.

Charlotte Kan (09:01):
We've been talking about network automation for years and of course now things have changed since Genai of course. How is that a game changer and how much is AI going to be a big accelerator when it comes to network automation?

Robert Prince, Intel Corporation (09:16):
Yeah, I think again, it was mentioned on the panel, wasn't it? The hype of course this year after the Gen AI announcements, we see it in the press. But at the same time I think more clarity coming out of the panel in terms of where to focus. I think that the other piece that came out for me as well was that there's a difference in companies that have a tops down approach to AI where you have the CEOs basically promoting that as their lead cheerleader if you will. And I think that's important because the board, the CEO, all the way down the organization needs to be driving the agenda because it is a paradigm shift. Of course there's a lot of hype, but at the same time there's a real requirement not just as it relates to the technology, which of course is super important, but the whole process changes required, the new skill sets required to actually go and make it happen in the market. And the other piece of course is that it needs to be outcome-based. So what problems are we trying to solve in the industry? What's the financial business case behind it? There's a whole bunch of things behind the technology, if you will, that I think we've got a long way to go. It's early days, but the potential of course is enormous.

Charlotte Kan (10:33):
So you've mentioned this top down approach. It's a tough one, isn't it, for CEOs out there because often the benefits from their perspective are to do with efficiency, not necessarily creating new services per se. So tell me more about your take on this. And it's also a hard one to sell to the workforce, isn't it? Given that many people fear that AI will replace down

Robert Prince, Intel Corporation (10:57):
And I think that's why it's important that it is a tops down where you have almost like thematic goals where the organization can rally around a common set of goals. So you break down some of the silos that often can inhibit an organization to transform. And I think in that transformation, companies will look very different in the future compared to potentially what they look like today. And I think bringing workforces along that journey and also developing the skillset so that new opportunities develop for the business, but equally for hopefully all of us that work in these companies as well is going to be important. And that again, I think is why you see organizations, and it was mentioned on the panel where you have very collaborative leadership teams that are very cohesive in their approach versus pushing some of these key transformation areas down the organization, which obviously makes it extremely hard to turn into reality.

Charlotte Kan (11:55):
You've just used a keyword here, haven't you? Collaboration, it's important to implement AI within the enterprise space to have this ecosystem of various stakeholders. So how do you go about enhancing that collaboration?

Robert Prince, Intel Corporation (12:08):
Again on the panel, one of the topics that was discussed was to what extent do the DSPs work together on a common area where the industry wants to move forward? And you collaborate in those areas of course. And of course there are other areas where you would want to differentiate and I think that was an open question, at least the one that I took away from that. And that's going to be quite interesting I think in terms of how that develops over time. The other kind of vector is working very closely with the ecosystem and the partnerships and they will be evolving. And part of that is how do I get closer to my customer? So of course Enterprise was called out, wasn't it, as one of the key business opportunities and there are many different verticals out there that we potentially could address. So which ones do you start with? What keeps those businesses up at night? How do we align around those industry KPIs in the first instance so that we can then bring solutions and propositions to the market that helps our customers. So I think the collaboration piece is essential. It's a team sport, nobody's going to be able to do it on their own. And yeah, that's again why these forums and this particular event is very helpful.

Charlotte Kan (13:29):
So during the second session of the forum on ai, guy and Ray shared the results of the survey conducted within the audience and it was all about probing the audience to find out when they expect AI to enable telcos to be truly touch zero from a human perspective, very mixed results there, but they don't expect any benefits until after 2030. Some expect none at all. So how did you vote?

Robert Prince, Intel Corporation (13:57):
Well, I voted after 2030, right? Because again, it's a very broad question, isn't it? Right? So I always believe that there's going to be new opportunities of course, where hopefully we are going to be as employees engaged in that, but clearly the opportunity are on automating the network is enormous and it's going to be very, very, very quickly. I think the other thing that struck me as part of the survey is that the number one practical application that many spoke about was around the energy reduction, the sustainability aspects. And I think there's a lot of work that's been going on. We are engaged a lot in that space as well around the core network and the radio access network and other areas too in terms of simplifying those infrastructures, virtualizing them, and making our customer lives easier so that they have the flexibility to build these new capabilities moving forward. So I voted after 2030. I guess we'll wait and see.

Charlotte Kan (15:00):
One last question, maybe Robert is to do with the concerns around an ethical responsible development of AI and notably concerns around security. How can we ensure that we don't do this trade off between security and innovation when we automate networks?

Robert Prince, Intel Corporation (15:16):
Yeah, I mean security is non-negotiable. And I think again, that was discussed wasn't it on the panel as it relates to making sure we've got strong governance and regulation coming in whilst at the same time making sure that there's always a balance in terms of moving quickly whilst also not being incumbent by those things. But clearly we are dealing with data, customer data and security has to of course be paramount around that.

Charlotte Kan (15:44):
So you've been here, the DSP World Leaders Forum before, it's your second time I believe. Is there, I mean other than ai, the session we've just obviously attended before the lunch break, any other sessions you are interested in?

Robert Prince, Intel Corporation (15:58):
Yeah, I mean the first session was very good as well, right around the digital services. I thought that was fascinating. That was a good debate and quite a few different perspectives that we got from that. Looking forward to the customer first kind of approach, I think that's going to be more tomorrow, isn't it? Where we can discuss again, what keeps our customers up at night, how do we become much more customer centric as an industry and how do we acquire the skill sets to enable us to ask the right questions and hopefully respond to that. So yeah, looking forward to that.

Charlotte Kan (16:31):
Fantastic. Robert, thank you very much for your insights. My pleasure today. Thank you.

Robert Prince, Intel Corporation (16:35):
Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Charlotte Kan (16:36):
Stay tuned. We are back for more in around an hour's time.