July 2018 - ITU Telecom World

There’s no doubting the importance of connectivity in driving social and economic development throughout the world, in emerging and developed markets alike.

Much of ITU’s work is focused on driving inclusive connectivity, ensuring universal access for all the world’s citizens to level the playing field of opportunity in the digital age.

‘Development in 2018 means digital development…This is why ITU Telecom World 2018 will focus on innovation in smart digital development in South Africa, across the continent of Africa and throughout the world.’

It is an enormous challenge, requiring ongoing investment in infrastructure, innovative business models and inventive technology mixes, all facilitated by multi-stakeholder partnerships between governments and private sector companies.

Alongside the physical infrastructure, be it wireless or fixed, satellite or fibre, bringing the Internet to rural, remote and underserved areas means providing affordable devices and access to the services, products and applications they make possible.

Driving demand amongst potential users is just as important, from public awareness to digital skills and literacy programmes – and, above all, compelling content. Creating relevant content in local languages is critical, and here is where governments can take the lead in providing services and applications, from e-health and e-education to transport and local government services.

The advent of future networks, powered by artificial intelligence and 5G as the key enablers, will only increase the potential of technology to make life better, sooner – even as they bring potential disruption to our societies.

This is why development in 2018 means digital development – with digitally smart humans at its centre. Preparing for the digital future means ensuring we are aware of what is happening, aware of the need for training and education to adapt and flourish. It is the urgent responsibility of governments, industry and civil society everywhere to engage in this process.

This is also why ITU Telecom World 2018, taking place in Durban from 10 to 13 September, will focus on innovation in smart digital development in South Africa, across the continent of Africa and throughout the world. It is the greatest, and potentially most rewarding, challenge of our age. And it is one that the government of South Africa, in particular, is tackling head on with its ambitious programme of national broadband roll out, digital services development and initiatives supporting tech small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and digital entrepreneurialism.

Leaders from government, industry, regulatory bodies, international agencies, consultants and academia will gather in Durban to explore the technologies, strategies and policies shaping the digital age. They will share expertise in lively Forum discussions on a range of key topics such as: new regulatory approaches; the standardization of the Internet of Things; artificial intelligence; powering smart cities; innovative connectivity solutions; the empowerment of digital finance; critical digital literacy initiatives – and much more.

Alongside the Forum, the ITU Telecom World Awards, which will recognise some of the most innovative tech SMEs for social good, make this event a powerful platform for networking, exchanging ideas, building contacts and taking ideas forward – together.

Connectivity is, after all, a necessity, not a luxury. Smart digital development is the key to all our futures. ITU Telecom World 2018 is where we can work out just how to go about developing those futures – in Durban, in South Africa, across the continent – and throughout the world.

From smart speaker systems to autonomous driving, androids and drones, Artificial Intelligence – AI – appears to be everywhere. But this is just the beginning of the AI revolution, as the debates at ITU Telecom World 2018 will explore.

At heart, AI is simply a machine programmed to make sense of data on a scale humans can’t deal with. It is the king of the algorithm, a highly intelligent machine capable of learning from experiences and producing logical conclusions based on input. As part of the digital technology connecting people, things and machines on a big data platform, it can enable solutions saving time, energy and lives, opening up opportunities as yet undreamt of.

AI is able to unlock scale and opportunity to deal with the grand challenges facing the world today, from ageing populations to sustainable urban living, access to food, healthcare, water and education, reducing poverty and increasing gender equality. Physical AI has the potential to free humans from mundane, routine tasks, allowing them to concentrate on higher-end work and releasing creative potential.

In emerging markets and smart cities alike, AI can help overcome natural limitations to growth such as geographic size or lack of natural resources, creating new markets and new value, rather than merely improving on existing models.

Improvements on current models is, however, where AI will first be in evidence, leading to significant cost savings, increased productivity, lower production cycles and improved back end or internal processes.

In the telco industry itself, AI will accelerate the evolution of network operator infrastructure into intelligent networks able to offer smarter, faster, tailored and more scalable services.

In the financial services sector, for example, AI can reduce the hundreds of thousands of hours needed to carry out regulatory compliance to a matter of seconds; or the time, effort and investment necessary for a mortgage to a few minutes. New financial services may include mass market personalised services, opening an enormous market of lower earners, or microfinancing for the unbanked. In call centres across a range of sectors, AI can work alongside humans analysing complex data sets in parallel to the human customer-facing contact, or take calls as a co-worker as far as possible before passing on to human expertise.

In all cases, AI is a tool to augment human abilities rather than replace them. It is therefore only as good as the person inputting information and parameters into its system.

Ensuring that AI is provided with data in a way that does not reflect and perpetuate inherent bias, unconscious or not, is therefore of great importance. We need to be aware of, and work to avoid, replication of existing divides and inequalities on gender, race, geography, the urban/rural split, access to education, investment in infrastructure, the availability of talent, the provision of adequate cyber security. The danger is that AI will otherwise prolong or deepen these divides, limiting its benefits to the developed world.

Providing open public data and open APIs to allow private companies and individual developers to create solutions for public and commercial services is key to democratising AI – and fast-tracking its deployment. This means balancing access to large datasets to improve quality of life against data protection, privacy and security issues.

Preparation– and education – is critical. The international community, government, businesses and individuals should be as ready as possible for the seismic changes that the widespread adoption and deployment of AI will bring with it.

The biggest of these is the transformation of the current labour market. It is estimated that up to 75% of all jobs will be impacted by AI over the next ten years – not only routine, low-skilled jobs, but also traditional blue collar sectors such as journalism, law or financial services. Productivity and revenue should rise as costs are cut, but the societal disruption will be enormous.

Standardization is critical to enable AI to function in a multi-vendor ecosystem environment, but is complicated by the fact that AI is an active machine, learning in real time with real data. AI is often invisible, raising issues of transparency and accountability; international codes of conduct or frameworks are an important first step towards regulation.

The deployment and impact of AI will be central to debates in the Forum at ITU Telecom World 2018 – a neutral platform for key stakeholders from government, industry and academia to come together, share knowledge, explore the key issues, and make real progress.