It
is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid discussions about artificial
intelligence (AI). There is a growing consensus that AI broadly defined will
have a major impact on virtually every sector of the economy. A growing number
of experts believe that the impact will not stop there. Like railroads,
electricity, telephones, steam engines, and the Internet, AI’s impact is
expected to be large enough to affect the way we live. But, as Free State
Foundation scholars have written, this will require massive investment
to modernize the nation's information networks and to keep them robust.
Most
of the attention on AI is focused on building models that will consume massive
amounts of data and compute complex problems that are increasingly beyond the
ability of humans to solve. A lesser concern has been the energy and, to a
smaller extent, water networks required because of their role as major inputs
into data centers and power plants. However, AI will also have a large impact
on other networks. One of the most important will be the nation's information
networks.
In
the past, most of the focus on networks has been on extending broadband to all
people, a job that is nearing completion as broadband availability becomes
ubiquitous. Over the past year or so an increasing number of leaders and
organizations have begun to point out the strong interdependency of AI and the
information networks. The result is a growing realization that the U.S. needs
to devote an enormous amount of investment to networks that are larger, faster,
and more self-aware than the existing infrastructure.
As
stated above, there is already wide recognition of the strong linkage between
AI and power supplies. For instance, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, has stated that the problem in the AI
industry is not an excess supply of computation power, but rather a lack of
power to accommodate all those CPUs. Jensen Huang, NVIDIA's CEO, has stressed that the U.S. is vulnerable
because of its deficient energy supply. Finally, a report by the Center for Strategic and
International Studies finds that the U.S. electricity sector is struggling to
meet growing demand while maintaining low costs, improving system reliance, and
reducing emissions.
Recently
authoritative voices have expressed some of the same "supply-based" concerns
about the information networks. These networks must convey, compute, and
control massive amounts of data to massive amounts of computing power and back.
Börje Ekholm, President and CEO of Ericsson, explained that “[a]s artificial intelligence
(AI) moves beyond data centres into real-world applications like robotics,
autonomous systems and extended reality, it depends on high-performance 5G today
and 6G tomorrow.” John Saw, T-Mobile's President of Technology and Chief
Technology Officer, believes that “6G to us is more than just an
‘XG.’ We think it's the foundation for an AI-native future that distributes
intelligence across devices, the edge, and the cloud.” Finally, Ajit Pai,
President and CEO of CTIA stated that: “AI without a strong
wireless network is like a new car without a road.”
Others
share these concerns. An informative report from the Fiber Broadband Association
argues that “[t]wo historic trends are unfolding at the same time: the
nationwide deployment of fiber broadband infrastructure and the rapid buildout
of the infrastructure required to support artificial intelligence, quantum
networking, and other emerging applications.” FBA's report says: “AI workloads
require high-capacity east-west traffic within and between data centers. They
require low-latency pathways between inference platforms and end users. They
require resilient interconnection among geographically distributed facilities.”
The report argues that the current grid is evolving from a centralized system
into a highly distributed network incorporating renewable energy resources,
battery storage systems, distributed generation, microgrids, and intelligent
controls. Managing this complexity requires real-time visibility and
coordination.
A
recent CTIA report argues that AI requires networks
to move data, coordinate real-time decisions, and interact with the physical world.
In turn, wireless networks rely on AI to manage the surging complexity and
record traffic driven by AI’s own insatiable data demands:”
[I]t is now clear that AI traffic will strain existing
wireless networks before the decade is out with huge new data needs, entirely
new traffic patterns, and novel demands on wireless networks to do more than
simply carry traffic….
[I]t will also require emerging 6G networks to be
AI-native from the ground up with embedded intelligence to dynamically allocate
spectrum, anticipate congestion, sense the physical environment, coordinate edge-compute
workloads, and secure devices—all at machine speed.
Two
final points. To maximize AI’s performance, the most important parts of the networks
have to work differently than current networks. They will feature more
east-west flows, lower latency, higher uploading speeds, and the ability to
operate independently of humans. Second, the networks will have to be closely integrated
into those of other industries, including healthcare, transportation,
government services, and (of course) electricity.
In
fact, building out modernized networks will require both fiber and wireless
technology, as well as a lot of other inputs. Success will require massive
investments in these modernized networks, most of which will come from the
private sector. Given the large economic and security implications, public
policy should concentrate on creating favorable conditions for private sector
investment and working with allies to develop common standards and protections.
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