Some Friday fare for you – from reflections on a webinar last week about the combination of private 5G and generative AI, those twin hype bombs, in Industry 4.0. It goes like this… 

There is an argument, perhaps, that generative AI and private 5G are the two biggest hype stories in industrial tech right now – going up and down either side of the curve respectively. Maybe that is a telco tale; but private 5G has built a genuine head of steam in Industry 4.0 quarters since the start of the year, and generative AI is a phenomenon, of course, going way beyond factory lines, into homes, offices, and the corridors of global power. Which is why RCR sought to combine these topics in a webinar session – to consider how they mesh, and even if they mesh.

So is there a connection between them – really? The panel scratched its chin, and the audience blowed out its cheeks – and everyone agreed: no; but also yes. The point is that 5G and AI – whether private and generative, or not – are ‘enabling technologies’. One does not beget the other, very clearly; you don’t need 5G for any kind of AI, unless you are way out in the sticks, and the sums work. They are horizontal technologies; one goes on the other in the classic tech stack – such that their parallel narratives converge at points, as required. 

Because AI works on 5G, too – maybe less well than on fibre, but then 5G brings mobility, which brings flexibility, which enables certain applications; but probably better than on Wi-Fi, except that Wi-Fi is well-understood, and evolving also. So there is lots of crossover, as with any network and analytics technologies. But generative AI also brings expertise, potentially, to non-experts, specialised in other fields. And so it can help enterprises manage private 5G networks, as well as the applications on top of them. Logic says, indeed, that one will drive the other. More in the story below.