The Global Coalition on Telecommunications (GCOT) has outlined principles for the adoption of AI for the telecommunications industry and Open RAN certification.
GCOT member nations are the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
The organization sees great potential benefits in AI, including improved network performance and efficiency, strengthened security, enhanced customer experiences, and new applications and revenue opportunities. It also recognizes that safety, security, trustworthiness and respect for intellectual property are vital.
GCOT’s statement of principles is specifically aimed at industry leaders, researchers and those developing AI for telecommunications. It includes principles focused on six areas:
- Innovation and competition: AI systems in telecommunications should be leveraged to drive innovation and promote a competitive, innovative telecommunications market, while respecting Intellectual Property Rights.
- Transparency, explainability, and human oversight: AI systems in telecommunications should prioritize transparency and explainability in a timely manner, ensuring clear disclosure and understandable decision-making processes to build trust and accountability.
- Privacy: The use of AI systems in telecommunications should uphold privacy, safeguarding user data and protecting individual rights.
- Fairness: The use of AI systems in telecommunications should uphold fairness, striving to minimize unwanted bias for equitable outcomes.
- Security and resilience: AI systems in telecommunications should be designed to protect against cyber threats, ensuring data integrity and maintaining operational stability.
- Environmental sustainability: AI systems in telecommunications should be used to improve the environmental sustainability of the network and designed to minimize their own environmental impact.
“The insights GCOT partners offer today on AI adoption will help ensure we can seize the opportunity for innovation and enhance security, resilience, and trust across our networks,” Alan Davidson, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator, said in a press release about the GCOT principles.
AI, of course, has gotten a lot of attention both because of its limitless potential and daunting possible dangers. The House of Representatives has outlined items of agreement about the technology and could take action based on the recently released Bipartisan Task Force Report on AI.
CGOT Open RAN Certification Principles
CGOT also introduced principles for Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) solutions certification.
It is a topic of much interest to carriers in the United States. Verizon, for instance, said last February that it has deployed more than 130,000 Open RAN-capable radios, including massive MIMO radios.
In December 2023, AT&T said that it planned to upgrade 70% of its mobile network to open radio access network (Open RAN) technology by 2026.
