5G and Artificial Intelligence Discussed at TRAI Conference

Turkey's Artificial Intelligence Initiative (TRAI), organized with Etiya's support, drew significant attendance at its "TRAI 5G and Artificial Intelligence Conference." The opening address was delivered by TRAI founder Halil Aksu at the conference, which brought together leading executives and academics from Turkcell, Türk Telekom, Huawei, Vodafone, Ford Otosan, Etiya, TÜBİTAK BİLGEM, Gazi University and P.I. Works. The conference was broadcast live from the Turkey Artificial Intelligence Initiative website (https://turkiye.ai/trai5g/canli-yayin/) and the TRAI Youtube channel. Halil Aksu said: "Spring has come to the technology world. The artificial intelligence boom will continue over this decade. If we look at the four most important technologies of the 2020s, we will be discussing and debating the two most important ones today." Noting that IT infrastructure will transform entirely to the cloud over ten years and communications infrastructure will shift completely to 5G infrastructure, Halil Aksu continued: "The software world will undergo a revolution with artificial intelligence. And we will be securing all of these with blockchain and cybersecurity. As Turkey's Artificial Intelligence Initiative, we are most excited about artificial intelligence and we believe artificial intelligence will deliver economic value. We are very excited about organizing this conference. Artificial intelligence will be the operating system of our civilization."

"In Such a Complex World, Artificial Intelligence Will Assist People"

Following Halil Aksu, Turkcell Chief Information Officer Serkan Öztürk noted that we faced a pandemic crisis unlike anything experienced before, which served as an incredible catalyst in the technology world. "In one year we have traveled the distance we had not covered in the previous ten years. There have been incredible changes in almost every sector," Öztürk continued: "Education moved online. In healthcare, procedures suddenly became available remotely despite lacking regulations. Many businesses closed. But remote versions of these activities emerged. With things being this way, technologies that would support and enable these became important. Artificial intelligence is at the forefront of these. In such a difficult, complex world, I believe artificial intelligence will be very helpful to people."  

"There Is No Industry That Artificial Intelligence Has Not Contributed To"

Ahmet Fethi Ayhan (Türk Telekom Network Director) spoke next and described the sectors impacted by artificial intelligence, sharing examples of artificial intelligence applications in the telecom sector with participants. Highlighting that network optimization, predictive maintenance, cybersecurity, voice assistants and RPA are the most important telecom applications globally and in Turkey, Ahmet Fethi Ayhan noted that the convergence of 5G and artificial intelligence will open vast opportunities for smart cloud and Industry 4.0 applications, adding: "There is no industry that artificial intelligence has not contributed to."  

"It Will Be Possible to Develop Personalized and Enterprise-Specific Networks"

Following Ahmet Fethi Ayhan's presentation at the TRAI 5G and Artificial Intelligence Conference, the "5G Experience and Artificial Intelligence Panel" was held. Uğur Gemici, Deputy General Manager of Product Development at Etiya, who moderated the panel, said: "With the widespread adoption of 5G technologies, in addition to providing faster and more consistent mobile services, it will be possible to develop personalized networks and enterprise-specific networks." He continued: "Networks will be provided that are valid for a specific period of time for a particular application and accessible only to certain users. This will enable more accurate data and faster implementation of applications not only for individual users but also in industrial verticals such as Industry 4.0, autonomous driving and agriculture."  

"With 5G We Will Need to Work with Much More Data"

İrfan Uğur, Information Technology Director at Türk Telekom, speaking at the panel, stated: "Developing technologies and applications have so far pushed infrastructure improvements. With 5G, we will need to work with much more data. There will be far greater developments on the IT side and the floodgates will be opened, investments in this area will increase." Haydar Erdem Yılmaz, Data Analytics and IT Operations Director at Vodafone, speaking at the panel, drew attention to the fact that a system with more machines connected becomes more complex, saying: "Issues such as more data and real-time responses come to the fore. It is moving away from being a structure that will require more human effort."  

"With 5G We Are Now Talking About Systems, Not Individuals"

Another speaker at the "5G Experience and Artificial Intelligence Panel" was İnanç Çakıroğlu, Director of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at Turkcell Analytics Solutions. Çakıroğlu said: "With 5G technologies, we are now beginning to talk not about individuals but about systems that instantaneously share very large amounts of data with each other and make sense of this data. This enables the development of both cloud-based systems that will enable data transfer and systems that understand and respond to incoming data without needing to transfer it."  

5G's Interaction with Connected Autonomous Vehicles

At another panel at the TRAI 5G and Artificial Intelligence Conference, Tahir Sarı (Ford Otosan Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Engineer), Dr. Nazlı GÜNEY (Turkcell 5G Research and Development Engineer) and Arda Taha Candan (TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Researcher) explained in a jointly prepared presentation what connected autonomous vehicles are, the impact of 5G technologies on autonomous vehicles and the usage scenarios of 5G in the automotive sector.  

"5G Has 220 Million Subscribers Worldwide"

The final panel at the conference addressed the Industrial Applications of 5G and Artificial Intelligence and Smart Grids. Ömer Faruk Şahin, Senior Manager of Public and Corporate Relations at Huawei, speaking at the panel moderated by Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu from Gazi University, said: "5G is not a new technology but largely an advanced one. I would like to share some striking figures with you. While we ask if 5G is coming or has come, 5G is already here and is currently operational in more than 140 networks worldwide. More than 1 million 5G base stations have been deployed and it has more than 220 million active subscribers."  

"We Expect 95 Percent of Companies to Complete Their Artificial Intelligence Transformation by End of 2025"

Özkan Gümüş, Ecosystem Director at Huawei Turkey Cloud and Artificial Intelligence Unit, another speaker at the panel, said that when examining projects in Turkey and globally they found that certain sectors need more artificial intelligence transformation. He added: "We group these sectors into six categories: Public and private security, energy and agriculture, transportation, retail-finance and telecom, industrial manufacturing and healthcare. Statistically, by the end of 2025 we expect 95 percent of companies in these industries to complete their artificial intelligence transformation."   Yakup Tarık Kranda (Product Management and Applied Research Manager at P.I. Works), another speaker at the panel, described many international projects in which P.I. Works is involved. Yakup Tarık Kranda said: "What is important for us is that a research project comes to life. In other words, the research has a result and becomes a product to be exported. We place great emphasis on this. Over the past four years that I have directed, we have completed 5 TÜBİTAK projects. All of these have been exported abroad and generate revenue for the country."   You can watch the TRAI 5G and Artificial Intelligence Conference at the following links: https://turkiye.ai/trai5g/canli-yayin/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRtd_eXq-5c&t=1s