Opportunities and Challenges for the Integration of AI in Network Evolution Toward 6G

Next-generation (NextG) mobile networks are poised to revolutionize the telecommunications landscape. At the heart of this transformation lies the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which plays a pivotal role in addressing the inherent complexities of modern networks derived from the adoption of key technologies providing a flexible, fully programmable, cloud-native, and service-based infrastructure supporting an ever-increasing number and diversity of devices and applications. While the benefits stemming from the adoption of AI in new communication networks are widely acknowledged, the challenges in harnessing these benefits are diverse. This paper, without claiming to be exhaustive or to draw definitive conclusions, aims to analyze the symbiotic relationship between AI and future mobile networks.