21581 - SCTE Broadband August2022 COMPLETE v1

24 Vol. 44 No. 3 - September 2022 Issue industry news “Sentient” AI technology leaves Google red-faced and dazzled engineer out of work For more information, see www.rohde-schwarz.com/uk/about/news-press/ Rohde & Schwarz participates in 6G-ANNA, a lighthouse project to advance 6G in Germany The three-year 6G-ANNA lighthouse project was initiated by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research in late July (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) and is being led by Nokia. With the combined effort of the 29 participating companies and research institutions, the consortium aims to advance the development, standardisation and implementation of the upcoming new generation of mobile communications. Rohde & Schwarz is contributing to the project by leveraging its already comprehensive research into 6G and related technologies. While 5G is still being rolled out in Germany, the BMBF has already initiated plans to shape and implement 6G. The new lighthouse project 6G-ANNA (6G Access, Network of Networks and Automation) is part of a larger “6G Platform Germany” initiative. Started on July 1, 2022 for a duration of 3 years, the 6G-ANNA is led by Nokia and funded by the BMBF with €38.4m. Rohde & Schwarz has joined the industry consortium as industry partner. The consortium is formed by well-established companies such as Airbus, Bosch, Ericsson, Siemens and Vodafone as well as innovative start-ups, research institutes and distinguished universities. Rohde & Schwarz has been closely involved in research beyond 5G and the development of 6G from the early beginnings and actively supports the ongoing fundamental research activities at 6G organisations, universities and research institutes across Europe, in the US and Japan. The company is already heavily invested in researching different technologies which are expected to play a vital role in the development of 6G such as (sub-)THz communication, joint communication and sensing (JCAS), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) or reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS). The first global specification of 6G is expected within the next six to eight years, and the commercial introduction of the technology is estimated to take place around 2030. Anyone with an imagination and a weakness for science fiction will have been captivated by the news that a now ex- Google employee and senior engineer in the US claimed the ChatBot technology he was working on had become sentient, to the point that elaborate and emotional conversations were taking place and recorded (see opposite). Google wasted no time in distancing themselves from his claims and put Blake Lemoine immediately on leave. He has since been fired with a statement from Google thus: “As we share in our AI Principles, we take the development of AI very seriously and remain committed to responsible innovation. LaMDA has been through 11 distinct reviews, and we published a research paper earlier this year detailing the work that goes