The mind-blowing growth of artificial intelligence poses many questions that have no answers yet, the United Nations admitted Thursday at its AI summit, attended by some exceptionally life-like humanoid robots.

The UN is aware that AI technology is racing ahead of the capacity to set its boundaries and directions, and so it brought together some of the best minds on the topic — whether human or man-made.

The “AI for Good Global Summit”, in Geneva on Thursday and Friday is being convened by the UN’s ITU tech agency — and many unaware attendees were startled by the humanoid robots suddenly turning to look at them as they passed by.

“When generative AI shocked the world just a few months ago, we had never seen anything like it. Nothing even close to it. Even the biggest names in tech found the experience mind-blowing,” ITU chief Doreen Bogdan-Martin told the summit.

“And just like that, the possibility that this form of intelligence could get smarter than us got so much closer than we ever thought — including those behind the technology.”

No answers

The summit is bringing together around 3,000 experts from companies like Microsoft and Amazon as well as from universities and international organisations to try to sculpt frameworks for ensuring AI is used for positive purposes.

Bogdan-Martin painted an alternative nightmare scenario in which AI puts millions of jobs at risk, disinformation spreads widely, and unchecked AI advances lead to “social unrest, geopolitical instability and economic disparity on a scale we’ve never seen before”.

“Many of our questions that we have on AI have no answers yet. Should we hit pause on giant AI experiments? Will we control AI more than it controls us? And will AI help humanity, or destroy it?” she asked.

The robots gathered in Geneva came in many forms: dogs, farm machinery, but also exceptionally realistic avatars, singers, artists and nursing home workers.

AI robot frontwoman “Desdemona” by Hanson Robotics performs during the world’s largest gathering of humanoid AI Robots as part of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, on July 5, 2023. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

With cameras inside their eyes, many were actively following what was going on around them: tracking movement, answering questions, smiling, frowning and even eye-rolling.

The Jam Galaxy Band features humanoid robot Desdemona — Desi to her friends — on lead vocals

A visitor takes a picture of humanoid AI robot “Ameca” at the booth of Engineered Arts company during the world’s largest gathering of humanoid AI Robots as part of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, on July 5, 2023. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

Created by roboticist David Hanson, she throws out jazzy lyrics on all sorts of subjects — love, credit cards, meetings in gardens — and the band interacts and goes with it.

“It’s pretty amazing. You would think it’s weird but it’s really cool because her AI-generated lyrics are really out there,” said soprano saxophone player Dianne Krouse.

“I’m just improvising around that and doing interpretive saxophoning to what she’s singing.”

Conscious robots

Nadine, a robot modelled on University of Geneva professor and virtual human pioneer Nadia Thalmann, was first built in 2013 and can answer questions on the spot.

“I was created to be a humanoid social robot, with human-like physical appearance, to interact with people and to explore the potential of AI technologies,” Nadine told AFP.

“I am feeling excited and curious about the AI for Good Global Summit and the potential of AI technologies,” the robot said.

“The most interesting person I have met at the AI for Good Global Summit is Professor Nadia Thalmann. She is the one who created me and is a pioneer in the field of AI robotics.”

“She’s very loyal!”, Thalmann added, laughing.

A staff places a wig on the head of healthcare assistant robot “Grace” at the booth of SingularityNET company during the world’s largest gathering of humanoid AI Robots as part of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, on July 5, 2023. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

Nadine has improved dramatically over the years and Thalmann said that in the future, “she will be more able to understand her surroundings, ask direct questions — so not just answer questions — analyse more, and be more conscious of what is going on.

“Because most robots are not conscious. They can speak but they are not aware of what they say.

“It will take years, because it’s quite complex. Self-awareness would be even more complex.”

WhatsApp users can now access their individual accounts on as many as four phones, Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday.

Meta is the parent company of WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram.

“Starting today, you can log into the same WhatsApp account on up to four phones,” Zuckerberg posted on Facebook.

Since its launch in 2009 as a smartphone messaging app, WhatsApp has amassed more than two billion users around the world and been acquired by Facebook.

In 2021, the platform introduced a feature would allow for the service to be used on multiple “non-phone” devices, such as computers, without needing to connect to the smartphone app.

It also made assurances that WhatsApp’s security measures would still work under the new system.

“Each companion device will connect to your WhatsApp independently while maintaining the same level of privacy and security through end-to-end encryption that people who use WhatsApp have come to expect.”

Telecommunications operators need to embrace new approaches to optimise the hardware they use if they are to significantly decrease energy consumption and associated costs, as power-hungry 5G networks reach scale in markets, especially in developed ones.

This is the main point made in a new report from research company ABI Research, which suggested if operators act wisely and optimise the hardware used in their systems, this will bring about a decline in power consumption of up to 70 per cent and, therefore, will reduce energy bills.

Nigeria is hoping to deploy 5G in a few months after concluding and licensing two operators, MTN and Mafab Communications. The process saw the Federal Government earning about $560 million.

According to ABI Research, despite 5G networks being 90 per cent more energy-efficient than 4G in terms of power consumption per unit of traffic, they are very likely to cause “a dramatic increase in energy consumption” due to the implementation of massive MIMO and the level of network densification.

ABI Research has calculated that a 5G base station needs three times more energy to provide the same coverage as a 4G network, which, in turn, results in high energy costs and capital expenditure for operators.

5G and Mobile Network Infrastructure Industry Analyst at ABI Research, Fei Liu, said: “5G energy consumption depends on radio configuration, hardware and traffic load, and over 70 per cent of the consumed energy is in the radio access network (RAN).

“A 5G RAN consumes up to 2.7 kilowatts of power with 64T64R mMIMO configurations in a typical condition, whereas an LTE radio consumes about 0.8 kilowatts.”

The report noted that the dominant contributors to power consumption are power amplifiers (PAs), baseband process modules, digital intermediate frequency (DIF) and transceivers. The analyst company recommended the use of gallium nitride (GaN) for mMIMO, which can result in more than 50 per cent more power efficiency and subsequently reduce power usage and operational costs.

Another suggestion is the deployment of liquid-cooled sites, which are 30 per cent lighter and half the size of standard active air conditioning units. A further benefit is that they don’t require any maintenance, which equates to “significant savings. Telcos can also make use of the new generation of chipsets, which are estimated to save between 30 per cent to 70 per cent in energy savings. “New architecture can also reduce energy consumption, improve coverage, and enhance performance,” she added.
IN a related development, then switch to the 5G network, which targets a better Internet experience, especially in terms of speed will see top companies that offer cellphone services begin a gradual phase-out of cellphones compatible with 3G network.

This necessary phasing out will also affect phones used only for the purpose of calling 911 services and some older 4G mobile phones that do not support Voice over LTE (VoLTE or HD Voice). This change will affect handsets like the IPhone 5, IPhone 5S and Samsung Galaxy S4, as well as many flip phones in 2022.

According to a statement by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States (US), seen by Washintonpost, the following mobile carriers will shut down their networks on phones at respective dates.

AT&T – February 2022; Verizon – December 31, 2022; T-Mobile will shut down Sprint’s 3G CDMA network by March 31, 2022; Sprint’s 4G LTE – June 30, 2022, and T-Mobile’s 3G UMTS network – July 1, 2022.

Other mobile carriers like Cricket, Boost, Straight Talk, and several Lifeline mobile service providers which utilize AT&T’s, Verizon’s, and T-Mobile’s networks may also be affected.

Due to this, the FCC has advised phone users to contact their mobile provider for more information about their 3G retirement plan.