Science & Technology

Mobile World closes an edition centered on artificial intelligence

Barcelona, Spain, Feb 29 (EFE). – MWC, the digital connectivity industry’s premier event, held its 2024 edition in Barcelona and exceeded expectations by attracting 101,000 attendees to focus on artificial intelligence.

The GSMA celebrated the “energy and vitality” of the event, which approached the 109,000 attendees recorded the year before the pandemic.

The 2024 event brought together more than 2,700 exhibitors, sponsors, partners, and around 1,100 speakers, 40% of whom were women.

The emergence of artificial intelligence, set to transform technology, and the deployment of high-capacity 5G networks marked an event in which Asian companies once again showed their strength.

“We are proud to host this special event, which once again delivered four exceptional days of debate, thought, leadership, inspiration, and deal-making,” said John Hoffman, CEO of the GSMA.

59% of attendees represented industries from across the mobile ecosystem at a conference that continues to establish itself as a technology showcase that transcends the mobile industry.

AI’s year

Aside from the small flying car prototype from Alef Aeronautics that inspired futuristic dreams, AI was the most disruptive technology.

Several companies presented innovations related to generative or machine learning models in their products or production processes to increase efficiency.

For example, Samsung mobile phones already incorporate AI tools that simultaneously translate calls, improve message writing, and edit photos.

Other prototypes, such as the one by Deutsche Telekom, anticipated an era in which an intelligent assistant could replace all the apps in the device.

“I’m impressed by how the industry has mobilized around the possibilities of AI. There has been a tremendous amount of structured thinking and case validation. They’ve hit the ground running, and it’s only been 18 months since ChatGPT came out,” said Brian Partridge, an analyst at S&P Global.

AvidThink’s Roy Chua expects AI to continue to be a focus of the convention for at least the next five years.

Meanwhile, this year’s “losers” were: 6G, in a market still struggling to roll out 5G; the metaverse, which has fallen off the map; and the crypto world, which had almost no presence, said Peter Jarich, head of GSMA Intelligence.

Big names in the industry

The importance of the coming revolution in the tech industry and across broad sectors of the economy was mentioned by Demis Hassabis, co-founder of Google DeepMind and one of the fathers of AI, who said that these new intelligent models will design drugs ready for clinical trials in just two years.

Microsoft CEO Brad Smith also took the main stage at MWC to confirm that the company will invest more than US$5 billion to build data centers in Europe to handle the massive processing capacity required by AI.

Making 5G profitable

The deployment of high-capacity networks was another key theme. A wide range of technologies, such as autonomous vehicles and solutions for smart cities, augmented reality applications, and industrial automation, depend on their generalization to finally take off.

However, 5G coverage in Europe is lagging – it covers about 20% of the territory, compared to 40% in the United States and 50% in China – and many voices in the sector point to the fragmentation of the European market as one of the brakes on investment in infrastructure.

Related Articles

Back to top button