Both providers and vendors in the broadband industry are trying to figure out how artificial intelligence (AI) can improve internal systems, customer service, construction, and more. Hailo Chief Technical Officer Avi Baum — who spoke with Telecompetitor today — has another take. He believes in the importance of edge-based AI, especially for broadband customer experience use cases.
While the opportunity for broadband providers around AI and data centers has gotten a lot of attention — since AI platforms that rely on cloud connectivity require so much data — Baum is focused on edge devices. Edge-based AI refers to AI that is installed and hosted directly on edge devices. Edge devices are devices at the edge of the cloud that are directly used by consumers: smartphones, internet of things (IoT) devices, etc.
These devices connect to the cloud but have a certain amount of information loaded directly on the device. For example, when you say to Siri, “I see a little silhouetto of a man,” it responds, “Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?” without contacting the internet. The response is built in. (Those are lyrics from the Queen song “Bohemian Rhapsody.”)
Edge AI means certain AI capabilities would be built directly into devices without requiring a connection to the internet. Baum said both cloud-based and edge-based AI are necessary but will be used for different purposes.
Baum said the strongest use case for edge AI in the broadband industry is enhancing the customer experience, particularly around installations and connectivity troubleshooting.
He used the word “box” to describe an edge AI device — the “box” could be a router, IoT device, or anything a consumer is trying to set up — and explained that “if the box is self-contained, you just plug it into the power, start talking to it, and it will guide you.
“It can observe itself and see what’s wrong. It can say, ‘You have a very poor connection here; try to do this,’ et cetera. It responds to the environment as it goes through the process.”
Baum said outage troubleshooting is another big opportunity for broadband providers. The customer experience could be improved by integrating AI into the router, allowing users to simply say, “My internet went out. What happened?” and be guided through steps to check — and possibly fix — their connection.
He added that a customer won’t have to call on the AI tool. “You don’t even need to say a keyword. It’s not like, ‘Hey, Siri,’ or ‘Hey, Google,’ because it will understand that you’re addressing it and not somebody else. That’s part of being much more proficient in language. It seems a bit mind-boggling. But it understands, like I understand, if you address me or not. And if it doesn’t understand, it can ask you, ‘Did you talk to me?’”
Baum said edge AI tools will improve the customer experience by “learning your language and register — how you speak and what your age is.”
The customer experience is further enhanced when these tools are delivered with a low-latency AI that “works at the pace that we are talking — like human-to-human, not human-to-machine,” Baum said.
He said these tools are still in the proof-of-concept stage. For now, Baum advises providers to keep thinking about how AI can enhance the customer experience, and then to consider whether tools like edge-based AI can be a differentiator for one provider over another. “Will people want the service because it’s very valuable for the end user, so they will pay the extra fee? The jury’s still out on that. Nobody knows. But those who are more innovative can bring in something that is completely different.”
