Technology experts punted AI Agents — a software programme that uses artificial intelligence to perform tasks and make decisions independently, with minimal human interaction or oversight — at the Mobile World Congress conference in Shanghai, China last week. (John McCann/M&G)
Chinese technology developers are mapping out the future with artificial intelligence agents, supported by faster 5G-advanced (5G-A) networks, to streamline activities for daily life and businesses.
Technology experts punted AI Agents — a software programme that uses artificial intelligence to perform tasks and make decisions independently, with minimal human interaction or oversight — at the Mobile World Congress conference in Shanghai, China last week.
“To build an AI agent for an individual, you need numerous touch points, so something that spreads across many devices, essentially,” Dominic Wallace, a senior global public relations manager at Huawei Technologies said while demonstrating the technology.
“You need to create a personal memory model, something that knows and learns about what the user does, and keeps aggregating the knowledge to improve the service.”
User-based experiences can also be used for business optimisation and infrastructure.
“It’s about taking the data and analysing it and creating an ecosystem that fits each personal user based on their condition and their taste, and then the infrastructure is about synergy and cloud network [as well as] edge device synergy,” Wallace said.
While the AI Agents are still conceptual, 5G-A networks — a step up from 4G networks with enhanced speed and latency — are being piloted to enhance AI technologies.
5G-A is already available in more than 300 cities in China, and carriers now offer 5G-A mobile plans in more than 30 Chinese provinces while the country has about 10 million 5G-A users.
The conference itself showcased automated vehicles that can transform into open vans — for a city that operates purely on electric vehicles and scooters — 3D and transparent laptop screens and futuristic robots in a human figure — equipped with technology to hand-deliver goods.
According to industry experts, many mobile network carriers are becoming providers of personalised AI agents that people can constantly access. For example, in smart homes, they are improving services by helping devices work together for a better user experience.
In cars, they are combining AI with new technologies to offer smarter, more connected spaces and in businesses, carriers are boosting computing and network services to support production and operations more effectively.
“The rapid adoption of mobile AI is bringing new vitality to the mobile industry in three brand-new ways,” said David Wang, executive director of the board at Huawei.
The first is that mobile devices will host AI Agents, not just applications, “that will improve every aspect of our life and work”, while AI’s convergence with the Internet of Things (IoT) — a network of physical appliances or devices and vehicles embedded with sensors that exchanges data over the internet to support smarter decision-making — will diversify AI capabilities.
The system bases its personal memory on the users’ real life habits, experiences and needs, Wallace said.
“A travel AI agent or travel assistant would be able to take minutes of all the key points of a phone call or a meeting, and when you’re in transit, on a train for example, it’s already working out what time you arrive and will book a taxi,” he said.
“If you have expenses on your business trip, it will be smart enough to know which are personal expenses, which are company expenses, and be able to file those with the finance department or something like that.”
Food delivery drones, which are already in use, will also be personalised through AI Agents.
“[Drones] can be used for things like food delivery, also medical items that maybe need to get somewhere quickly. With low velocity, they fly low and get there quickly,” Wallace said.
“It can’t deliver the food directly to your door, because perhaps you live in a flat right in the building, but the drone can deliver it to, for example, outside the building …The concept is, eventually, the robot can then take it from that drop off point and then deliver it directly to your door.”
He said some AI Agents would also be able to detect when a user needs to increase their water or food intake, when they need to stock up on specific groceries, and when they need to exercise. Some AI systems can also tailor an exercise routine for a user and demonstrate the actions on the screen, while monitoring their actions.
“It’s about memory. It’s about knowing the user and being able to do things they need,” he added.
Other devices also enabled healthcare checks for cancer cells, education programmes and assistants and industry-specific mechanisms.
Robots will play an integral role in people’s lives, but will need better connectivity networks, said the chief executive of Leju Robot, Chang Lin.
“As robots become integral to production and daily life, their connectivity will have to go beyond mere stable to intelligent — where latency is just a foundational capability and collaborative decision-making will be the true game-changer,” he said.
5G-A networks and AI-assisted route planning can collectively boost efficiency and cut costs in the supply chain industry, and commercially, it can enhance experiences for low-latency and high-bandwidth applications, including like cloud gaming and multi-view immersive sports streaming, and can enable more user-friendly payment patterns.
5G-A “will spur innovative new business models, and help carriers expand beyond traffic to begin monetising the experience itself,” Huawei’s corporate senior vice president Li Peng said. Carriers can use AI agents to drive AI adoption while delivering targeted experiences for individuals, homes, businesses, and industries.
Commercial 5G-A adoption is expected to accelerate in a number of regions in 2025, including China, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Huawei said in a statement.
The journalist’s trip to Shanghai to attend the conference was sponsored by Huawei Technologies