2024 REPORT
2024 REPORT
Unlimited Innovation for a Global Sustainable Society by IOWN
Senior Executive Vice President
Katsuhiko Kawazoe
Script
Hello, everyone.
It is my great pleasure and honor to welcome you to the NTT R&D Forum 2024.
Today, I would like to talk about our innovations toward a global sustainable
society realized by IOWN.
First of all, let me introduce our company and laboratories.
NTT Group is now a global ICT company group with more than 960 companies and
340,000 employees worldwide. About 45% of employees work outside of Japan.
The holding company has a large R&D department. About 2,300 researchers
are working in our 17 laboratories. The offices are located in Japan &
the United States. NTT is leading global R&D in various fields,
particularly in the fields of Optical Electronics, Security Systems,
Neurological Analysis and Quantum Mechanics.
We are facing many crises, such as COVID-19, climate change, natural disasters, and a divided world. We have to enhance ICT technologies more and more. Internet traffic is growing exponentially. Therefore, a lot of computers are used to process large amounts of data. As a result, energy consumption is skyrocketing. On the other hand, carbon neutrality is a global goal. In short, we must achieve both economic growth and a decarbonized society.
Next, let's look at the increase in data center power consumption.
NTT is now the number 3 data center operator in the world. In 2018, data center
power consumption was 190 terawatt-hours worldwide. It is expected to increase
about 13 times by 2030, and overall power consumption is also expected to increase
significantly. We need to break through the current limitations.
Our idea for this breakthrough is IOWN.
The key to IOWN is optical technologies. Optics has wonderful advantages compared
with electricity. Even if the transmission distance or frequency increases, the
power consumption barely increases. As you all know, we currently use optical
fibers for long-distance data transmission. NTT has been researching optical
technology, aiming to utilize optics for both data transmission and data processing.
Compared to transmission, it has been difficult to apply optical technology to information processing. But in 2019, we finally succeeded in inventing the world’s first optical transistor. This invention was the origin of IOWN. NTT has strengths in the manufacturing methods of optical transistors. While conventional optical transistors are stacked vertically, we possess the technology to assemble them horizontally. By confining strong light within a thin active layer, we can achieve high performance.
Performance advantages of IOWN are 100 times higher energy efficiency, 125 times
higher transmission capacity, and one two-hundredth of the end-to-end latency.
When we announced IOWN, we planned to start the commercial service in 2030.
However, NTT launched the initial IOWN service, APN IOWN one point zero, from
2023. I want to introduce one of the service use cases. Please show the video.
The fiber distance between Tokyo and Osaka was 700km. The time delay was only
20 milliseconds. This is the same time delay as 3 meters distance of players on
the same stage.
Next, let's talk about AI in the IOWN era.
The utilization of AI is highly significant in the field of cybersecurity.
However, this applies not only to cybersecurity defenders but also to
attackers. How to defeat cyberattacks by a botnet—a battle of cyberattacks
versus cybersecurity measures—has been waged.
If a botnet combines with advanced AI beyond human ability, cybersecurity would be threatened more than ever. AI can instantly make botnets more malicious. I believe it is IOWN that enables us to avoid this threat. It’s because defensive AIs connecting with each other on an IOWN APN can beat botnets by promptly sharing knowledge with each other.
We liken this kind of AI collaboration to a constellation and call it "AI Constellation," promoting its research and development. The AI Constellation is a key technology for realizing more advanced collective intelligence using AI.
Everyone, do you know the only thing the current generative AI cannot do?
The AI cannot confirm its own answers. Most present generative AIs are singular
massive AIs. So, they cannot deny their answers. I believe AIs should find a
better answer by communicating with each other and demonstrating their own
expertise. IOWN aims to enable AI to do what humans take for granted.
Let me talk about generative AI, which is currently attracting attention among
the AIs that make up the AI Constellation.
Current generative AI finds answers from data created by humans. AI learns from
human knowledge to help humans. However, can AI help humans with challenges
beyond human knowledge?
Current generative AI cannot perceive all possible information. To compensate for human limitations, I believe AI should understand not only data created by humans but also various data on the earth and in the universe. Then AI will evolve into an AI that derives answers beyond human knowledge. IOWN is the foundation that supports such a better future.
Next is about Mobility in the IOWN era.
With IOWN and global data center connectivity, which are NTT's strengths,
mobility will evolve to become smarter and safer. I would like to introduce
the three core technologies necessary for this evolution.
The first is the Intelligent Communication Infrastructure. It collects data in real-time from people, mobile sources, and infrastructure, selects the optimal communication using AI, and provides seamless communication.
The second is the Decentralized Computing Infrastructure. It places computing resources that run AI in globally distributed data centers, creating a decentralized computing infrastructure. First, we will construct a decentralized computing infrastructure domestically in Japan and connect them with IOWN. Furthermore, we will leverage NTT's global data center connectivity, which spans data centers worldwide, to expand globally.
The third is the Mobility AI Platform. Utilizing the communication and decentralized computing infrastructures, we will build Mobility AI by learning from the diverse data of people, mobile sources, and infrastructure. We call it LMM (Large Mobility Data Model).
This is an example of the future generative AI we previously introduced. To realize this concept, we have begun collaboration with Toyota Motor Corporation. Starting from 2025, we will begin developing the Mobility AI Platform, and from around 2028, we will start implementation in society with various partners, aiming for widespread adoption post-2030.
We have received a video message from Senior Executive Vice President Nakajima of Toyota Motor Corporation. We received a very encouraging message. We aim to expand this collaborative network and develop even better technologies and services.
IOWN will expand beyond Earth to Aerospace.
The concept is to create an independent network system in space, separate from the
ground. This would be highly effective in our disaster-prone country, and we are
keen to realize it.
Technologies will evolve. AI will evolve.
How about humans? I believe we humans should also evolve.
Lastly, I’d like to introduce a New Human Evolution powered by IOWN. Please watch this video.
How did you feel?
Human potential is infinite with IOWN.
This concludes my presentation. We aim to build a sustainable society together with all of you. Thank you very much.