IoT-AI and Networking 5/7

By Motoyuki Matsunaga, Senior Fellow

IoT (Internet of Things) is the expansive concept invented in the progress of the development of digital information technology starting from internet. It has two divisions. One is “IoT for human” actually used by human such as smartphone, and the other is “IoT for machine”.

Internet has been developed by digitalized telephone network connecting personal computers. At the early stage internet was used as communication tool mainly for exchanging and sharing the information via electronic mail and web, and it has become popular as tool to realize expansive potential of human second to the telephone technology which first overcome the distance.

Later information terminals have been connected with surveillance cameras and highly sophisticated voice response system when smartphone, cloud system, SNS (Social Network System) are emerged and developed in the progress of digital network being enhanced with broadband function and of information processing capacity being rapidly improved. These are the tools which human use by recognizing own information, so, they are the ones enhanced in the “IoT for human”. As they are the tools used by human, security and privacy issues are to be carefully considered.

The other IoT is the “IoT for machine” originated from the concept of connecting machines such as manufacturing facilities in the factory. Industrie 4.0 developed and expanded by Germany is aiming that the innovative and integrated industrial competitive power is created and enhanced firstly by improving the level of automation and virtualization of manufacturing process and keeping the maximum efficiency in the factory, and secondly by associating it with the value chain of logistic and commercial distribution outside factories. IoT for machine are therefore enhanced by expanding its area further to “IoT for human” outside of their area.

In order to support such expansion and enhancement where factory machines are connected with outside of factory or next generation machines such as autonomous driving cars and flying robot (drone) are moving freely on the road or in the urban city sky the essential issue of safety should be carefully taken into consideration.

In the future “IoT for human” and “IoT for machine” will be developed in bi-directional connection and association, and will be further enhanced and sophisticated with AI (Artificial Intelligence). For example it is expected that the former “IoT for human” is associated with AI to support intellectual and highly specialized work such as medical doctor and lawyer, and that the latter “IoT for machine” is associated with AI to support intellectual and strategic work such as management.

New social infrastructure will be established in the integrated area of AI and 2 IoT’s.

Conventional system idea prioritizing mainly to economic rationality cannot solve the essential issues previously raised in these reports and cannot cope with future IoT・AI integrated system with more sophistication.

It is highly expected that a new social design concept is established in the near future to secure the social rules, value and security while reducing the complexity of the integrated system for simpler social system.