Dell report highlights how SDN is redefining human and machine relationship
According to a recent Dell Technologies report, software-defined networking (SDN) is poised to play a pivotal role in future partnerships between humans and machines.
Dell collaborated with the Institute for the Future (IFTF) to investigate the impact budding technologies enabled by SDN, including artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, and cloud computing, will have on society over the next decade. The researchers believe humans will take on the role of “digital conductors” in managing these technologies by 2030.
Digital conductors use technology as an extension of themselves to perform various day-to-day tasks. Obviously, people are used to the idea that they can use technology to extend their bodies with vehicles, musical instruments and iPhones abound. By 2030, however, new applications will have developed that were once reserved for the human brain. Rather than rely on a GPS to navigate from one destination to the next, for instance, people will be able to rely on digital assistants to manage their transportation needs. All they have to do is occupy the vehicle.
Digital conductors will occupy the workplace as well. In the future, the researchers say people will be able to offload more and more tasks onto software, especially in the realm of information security. Computers will be better able to monitor massive amounts of data for evidence of security breaches than people. Nevertheless, it will still be up to people to determine how to respond to these threats when notified by the computers.
The ability to offload work onto software is in large part thanks to breakthroughs in SDN, which enable administrators to centrally control a network’s behavior through application program interfaces (API). These buregoning technologies will demand enhanced networks functions, which are currently being leveraged by the telecom industry.
As more tasks are assigned to machines, many fear these sorts of technologies are weeding out human jobs. According to a survey of 352 A.I. researchers, there is a 50% chance A.I. will outperform all human tasks in 45 years, and that all human jobs will be automated in 120 years. However, these worries often do not consider the kinds of jobs technological advancements can create. The researchers of the report say 85% of the jobs in 2030 have yet to be invented; although, they do caution workers will need to become more tech savvy to survive in the digital era.
“Individuals will need to strengthen their ability to team up with machines to arrange the elements of their daily lives to produce optimal outcomes,” the researchers write. “Without empowering more to hone their digital conducting skills, the benefits that will come from offloading ‘life admin’ to machine partners will be limited to the digitally literate.”
The telecom industry is beginning to express interest in emerging technologies enabled by SDN, particularly within the realm of A.I. and customer service. AT&T, for instance, said last year it is experimenting with A.I. as is Verizon. Consequently, The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) recently formed a new group to explore how A.I. can be used to improve telecom networking operations.
“By 2030, we will no longer revere the technologies that are emerging today,” the researcher concluded. “They will have long disappeared into the background conditions of everyday life. If we engage in the hard work of empowering human-machine partnerships to succeed, their impact on society will enrich us all.”
