America May Outsmart China in 5G With AI and Blockchains

An FCC commissioner hopes that machine learning and distributed crypto-ledgers will free up wireless spectrum for billions of devices

By Will Knight

What do you get when you combine three of tech’s biggest buzzwords: AI, blockchain, and 5G? Perhaps ridiculously fast, amazingly abundant wireless data.

Jessica Rosenworcel, a commissioner at the US Federal Communications Commission, believes that artificial intelligence and blockchain technology will give the US an edge in next-generation wireless networking over its big technological rival, China.

Speaking at the Business of Blockchain, an event organized by the MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative and MIT Technology Review, Rosenworcel said AI and blockchains would allow wireless devices to use different frequencies within what is known as the wireless spectrum more dynamically and flexibly, enabling billions of devices to connect to 5G networks at once.

Machine learning will help wireless devices and networks share and negotiate over spectrum, Rosenworcel said, while distributed, cryptographically secured ledgers will help them keep track of who has access to what. Currently, the wireless spectrum is…