Toward a 6G AI-Native Air Interface

Abstract

Each generation of cellular communication systems is marked by a defining disruptive technology of its time, such as OFDM for 4G or Massive MIMO for 5G. Since AI is the defining technology of our time, it is natural to ask what role it could play for 6G. While it is clear that 6G must cater to the needs of large distributed learning systems, it is less certain if AI will play a defining role in the design of 6G itself. The goal of this article is to paint a vision of a new air interface that is partially designed by AI to enable optimized communication schemes for any hardware, radio environment, and application.