Embracing AI in 5G-Advanced Towards 6G: A Joint 3GPP and O-RAN Perspective

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful technology that improves system performance and enables new features in 5G and beyond. Standardization, defining functionality and interfaces, is essential for driving the industry alignment required to deliver the mass adoption of AI in 5G-Advanced and 6G. However, fragmented efforts in different standards bodies, such as the third generation partnership project (3GPP) and the open radio access network (O-RAN) Alliance, can lead to confusion and uncertainty about which standards to follow and which aspects of the standards to embrace. This article provides a joint 3GPP and O-RAN perspective on the state of the art in AI adoption in mobile communication systems, including the fundamentals of 5G architecture and its evolution towards openness and intelligence, AI for 5G-Advanced evolution, and a case study on AI-enabled traffic steering. We also identify several areas for future exploration to accelerate AI adoption on the path towards 6G.