A Survey on the Integration of Generative AI for Critical Thinking in Mobile Networks

TL;DR

The paper addresses how Generative AI can enable critical thinking in mobile networks by examining reasoning- and planning-capable GenAI algorithms and their telecom applicability. It presents a taxonomy of reasoning methods (prompting, fine-tuning, neural-symbolic) and surveys telecom use-cases across business, service, lifecycle, and infrastructure domains, mapping them to appropriate GenAI approaches. Key contributions include a cross-domain synthesis of reasoning techniques, identified challenges such as accuracy and grounding, and proposed directions for hybrid and generate-verify architectures. The work aims to seed future research and guide practical deployment of reasoning-enabled GenAI to achieve autonomous, efficient, and explainable mobile networks.

Abstract

In the near future, mobile networks are expected to broaden their services and coverage to accommodate a larger user base and diverse user needs. Thus, they will increasingly rely on artificial intelligence (AI) to manage network operation and control costs, undertaking complex decision-making roles. This shift will necessitate the application of techniques that incorporate critical thinking abilities, including reasoning and planning. Symbolic AI techniques already facilitate critical thinking based on existing knowledge. Yet, their use in telecommunications is hindered by the high cost of mostly manual curation of this knowledge and high computational complexity of reasoning tasks. At the same time, there is a spurt of innovations in industries such as telecommunications due to Generative AI (GenAI) technologies, operating independently of human-curated knowledge. However, their capacity for critical thinking remains uncertain. This paper aims to address this gap by examining the current status of GenAI algorithms with critical thinking capabilities and investigating their potential applications in telecom networks. Specifically, the aim of this study is to offer an introduction to the potential utilization of GenAI for critical thinking techniques in mobile networks, while also establishing a foundation for future research.

Figures (3)

• Figure 1: Increasing complexity of network-related operations over different generations of mobile networks.
• Figure 2: Reasoning approaches in
• Figure 3: Areas of the mobile network where critical thinking approaches can be of significant assistance.