Title The Impact of ML/AI on Networking and the Internet Over the Last Decade
Date: January 24. 2024
Duration: 1 HR

SPEAKER
JP Vasseur
Cisco Engineering Fellow, Cisco
JP Vasseur is a Cisco Engineering Fellow. Since joining Cisco in 1998, he has been working on a number of networking technologies, such as: IP/MPLS, Quality of Service, Traffic Engineering, network recovery, “The Internet of Things” (as the Chief Architect of the Internet of Things), Security, Wireless Networks. From 1992 to 1998, he worked for Service Providers in large multi-protocol environments.
He is an active member of the Internet Engineering Task Force (co-author of more than 35 IETF RFCs, funders and co-chair of several Working Groups such as the PCE and ROLL WG), and an active member in several SDOs.
JP is the (co)inventor of more than 500 patents in the area of IP/MPLS, Security, The Internet of Things and Machines Learning / Analytics.

MODERATOR
Matthew Caesar
Professor of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Matthew Caesar is a Professor in the Department
of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has worked in the area of systems and networking for over two decades, publishing over 50 technical papers, which have resulted in multiple best paper awards. He received the NSF CAREER award, DARPA CSSG membership, is an IEEE Fellow, a CAS
Fellow, and received the “Test of Time Award” from the USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation for his foundational contributions to software-defined networking. Matthew has a long history of successful technology transfer. He co-founded Veriflow, which was sold to VMware in 2019; at AT&T he co-developed the Routing Control Platform, a route management technology which remains in daily use in their North American IP backbone. Matthew has served as an expert witness protecting and advocating for the safety of users of networking technologies on multiple high-profile class
action lawsuits, and has done consulting work in support of the Antitrust
Division of the United States Department of Justice. Matthew is currently
serving as Chair of ACM SIGCOMM, after having previously served as Vice Chair and Director of Education and co-chairing the Networking Channel, an online talk series for the computer systems and networking community.

ABSTRACT
In the past decade, it's indisputable that the fields of Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have advanced remarkably. Over the last 15 years, we've witnessed an explosion of ML algorithms and architectures, which have been widely adopted across various industries, including Healthcare, Vision, and Industrial Automation. The year 2023, with the advent of Generative AI, stands out as a landmark in AI's history, marking probably the most significant disruption in the past 40 years. The integration of Generative AI and Large Language Models into every facet of the technology industry signals the dawn of a new era.

In the realm of Networking and the Internet, the adoption of ML/AI has been unequivocal. Numerous products incorporating ML/AI have been developed and implemented on a large scale. These innovations address diverse needs, from detecting unusual network activities to making predictions and forecasting in a new Predictive Internet era. This has implications across multiple technologies like WiFi, Security, LAN, WAN, and the broader Internet, culminating in solutions widely utilized by customers today. The challenges encountered during the deployment years also offer valuable insights.

This talk aims to provide a comprehensive overview of how ML/AI has been applied in Networking, specifically in areas like Anomaly Detection, Predictive Networking, and Cognitive Networks. The concluding section will offer a glimpse into the future, highlighting upcoming products that incorporate Generative AI, potentially ushering in a new chapter for AI applications in Networking.