A new Brooklyn Summit goes beyond 6G and into the AI era
The world is pivoting to AI, and networks are becoming the critical infrastructure of this new era. As AI workloads spread from cloud-scale data centers to the edge of the network and devices, they demand new levels of performance, trust and efficiency. Networks no longer connect only people and things. They connect intelligence itself.
As such, one of the world’s leading forums on the future of wireless connectivity must also evolve with the world it seeks to shape.
For 12 editions, the Brooklyn Summit has helped shape the journey from 5G to 6G. That journey continues with the emergence of AI-RAN. The summit now broadens its scope beyond merely the next generation of wireless to also address the wider shift toward AI-native networks. This newly named 2026 Brooklyn AI-Native 6G Summit signals that important evolution.
This year’s theme, “Networks at the Dawn of the AI Supercycle,” also captures what is at stake, as AI is transforming not only what networks carry, but what networks must become.
A forum for ideas before the answers are obvious
Over two dynamic days (November 4–5, 2026), Nokia and NYU WIRELESS will bring together more than 300 visionary leaders and influential decision-makers to the Brooklyn campus of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering to challenge conventional thinking, spark bold ideas and shape the next era of connectivity across three defining themes.
First, AI workloads are more distributed, compute-intensive and latency-sensitive, shifting the conversation from capacity alone to end-to-end performance across data centers, clouds, edges, devices and applications. Networks must connect where AI is trained, where it is inferred and where intelligent decisions become real-world action.
Second, AI-native networks are the architectural response. Open, programmable AI-RAN and core, together with fixed, IP, optical and data center networking, automation and operational visibility, will enable infrastructure to anticipate demand, optimize resources and operate autonomously at machine speed. The future network is built for intelligence. And it is run by intelligence.
Third, Physical AI takes this transformation beyond the digital domain. Robots, vehicles, drones and other embodied systems must recognize, reason and act in real time. This creates new requirements for trusted, ultra-responsive connectivity, distributed computing and integrated sensing and communications.
These three themes reflect that 6G can no longer be viewed simply as the next wireless standard. It is now part of a much larger infrastructure story, from the data center to the device. Networks are the foundation of the AI-powered economy, and they will enable AI to operate securely, efficiently and at scale.
In other words, it’s not just about making the network AI-native but also the organizations using and developing them. This AI-native muscle will help build products and solutions through co-creation and innovation at software speed.
The next chapter starts here
For more than a decade, the Brooklyn Summit has anticipated the evolution of communications technology, from pioneering wireless research to the emerging 6G era. In 2021, the Summit shifted its focus from 5G to 6G. This year marks an even more significant shift, one that expands beyond the evolution of wireless to explore AI-native networks and the deep-tech innovation that underpins the AI infrastructure.
But the Summit’s unique DNA remains unchanged. We are still bringing together industry leaders, researchers, academics, policymakers and the wider technology ecosystem to explore emerging ideas early, to listen to different perspectives and to challenge one another in an open, constructive setting.
With in-person attendance limited to 300 participants, we have once again partnered with IEEE.tv to provide free access to a livestream, ensuring that the ideas, insights and debates shared on stage reach far beyond NYU’s Brooklyn campus.
For anyone looking beyond today’s AI breakthroughs and seeking to understand what comes next, Brooklyn is where the industry’s next conversation on AI-native networks begins. I hope to welcome you, either in person or online, to take part in this journey.
