A panel discussion on AI for voice services at the recent NetworkX conference exposed some of the archaic voice systems that are still used by some operators today, and highlighted those that are leapfrogging ahead to AI-integrated systems. Huawei has long been a leader in advanced voice capabilities, recently launching three new services in partnership with China Mobile in 2022. These support visualized voice calling, accessible communication, and what they refer to as fun calling, such as being able to make video calls where the users appear as avatars. The 5G New Calling services (also called Voice over New Radio) also enable real-time translation of sign language, speech-to-text transcription, and automatic translation. These capabilities are a far cry from most…