It is all too easy for vendors to exaggerate the benefits already achieved by AI, or strictly machine learning, for RAN energy efficiency when these are very early days. China’s ZTE has fallen into this trap with its recent claim that commercial deployment of what it called native AI-based RAN computing had achieved a 15% improvement in user experience and a 5% increase in network traffic. The claim was made in the context of a deployment in Indonesia in partnership with MNO Smartfren, whose CTO and CIO Shurish Subbramaniam underlined the importance of integrating AI into mobile networks. But ZTE’s claims are far too vague and unsubstantiated at this stage to bear close scrutiny, although no doubt the company is…