Danilo Pietro Pau
KEYNOTE LECTURE
Untethered Intelligence: Why Generative Edge AI Doesn't Need the Cloud
Danilo Pietro Pau
STMicroelectronics
ABSTRACT
The rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence has reshaped the way intelligent tiny systems are designed, deployed, and integrated into real-world everyday applications. This talk will explore the emerging trends and frontiers of Edge AI and associated Language Models, focusing on how and why advanced generative techniques are moving from cloud-based infrastructures toward new generation of resource-constrained edge devices. Attention will be given to the convergence between edge computing, neural processing units, models, and efficient inference engines, which enable AI models to operate directly on embedded platforms with adequate computational resources. The speed will also discuss the transformative role of Edge Language Models, highlighting new paradigms such as on-device reasoning, physical AI, agentic AI, natural-language interfaces, autonomous decision support, and human-machine interaction. The speech will address both the opportunities and the challenges associated with deploying Generative AI at the edge. Practical use cases for advanced conversation, intelligent agentic sensors and motor control will be considered to illustrate the practical impact of these technologies.
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
Danilo Pau (Fellow, IEEE) received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electronic engineering from the Politecnico di Milano, Italy, in 1992. In 1991, he joined the Corporate System Research Department, STMicroelectronics. He worked on several R&D subjects, such as memory-reduced HDMAC and MPEG video decoding/coding/transcoding, embedded 3D and 2D graphics, and computer vision, structure from motion, visual search and tiny deep learning. Since 2019, he has been an Industry Ambassador Member with the Action for Industry, the IEEE Region 8 South Europe and active contributor of EdgeAI Foundation. He is currently a Technical Director and a Fellow Member of Technical Staff. He is the Vice-Chair with the Task Force on Intelligent Cyber-Physical Systems, the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society as well as Distinguished IEEE Lecturer.
