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MPAI, third year and counting

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Moving Picture, Audio, and Data Coding by Artificial Intelligence – MPAI – was established two years ago, on 30 September 2020.. It is a good time to review what it has done, what it plans on doing, and how the machine driving the organisation works.

These are the main results of the 2nd year of MPAI activity (the activities of the first year can be found here).

  1. Approved the MPAI-AIF (AI Framework) and MPAI-CAE (Context-based Audio Enhancement) Technical Specifications.
  2. Approved several revisions of all five Technical Specifications.
  3. Promoted the establishment of a patent pool for MPAI standards (as mandated by the MPAI Statutes).
  4. Submitted four Technical Specifications to IEEE for adoption without modification as IEEE standards. Three – AIF, CAE, and MMC (Multimodal Conversation) – should be approved as IEEE Standards by the end of 2022.
  5. Kickstarted the MPAI Ecosystem by
    1. Promoting the establishment of the MPAI Store.
    2. Adopting the MPAI-MPAI Store Agreement.
    3. Contributing to the definition of the IEEE-MPAI Store agreement on ImplementerID Registration Authority.
    4. Revising the MPAI-GME (Governance of the MPAI Ecosystem) standard to accommodate the developments of the Ecosystem.
  6. Developed the MPAI-AIF Reference Software to enable implementation of other MPAI Technical Specifications.
  7. Developed drafts of the MPAI-AIF Conformance Testing,
  8. Developed MPAI-CAE and MPAI-MMC Reference Software and Conformance Testing drafts.
  9. Continued the development of Use Cases and Functional Requirements for Connected Autonomous Vehicles (MPAI-CAV), AI-Enhanced Video Coding (MPAI-EVC), and Server-based Predictive multiplayer Gaming (MPAI-SPG).
  10. Opened new activities in AI Health (MPAI-AIH), Avatar Representation and Animation (MPAI-ARA), End-to-End Video Coding (EEV), MPAI Metaverse Model (MMM), Neural Network Watermarking (NNW), and XR Venues (XRV).
  11. Developed 3 Calls for Technologies for MPAI-AIF V2, MPAI-MMC V2, and MPAI-NNW. Responses are expected by MPAI-25.
  12. Published Towards Pervasive and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence.
  13. Published papers on conferences and journals.

The organisation of the machine that has produced these results is depicted in Figure 1.

Figure 1 – The MPAI organisation (Sptember 2022)

The General Assembly is the supreme body of MPAI. It establishes Developing Committees (DC) tasked with the development of standards: AI Framework, Context-based Audio Enhancement, Compression and Understanding of Industrial Data, Governance of the MPAI Ecosystem, Multimodal Conversation, and Neural Network Watermarking. It also directs Standing Committees, currently, the Requirements SC under which the following groups operate: AI Health, Avatar Representation and Animation, Connected Autonomous Vehicles, End-to-End Video Coding, AI-Enhanced Video Coding, MPAI Metaverse Model, and Server-based Predictive multiplayer Gaming, and XR Venues.

The Board of Directors is in charge of day-to-day activitivies and oversees five Advisory Committees: Membership and Nominating, Finance and Audit, IPR Support, Industry and Standards, and Communication.

The Secretariat performs such activities as keeping the list of members, organising meeting, communicating etc.

In its third year of activities MPAI plans on:

  1. Make the MPAI Ecosystem fully operational.
  2. Complete the specification sets of MPAI-AIF, MPAI-CAE, and MPAI-MMC.
  3. Promote the development of the MPAI implementations market.
  4. Develop extensions of MPAI-AIF and MPAI-MMC.
  5. Develop the new MPAI-NNW Technical Specification.
  6. Achieve publication of MPAI-AIF, MPAI-CAE, MPAI-CUI, and MPAI-MMC as IEEE standards.
  7. Submit MPAI-AIF V2, MPAI-CAE V2, MPAI-MMC V2, MPAI-NNW for adoption without modification by IEEE.
  8. Initiate the standard development process for MPAI-AIH, MPAI-ARA, MPAI-CAV, MPAI-EVC, MPAI-SPG, and MPAI-XRV.
  9. Promote the MPAI Metaverse Model and make it the compass for MPAI standard development.
  10. Be ready to exploit new standardisation opportunities.
  11. Continue active publication of papers on MPAI activities and results.
  12. Strengthen relationship with other bodies.

At its 24th General Assembly the Board announced the new membership policy: those who join MPAI after the 1st of November will have a 14-month membership until the 31st of December 20223. A good opportunity to join the fun, build the future!