The Living Network

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What happens when a power cut becomes a water shortage and then a communications failure?

Our critical infrastructure systems are more connected than we might realise. When extreme weather strikes, disruption to one network can quickly affect others, with consequences for homes, businesses and essential services.

But could better data sharing help us anticipate these risks?

In the final episode of Series 2 of The Living Network, Sarah Hayes, chair of the UK Data Sharing Working Group, explores why sharing information across organisations and sectors is becoming essential to climate resilience.

Drawing on initiatives including the Climate Resilience Demonstrator (CReDo), she explains how bringing together data from energy, water and telecommunications networks can reveal hidden dependencies and help us prepare for cascading failures. Hayes describes Storm Goretti in Cornwall, where severe winds contributed to power outages, loss of water pumping, and disrupted broadband and mobile connections.

Then the conversation turns to the challenges.

How do organisations share valuable data while protecting sensitive information? What role can common standards and trusted governance play? And as AI increasingly accesses and uses shared data, how do we ensure it behaves responsibly?

It’s a timely discussion about collaboration, trust and the importance of understanding how our infrastructure systems depend on one another.

And Paul Wilson asks our producer, Kate White, what she has learned as she has produced the series.

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Could living brain cells help create the computers of the future?

It sounds like science fiction, but researchers are already exploring how living neural networks could offer an entirely new approach to computing.

In Episode 4 of The Living Network, Ben Ward Cherrier, Senior Lecturer in Neuromorphic Robotics at the University of Bristol, takes us into the emerging world of biocomputing.

Connecting to a living biocomputer in Switzerland, he explores how neurons, developed from reprogrammed human skin cells, can be stimulated and their responses studied to investigate how biological intelligence works.

The potential is remarkable. If the technology can be developed at scale, living neural networks could offer a more energy-efficient approach to computing, helping address the growing energy demands of AI.

But they also raise important questions.

As these biological systems become more complex, how should we think about consciousness, ethics and responsible development?

Our Smart Internet Lab panel explores the possibilities and limitations of this developing field and what it might mean for robotics, artificial intelligence and our understanding of intelligence itself.

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What if robots didn’t need a brain of their own?

Imagine a future where robots from different manufacturers could draw on a shared source of intelligence, learning from one another, coordinating tasks and improving performance without each needing a fully self-contained AI system.

In Episode 3 of The Living Network, Ashish Kapoor, co-founder and CEO of General Robotics, introduces the idea of an intelligence grid.

Much like the electricity grid provides power to appliances, an intelligence grid could provide robots with access to the computing resources they need to understand, reason and plan.

But what would this mean for businesses?

Our Smart Internet Lab panel explores the potential for private 5G networks and cloud infrastructure to support enterprise-owned intelligence, protect valuable knowledge and create new opportunities from shared learning.

And the conversation goes beyond technical capability...

Just because we can automate something, does that mean we should?

From the value of human creativity to the need for oversight of critical infrastructure, it’s a thought-provoking discussion about how intelligent robotics could change the way we work.

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Could a robot become a trusted companion in later life?

In South Korea, researchers are exploring how AI-powered social robots could support older people in remembering daily routines, asking about symptoms and helping families and care workers identify when someone might need additional support.

But can technology ever replace human connection?

In Episode 2 of The Living Network, Professor Jung Hoon Lee of Yonsei University, a member of South Korea’s national AI strategy committee, joins us to explore the country’s ambitious approach to artificial intelligence, from sovereign AI and digital infrastructure to its vision of AI for all.

Then our Smart Internet Lab panel takes the conversation further.

Could social robots help meet the challenges of an ageing population? Where should we draw the line between technological assistance and human care? And how can countries protect their data and AI capabilities while continuing to collaborate internationally?

It’s a fascinating discussion about the opportunities AI creates and the human connections we must not lose along the way.

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City dashboards can show us what’s happening, store the data and identify patterns. Now AI is able to help city decision makers explore different future scenarios resulting from new policy decisions.

In Episode 1 of Series 2 of The Living Network, Cristina Bueti, Focal Point at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for smart, sustainable cities and AI-powered virtual worlds, explores ‘anticipatory governance’, using AI and simulation to help governments understand the potential consequences of decisions before acting.

Then our Smart Internet Lab panel takes the idea further.

If AI helps predict what will happen, when should governments intervene? And if an autonomous system gets a critical decision wrong, who is accountable?

During the discussion, Director of the Smart Internet Lab, Dimitra Simeonidou argues that AI can help design interventions, but handing critical decisions over to autonomous systems is another matter. Simon Saunders celebrates the role of the ITU while Paul Wilson expresses concern about the incremental energy use involved.

All our panellists agree that it's not simply how quickly we adopt AI, but what we choose to use it for, and how we govern it.

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What happens when technology moves faster than society can keep up?

That's one of the questions explored in Series Two of The Living Network, from the University of Bristol's Smart Internet Lab.

Each episode features a 15-minute interview with a leading global expert, followed by a panel discussion with Dimitra Simeonidou, Simon Saunders and Paul Wilson.

Together, they'll explore the opportunities, challenges and real-world decisions shaping the future of connected technologies and networks.

Over the course of the series, we will hear from Cristina Bueti, Lee Jung Hoon, Ashish Kapoor, Benjamin Ward-Cherrier and Sarah Hayes.

Whether you're a technology leader, researcher, policymaker or curious observer, The Living Network will give you the insights and big-picture thinking to navigate a future where the world's networks can sense, learn and adapt.