Towards AI-enabled Cloud Continuum for IIoT: Challenges and Opportunities

The last decade has demonstrated an exponential growth in connected devices, particularly at the network edge, and this marked tendency still foresees a increase of the number of connected Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. Accordingly, the network intelligence is moving from the core and cloud to the edge, establishing a cloud continuum. In this regard, Artificial Intelligence (AI) promotes that evolution and, at the same time, benefits from networking as well. Since Industrial IoT (IIoT) is one of the main verticals of this AI-enabled cloud continuum, in this article we explore the most recent advances in this area, the current status of standards, practical implementations, industry requirements, and, based on that analysis, we list a set of open challenges and opportunities. Our intention is to provide a summarized overview together with specific departing points for researchers in the field.