Generative AI for Immersive Communication: The Next Frontier in Internet-of-Senses Through 6G

Over the past two decades, the Internet-of-things (IoT) has become a transformative concept, and as we approach 2030, a new paradigm known as the Internet of senses (IoS) is emerging. Unlike conventional virtual reality (VR), IoS seeks to provide multi-sensory experiences, acknowledging that in our physical reality, our perception extends far beyond just sight and sound; it encompasses a range of senses. This article explores the existing technologies driving immersive multi-sensory media, delving into their capabilities and potential applications. This exploration includes a comparative analysis between conventional immersive media streaming and a proposed use case that leverages semantic communication empowered by generative artificial intelligence (AI). The focal point of this analysis is the substantial reduction in bandwidth consumption by 99.93% in the proposed scheme. Through this comparison, we aim to underscore the practical applications of generative AI for immersive media. Concurrently addressing major challenges in this field, such as temporal synchronization of multiple media, ensuring high throughput, minimizing the end-to-end (E2E) latency, and robustness to low bandwidth while outlining future trajectories.