AI4NextG @ ICML'26

About the Workshop

The field of wireless communications and networking is undergoing a paradigm shift, driven by the growing potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to redefine traditional system design principles. This workshop aims to catalyze interest and foster collaboration between the AI/ML and wireless communications communities. The timing of this workshop is especially significant, as the next-generation (NextG) wireless standardization efforts (such as 6G and WiFi 9) are just getting started, with AI-native technologies expected to play a central role across all aspects of the wireless ecosystem – from radio access to network management and edge intelligence. NextG represents a foundational shift in global infrastructure, enabling ultra-fast, low-latency, and intelligent connectivity that will power future applications in AI, robotics, immersive environments, and autonomous systems. These technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to both drive and benefit many applications, from healthcare and transportation to industrial automation and environmental monitoring. The economic and societal implications are vast: NextG networks will underlie trillions in global GDP impact, bridge digital divides, and shape how billions of people interact with technology and each other in the decades to come.

Despite the clear promise, a significant disconnect exists between the AI/ML and wireless research communities. AI/ML experts often lack an understanding of the unique physical, algorithmic, and architectural constraints inherent in wireless systems, while wireless researchers tend to adopt generic, off-the-shelf AI/ML models that are not optimized for the intricacies of wireless environments. To date, workshops and conferences exploring this intersection have predominantly emerged within the wireless community itself (e.g., in IEEE ComSoc), with very limited participation from the AI/ML research community. As a result, there is a pressing need to expose the AI/ML community to these domain-specific challenges, which are not only intellectually stimulating but also call for new theoretical frameworks and algorithmic innovations that have the potential to drive forward progress in AI/ML itself. This is precisely why we host AI4NextG at a premier ML venue such as ICML, where AI/ML researchers will naturally be present.

This Second Workshop aims to bring together researchers and practitioners from both academia and industry at the intersection of AI/ML and wireless, with a specific focus on fostering deep, sustained collaboration to accelerate deployable AI solutions for NextG wireless. Without a deliberate effort, AI/ML for wireless risks diverging into parallel tracks of elegant theory and pragmatic engineering that rarely converge in real deployments. We seek to bridge this gap by engaging discussions across the full protocol stack, with a focus on AI-native designs for 6G and beyond.

Building on the success of our inaugural edition at NeurIPS 2025, which brought together over 61 accepted papers and 11 invited talks from leading academics and industry researchers, we are excited to continue this series at ICML 2026.

Call for Papers

The workshop will cover a broad range of topics that highlight both foundational research and practical applications of AI/ML in wireless systems. Key themes include, but are not limited to:

• AI-native protocol and architecture design for 6G and WiFi 8/9
• Reinforcement learning for dynamic spectrum access and resource allocation
• LLMs, foundation models, and AI agents for wireless ecosystems
• Online learning and adaptation under real-time and uncertain wireless environments
• Data-efficient learning and representation for sparse, high-dimensional wireless signals
• AI for network planning, self-optimization, and fault prediction in wireless networks
• Cross-layer ML-driven optimizations for joint sensing, control, and communication
• Co-design of hardware and ML algorithms for low-power and real-time wireless AI
• Trustworthy and explainable AI in high-stakes communication systems
• AI for 3GPP standardization and next-generation protocol design
• Industry-academia co-design and deployment of AI for wireless networks

We welcome contributions that push the boundaries at this unique intersection and aim to create an engaging forum for students, scholars, and practitioners worldwide to share insights, discuss progress, and chart future directions in this exciting field. We invite technical papers with up to 6 pages each, vision/position papers with up to 4 pages each, and demo papers with up to 2 pages each (excluding references and appendices), reviewed by our workshop program committee. All submissions must use the official ICML 2026 LaTeX style file. All double-anonymous submissions should not contain author names or identifying information.

The submission portal will open on April 11, 2026, and the deadline is May 4, 2026 (AoE). The review process will be facilitated via OpenReview. Please make sure every author has an OpenReview account ahead of submission. The submission portal can be found here.

Accepted papers will be accessible via this website ahead of the workshop. Our workshop is non-archival and there are no formal proceedings. We allow submissions of manuscripts that have not been accepted by an archival conference, i.e., if your paper is in submission with an archival conference/journal at the time of the workshop submission deadline you are welcome to submit to AI4NextG.

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