In beamformed wireless cellular systems such as 5G New Radio (NR) networks,
beam management (BM) is a crucial operation. In the second phase of 5G NR
standardization, known as 5G-Advanced, which is being vigorously promoted, the
key component is the use of artificial intelligence (AI) based on machine
learning (ML) techniques. AI/ML for BM is selected as a representative use
case. This article provides an overview of the AI/ML for BM in 5G-Advanced. The
legacy non-AI and prime AI-enabled BM frameworks are first introduced and
compared. Then, the main scope of AI/ML for BM is presented, including
improving accuracy, reducing overhead and latency. Finally, the key challenges
and open issues in the standardization of AI/ML for BM are discussed,
especially the design of new protocols for AI-enabled BM. This article provides
a guideline for the study of AI/ML-based BM standardization.Comment: 4 figure