The Emergence of IoT 3.0: From IoT, AIoT to MIoT

The fusion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) has given rise to Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT), empowering connected devices with autonomous decision-making capabilities by learning from a large amount of data. However, current AIoT systems are limited by the absence of human-like social intelligence, restricting their capacity to understand and infer complex human behaviors, emotions and intention. To address this gap, this article introducesMental Intelligence of Things (MIoT), a novel paradigm that extends AIoT by incorporatingTheory of Mind (ToM)to endow IoT devices withcognitive reasoning, empathetic awareness, and socially interaction capabilities. Specifically, by characterizing of MIoT, we propose a generic framework of MIoT. Furthermore, we delve into the pivotal research challenges and key techniques of MIoT. Finally, we present our latest efforts in MIoT, offering empirical evidence of its feasibility and potential to achieve enhanced human–machine symbiosis.