A related term is "autonomic systems" which can be dated back to 2001. From RFC 7575: " [a]utonomic systems were first described in a manifesto by IBM in 2001 [Kephart].  The fundamental concept involves eliminating external systems from a system's control loops and closing of control loops within the autonomic system itself, with the goal of providing the system with self-management capabilities, including self- configuration, self-optimization, self-healing, and self-protection."

Recent advancements in Artificial Intellligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have enabled promising research activities for autonomic networks, including autonomous networking, autonomous systems, and zero-touch network & service management. The autonomic networks have full potential to be responsibly applied to our current and future network systems.