Towards Shaping the Future of Responsible AI in Africa (original) (raw)
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The importance of artificial intelligence to Africa's development process: Prospects and challenges
International Journal of Communication and Information Technology, 2024
On a continent that is frequently portrayed in a condition of permanent crisis, development appears to be an impossibility. In fact, observers of African affairs, especially those in the West, cannot feel reassured by recent military takeovers and armed conflicts like those in Sudan and Gabon that Africa is rising-a claim once made by influential figures in world opinion like The New York Times, The Economist, and others. It appears that development is in critical need of an immediate revival. To put things in perspective, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reports that official development assistance (ODA) reached a total of USD 185.9 billion in 2021. However, the depressing results of development demonstrate the futility of international development. For instance, since 2019, the majority of the nations receiving aid from abroad have seen increases in their rates of poverty, with 50% to 70% of their people living below the poverty line (1, 2). Situations around the world are not promising. The World Bank estimates that in 2022, there will be over 700 million individuals worldwide who are living in extreme poverty. The UN's most recent SDG 2023 progress report (1.3) presents a dismal picture. On almost 50% of the targets, there has been insufficient and weak development. Even worse, almost 30% of the SDG targets have seen either a standstill in development or a reversal in them. This contains important goals about hunger, poverty, and the environment. Moreover, the research finishes on a very concerning note: over half of the world is falling behind, and most of those falling behind reside, you guessed it, in the Global South. Artificial intelligence (AI) is being positioned as a useful tool for accelerating development objectives and targets and repairing the flawed international development paradigm as the global development agenda suffers. International development organizations and regional partners have implemented innovative AI for development (AI4D) initiatives in a number of African nations, including those in Sub-Saharan Africa and West Africa. With all of the hype around artificial intelligence, this seems like a reasonable and necessary endeavor. However, the deficit model of development serves as the foundation for AI initiatives in Africa. This deficit argument highlights how the lack of human and technological capability is the direct cause of the Majority World's inability to progress. In an effort to maximize the amount of electricity available, the Responsible AI Lab (RAIL) in Ghana (1.4) is attempting to integrate efficient energy distribution models into the system. Natural language processing (NLP) is arguably one of the most promising uses of AI in the region. Emerging start-ups using development funding programs like the Lacuna Fund are attempting to create language models for indigenous African languages like Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Twi, Akan, and others. These models can be integrated into further applications in fields like education and healthcare. Given the regional circumstances in the majority of African nations, the advantages of these programs and apps may be obvious. Actually, though, large multinational corporations' CSR programs (4) and the policies of international development organizations have a significant influence on most AI development in Africa. In an effort to become future bright spots in the field of technology, these initiatives which are carried out in partnership with Big Tech and regional players like scientists and practitioners are unduly focused on developing technological solutions and local African datasets. Much time and money are being spent collecting local datasets so that machine learning models for predictive analysis can be updated based on the local context. But how much is known about the goals and applications of these AI programs, and which social groups and communities stand to benefit from them? How will the local context respond to these technology solutions? To put it bluntly, there isn't enough deliberate interaction with the political imaginations of the various local communities in terms of their aspirations for an AI-powered technological future.
Artificial Intelligence in Africa: Emerging Challenges
Social and Cultural Studies of Robots and AI
In the current African society, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming more popular and seeking to cover all facets of human activity. The adoption and use of these modern technologies in the African context are currently low due to some emerging challenges. Consequently, these difficulties may have a direct influence on African economic development. In this paper, we highlight the challenges facing the adoption of AI technologies in Africa which include skills acquisition, lack of structured data ecosystem, ethics, government policies, insufficient infrastructure and network connectivity, uncertainty, and user attitude. Finally, various solutions to enhance AI adoption in Africa were then proposed.
Africa is entering the AI age at the stage of implementation-when breakthroughs in AI technology including algorithms, decision making systems prompted by the ubiquity and confluence of large and readily available amounts of data, internet connected devices, and computing power are augmenting human reasoning and conduct on an unprecedented scale. This does not make AI new but simply more visible and meaningful as it manifests across society and businesses in more tangible ways. Whereas it has mostly been used by the global information and communication companies like Facebook for functions like search, social networking, and media, the same
Introducing Responsible AI in Africa
Social and cultural studies of robots and AI, 2023
In the last few years, a growing and thriving AI ecosystem has emerged in Africa. Within this ecosystem, there are local tech spaces as well as a number of internationally driven technology hubs and centres established by big tech companies such as Twitter, Google, Facebook, Alibaba Group, Huawei, Amazon and Microsoft have significantly increased the development and deployment of AI systems in Africa. While these tech spaces and hubs are focused on using AI to meet local challenges (e.g. poverty, illiteracy, famine, corruption, environmental disasters, terrorism and health crisis), the ethical, legal and socio-cultural implications of AI in Africa have largely been ignored. To ensure that Africans benefit from
Artificial intelligence policies in Africa over the next five years
XRDS: Crossroads, The ACM Magazine for Students, 2019
As Africa embraces and interacts with AI, what policies are relevant to foster its development? This article highlights some domains where AI is being applied and will be beneficial given Africa's unique context and culture.
Harnessing artificial intelligence the African way
2018
While all eyes are on Western industrial nations, Nigerian human rights lawyer Olumide Babalola is concerned about AI regulation in Africa. He fears that some countries will adopt the repressive legislation of their neighbours without developing their own attitude towards artificial intelligence. What is missing is a common vision for Africa's digital future. When I received an online link to Christian Djeffal's article "Harnessing Artificial Intelligence the European Way" a couple of weeks ago, my immediate thoughts touched on when Africa would cross such hi-tech rubicon. But for now, all eyes are on the European Commission (EC) for leading the pack as far as the 25 signatories to the Declaration on Cooperation on Artificial Intelligence are concerned.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Deployments in Africa: Benefits, Challenges and Policy Dimensions
The African Journal of Information and Communication, 2015
The deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is proliferating on the African continent, but policy responses are still at their early stages. This article provides an overview of the main elements of AI deployment in Africa, AI's core benefits and challenges in African settings, and AI's core policy dimensions for the continent. It is argued that for AI to build, rather than undermine, socio-economic inclusion in African settings, policymakers need to be cognisant of the following key dimensions: gender equity, cultural and linguistic diversity, and labour market shifts.
Machine Learning as a State-building Experiment: AI and Development in Africa
The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Machine Learning , 2024
New initiatives of machine learning (ML) have become sites of controversies about technoscience, innovation, and global inequalities in Africa. As part of the burgeoning area of arti cial intelligence for development, ML is often framed as a technological answer to long-standing debates about development and modernization in African societies. This chapter examines the embedded assumptions and political imaginaries of Africa's globally marginalized epistemic communities in understanding the social impact of ML in the continent. Looking at these debates through the analytical lens of sociotechnical imaginaries, decoloniality, and alternative modernities, the chapter argues for an understanding of ML as a state-building experiment in postcolonial Africa. From this perspective, this chapter begins to articulate a di erent theorization of sociotechnical practices of ML from a Majority World perspective. It also complements critical literature on the sociology of ML by integrating perspectives from science and technology studies and contemporary African studies.
AI's Impact on African Economic Development: Productivity, Growth, and Global Standing
Artificial Intelligence (AI) fundamentally transforms industries and economies globally, and Africa is no exception. As the continent navigates the complexities of development, AI presents a unique opportunity to leapfrog traditional stages of industrialization and advance its economic agenda. This article delves into the multifaceted impact of AI on African economic development, focusing on enhancing productivity, stimulating economic growth, and improving Africa's global standing.
Patterns, 2021
Individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds are increasingly engaging in research and development in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The main activities, although still nascent, are coalescing around three core activities: innovation, policy, and capacity building. Within agriculture, which is the focus of this paper, AI is working with converging technologies, particularly data optimization, to add value along the entire agricultural value chain, including procurement, farm automation, and market access. Our key takeaway is that, despite the promising opportunities for development, there are actual and potential challenges that African countries need to consider in deciding whether to scale up or down the application of AI in agriculture. Input from African innovators, policymakers, and academics is essential to ensure that AI solutions are aligned with African needs and priorities. This paper proposes questions that can be used to form a road map to inform research and development in this area. THE BIGGER PICTURE Artificial intelligence (AI) is an area of computer science devoted to developing systems that can be taught or can learn to make decisions and predictions within specific contexts. This paper discusses the way AI applications may profoundly affect African countries, both positively and negatively. The impact on each country will depend on a number of factors, in particular, how each country is ready the emergence of AI, and this includes the level of preparedness in other technologies, such as the availability of Internet, and powerful computers connected to Cloud and data. Among several sectors where AI could potentially benefit Africa is agriculture, as most Africans are not just employed in this sector but the sector best reflects African cultural values and customs, such as the collective and communal approach to life and work. The benefits AI could bring to African countries include the automation of farms, which can reduce labor costs, or detecting diseases on crops early enough before they spread. However, as with other technologies, AI is also likely to marginalize the poor and disadvantaged, who will not be able to take advantage of rapid technological advancement and innovation designed for a world more modern than the one they live in. As an example, the widespread automation of farms may destroy African ways of life, including the environment and ecosystems, and at the same time the profits AI generates may go to the large corporations that own the technology. If those invested in the research and development of AI on the continent continue blindly forward, we should expect to see increased inequality alongside economic disruption, social unrest, and, in some cases, political instability, with the technologically disadvantaged and underrepresented faring the worst. They need to ask questions-and relevant ones-before coming up with a road map for the responsible research and development of AI in African countries. This is exactly what this paper does. It provides context and asks key provocative questions for consideration. Concept: Basic principles of a new data science output observed and reported ll