? Tyreese Nacho/Lens on Life Project
At the United Nations General Assembly in New York, a Town Hall by the UN in partnership with the BBC¡¯s Focus on Africa brought together ministers, policymakers, and young leaders to debate one of the most pressing issues of our time: artificial intelligence (AI).
¡°Africa has the largest pool of talented human capital in the world today,¡± Director of UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, Ahunna Eziakonwa introduced the discussion upon remembering a conversation with a fellow that was still fresh on her minds. ¡°Africa could be and should be the data refinery of the world,¡± the fellow also remarked.
She pointed to the Timbuktu initiative, launched to support Africa¡¯s startup ecosystem. ¡°In just 18 months, we now have 170 startups in 45 African countries creating across all the vertical sectors that touch on the SDGs¡ªnot just FinTech, but also health tech, agritech.¡±
Building skills and infrastructure
Morocco¡¯s Minister for Digital Transition and Administrative Reform, Amal El Fallah Seghrouchni, highlighted national efforts to build AI capacity: ¡°We have many programs about skilling, upskilling and reskilling in the AI domain¡We finance a lot of PhD students to do real research in AI and algorithmics.¡±
She also described U Code schools as ¡°schools of the second chance¡± for people who had struggled in traditional education but could gain new skills in AI and stressed the importance of African language inclusion: ¡°In Africa we have a lot of dialects that are not processed by existing models. We need to work on that.¡±
Bosu Tijani, Nigeria¡¯s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, emphasized infrastructure as non-negotiable: ¡°We¡¯re training 3 million technical talents, 4% of that focused on AI and machine learning. But when we train without providing the enabling environment and absorptive capacity, these young people will not get the opportunity to participate.¡±
He added that despite the training, his country¡¯s current connectivity needs support to deliver AI. ¡°That¡¯s why we¡¯re investing $2billion in 90,000 kilometers of fiber optic network.¡±
Friend or foe? Citizens¡¯ concerns
Ahead of the Town Hall, people were asked whether they see AI as friend or foe. The panel and the audience heard a recording of three of them.
¡°AI is a tool and, as we all know, a tool can be good, but in the wrong hands it can be used for harm. My biggest worry is our leaders in Africa¡ªare they ready to embrace this AI and use it for good rather than bad?¡± wondered the one of the two.
For the two others: ¡°Are governing bodies ready to regulate AI to ethically respect Africans¡¯ values and culture? It¡¯s going to reduce the number of people in industries.
¡°What kind of policy will you make to help those people to continue with expertise?¡±
Bosu Tijani pushed back against fears of mass unemployment: ¡°Africa shouldn¡¯t be worried about job losses when it comes to AI¡ We should focus on job gains because this is a continent projected to be home to 40 per cent of the youth population. The workforce of the future will be based in Africa.¡±
Nthanda Maduwi, Founder and Managing Director, Ntha Foundation, the other panelist took a more provocative view: ¡°In the unique case of Africa, job losses may be a good thing. Many of the jobs we¡¯ve had have been clerical jobs¡ªmanaging donor funds, writing too many reports. Maybe AI can do that, and that¡¯s a good thing.¡±
To regulate or not¡
Responding to some of the concerns about safety, Maduwi believes there should be no rush ¡°to regulate what we have not created or do not understand. Otherwise, the regulation will not be in the interest of the country but about writing proposals to get donor money.¡±
Bosun Tijani and Amal El Fallah Seghrouchni countered: ¡°Regulation is necessary, because AI is not local. When you use tools coming from outside, you need regulation¡ªeven if you don¡¯t create AI,¡± the Moroccan minister insisted.
Audience members highlighted financing as a major hurdle. Maduwi noted: ¡°Only 0.5% of all venture capital funds went to Black founders. That¡¯s horrible. There¡¯s a lot of money in the world, but it is not coming to Africa.¡±
Panelists agreed that African investors must lead the way, said Ahunna Eziakonwa: ¡°Unless African investors recognize this space and invest, outside investors will not think there is value there.¡±
Nthanda Maduwi spoke candidly about the need for education reform: ¡°Our education system is still outdated. We¡¯re creating public administrators, not innovators. Asia trained its generation to be creators. If hundreds of millions of young Africans created companies, then we can have a continent that is trading.¡±
Speakers ended the Town Hall by stressing that Africa¡¯s challenges should be seen as opportunities to design solutions. They noted that entry points into artificial intelligence are becoming more accessible, encouraging young people to take part in shaping the field.