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Artificial Intelligence, General or Generative, is still in a formative stage. But any other technology mentioned in the chronicles of recorded history, it is the first time that an instrument designed and deployed by the humans would have an agency (and possibly autonomy) of its own. For the first time in recorded human history, an instrument will decide for itself how to conduct itself (or more). There are heavy loads of texts in the parentheses accompanying each assertion and for the right reasons (possibly) and for that reason, and that alone, the visual and visceral continuity and congruity of this essay is allowed to be disturbed.
AI for Africa is more of a vision than an initiative. On its mission statement, it suggests endeavouring for “…(uniting) a diverse range of stakeholders—including academia, industry, government, diaspora, international & local experts, young professionals, entrepreneurs, and relevant organisations—into a powerful partnership. (Transforming) individual potential into collective opportunities, driving innovation and growth across the continent”. It wishes to, “…to catalyse the growth of Africa’s knowledge economy by spearheading cutting-edge technology innovations and fostering a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem. We connect stakeholders and drive socioeconomic prosperity, ensuring equitable and sustainable development across the continent”.
With such big constructs there is bound to be both separation and confluence of streams of thoughts or of consciousness indeed! Personally, I have always believed that a dialogue yields more nuanced streams of thoughts and wisdom than a monologue. Hence, in this chapeaux series on AI for Africa, we will commence by highlighting some salient features of the discussions that we had and will have in the course of next few months as we seek for high grounds for not only training young minds (Africa has a median age of 18.5 years as a continent) but also for contributing meaningfully to the development of an epistemology which can work as a backbone to the continent which, with approx. 30.3 million square kilometres of land-space, including adjacent islands, covers 20% of Earth’s land area and 6% of its total surface area; and with 1.4 billion people as of 2021, accounts for about 18% of the world’s human population; and with between 1500 to 3000 languages and dialects – almost a third of all human linguistic traditions. This is a continent which had been the cradle of civilisation and in spite of the centuries of invasion and colonialisation and resource extractions, most often in their most brutal forms, remained as a source of strength, magnanimity and a more or less intact social cohesion. With an impending deployment of AI and of tech singularity within next six years (some suggests within next two years) it is supremely important that we try to give the continent a specific set of markers and verifiers to focus, attend, and leverage – so that the AI dawn brings good news for the enterprising young men and women of Africa, and indeed for the rest of the world as it engages with Africa in trade, investment and frontier technologies for delivering not only subsistence or development goals but also for more existential and more design-centric objectives.
In our first core discussions, we had an interesting conversation on initiatives to bridge technology skills gaps and empower youth in #Africa and other developing regions. We shared ideas on innovative solutions for low-cost digital infrastructure and AI/blockchain technologies that could revolutionise African economies. We both envision equipping young people with the tech skills needed to thrive in the global digital economy—a key objective of our AI for Africa project.
As we move in time and in space – we sense a two way movement in wisdom – both knowledge and experience. A centripetal force which propels us forward to know, learn and do all that we have not done before and a centrifugal force which takes us to the roots to know what and who we have been and from where we had come. May be a healthy balance of both allows for sanity to triangulate itself ! In our first round of talks, we agreed on working in the thematics on economic integration, and AI’s impact on nation-states, and “liquid institutions”. Our shared passion for empowering youth through technology access and #skills development aligns perfectly with our mission. By building #tech #competency, we aim to open new opportunities for young people in developing regions.
More often than not, we fail to recognise that Africa is not only an emerging continent. It is also at the root of all of the human species. The cradle of humanity, we like some, would argue. But the continent also saw the destruction and decimation of a significant portion of its multiplicity of deeply earthen heathen cultures, linguistics, and governance structures; and the deep wounds on its PESTEL (political, economic, social, technological, ethical/environmental, legal) identities primarily because of centuries of colonial occupation; and a net resource extraction mechanism left behind in tact.
Deep institutional voids, legacy issues in defining the more optimised norms and roles and institutional narratives to underline an inclusive and equitable socio-political superstructure stand antithetical to the African ways to wisdom and understanding. Not recognising the actual asset value for its resources and the disconnect between the transfer of primary resources and welfare of its people permeate the continuity of a suboptimal political-economy configuration across much of the continent.
South Asia has made an attempt to understand the African evolutions for more than a century now. May be the two geo-spatial and geo-strategic spaces mesh better because both suffered similarly. And yet – we are now at the brink of an AI dawn. An hitherto unforeseen frontier in human cognition and experience.
The question now is what would happen if the human individuals and the enduring socio-political and economic identities had access to AI ? What would be the nature of the evolution in the space ? How would the epistemology of Africa be defined in the near future ? How would the youthful people (median age 18.5 years) of Africa evolve in the future which is already here? Can we from the other BOP (bottom of pyramid) countries offer our expertise and share our experience to grow stronger together – along with our friends from the North ?
So many questions to work on!
Join us in making this vision a reality. Be part of this movement to transform the #future for the better.
By Dr Syed Muntasir Mamun and Obi Umegbolu
