CLAUDE:
You’re listening to Limitless Africa, the podcast that looks at how Africa and America can work together for shared prosperity. It’s sponsored by the US Department of State and the Seenfire Foundation.
CLAUDE:
On Limitless Africa this episode, Artificial intelligence is the next frontier in technology.
DIMPHO:
AI can diagnose disease, increase crop yields and predict extreme weather.
CLAUDE:
AI will revolutionise life in Africa. The AI race is on.
DARLINGTON AKOGO:
AI is essentially the most important technology in human history, period. Whoever controls AI controls the world.
DIMPHO:
Welcome to Limitless Africa, let’s get into it. So the AI race, does it really exist?
DARLINGTON:
There is definitely a race. So there’s a race for a number of reasons. So AI is essentially You could say, arguably, but I would say not arguably the most important technology in human history, human history, period. It’s the one technology that has been able to do much, much more than any other technology we’ve had to develop. And so when that happens, basically different actors want to be the lead of it.
Literally, Putin said, whoever controls AI controls the world, that’s a quote from Putin. China is not playing around with AI.
DIMPHO:
That’s Darlington Akogo. He develops AI solutions in healthcare and in farming in Ghana. His company KaramagoAI analyses the agricultural data collected by drones over fields using AI. It could be ground breaking.
DARLINGTON:
We use drones. You can fly the drone on the farm. The AI system is going to analyze all the data from the drone. And I’m going to tell you which part of your farm has a disease as pests
We have AI systems that support farmers to detect diseases, to detect pests, to detect other issues on their field, to support them doing yield estimation, a number of things.
And I’m going to tell you which part of your farm has a disease as pests.
where there are issues. We can also predict what your yield is going to be. ah the The truth is that African farmers, for example, lose 50% of their yields.
So basically, if we can address a lot of issues that exist like disease and pests, we can almost double food production on the continent.
DIMPHO:
AI could significantly increase food production in Africa by giving farmers more information about their crops and their land. But Darlington runs another company too. Moremi AI uses AI to analyse medical imaging like photos and x-rays. This technology could help cut lines at the doctor.
DARLINGTON:
You could just literally take a photo with a phone if you’re noticing some funny things on your skin. And then the AI it could even detect things that are severe as melanoma, so skin cancer, it could tell you something is suspiciously looking like melanoma, so skin cancer, or it’s just something much more benign. Is it just acne or something else? Can do all of that.
It goes from that we being able to do diagnosis screening to treatment planning to prescription. So you could ask the AI to diagnose a patient, then ask it to recommend the best treatment option, recommend medication, then go into nutrition, dietetics, lifestyle changes.
DIMPHO:
He’s an evangelist for using AI tech to help ordinary Africans.
DARLINGTON
No one needs AI more than the global South, especially Africa
CLAUDE:
But perhaps it’s time to rewind… What exactly is AI? To answer that, I’m going to bring in Tholang Mathopa. She’s a South African technologist who trains women in AI.
THOLANG MATHOPA:
So, I’ll summarize it quickly as a technology that mimics how the human brain works.
CLAUDE:
What do you mean by that?
DIMPHO:
So think about how you get to learn anything, right? Or think about a baby that is learning how to walk. They first have to learn how to crawl. And based on the data, meaning their experiences crawling and getting up and falling, then they learn, oh, this is how I could balance. This is how I move forward. This is how I step back. And over time, they learn how to walk. So AI is an amalgamation of different types of technology that come together to mimic the human brain. So it’s not just one technology.
CLAUDE:
And just like a baby learns by interacting with the world around it, AI learns from the data it’s trained on.
THOLANG:
So in other words, you’re building this machine that can get data feeds and based on those data feeds can formulate patterns and based on those patterns can formulate decisions. The quality of the data determines the quality of the AI basically. The more quality data you feed it the more good decisions it’s able to make.
CLAUDE:
If we want more AI solutions tailored to African problems, we need data from Africa, data that’s relevant to our land, our bodies, our way of life. But we also need to build algorithms that work for us.
THOLANG:
I mean, think about it. If someone gave you the power to build an algorithm, you will build it to suit your needs and your wants and what you like and what you don’t like, right? And that’s where the bias comes in. But if you have myself and three other people, we’re more likely to form something that is more inclusive because there is a diversity in perspective that is being put into building these algorithms. So we need people from different backgrounds, from different language backgrounds, from different countries, from different cultural backgrounds at the level at which algorithms are being built to alleviate biais.
CLAUDE:
Tholang is doing her bit to get people from different backgrounds into AI – women in particular. It also helps with jobs.
THOLANG:
I have now to date trained 4,000 plus women across 10 African countries since 2020 and 70% of the women get employed within three to four weeks post-training and 30% of them decided to start their own businesses.
CLAUDE:
Her aim is to train 1 million African women in AI by 2025. Now that’s quite an ambitious goal.
THOLANG:
I feel like Africa needs an impactful, ambitious and revolutionary um cause or initiative that is going to propel Africa forward as far as AI is concerned
This will cause a ripple effect like nobody’s business in the sense that if every African continent has AI champions you know on the ground that can train other people, that can upskill other people, that can empower their own communities using technology. That’s where the revolution comes in because people will have the power within their own hands to make a difference, to make a change in their own communities using technology.
CLAUDE:
And we finished with advice for anyone looking to make change in their communities using technology.
THOLANG:
So to the young women sitting at home in Soweto, in Atchardsville, where I’m from, um my first advice is that you’re enough and you have everything within you you’re capable you’re more than capable to just start. Secondly, use your Wi-Fi and your data to seek and to source information, to to read and really just inform yourself about what’s going on in the world about the development of AI, about where the future trajectory of AI is looking at yeah like. you know Because if you think about it, someone who is you know a child in grade one will have a different career where by the time they’re 18 or 23 when they finish varsity. So what could that look like? And there’s more than enough information online to try and capture a picture of what that could look like. And that could spark some ideas. Your imagination could could run wild and you could form really, really um creative solutions to problems that will exist in the future that we might not know about now. um And my other advice is just really put yourself out there always just be a sponge to learn and to grow.
CLAUDE:
Let’s hear from Darlington again, who has also founded a training academy for AI skills in Ghana.
DARLINGTON:
We know the world is going to need AI talents. Let’s take our youthful population, train them to have those AI talents. And then when the world is ready, or not even when the world is ready, the world is already ready. There’s high demand for AI skills all over. We could be the ones that provide those AI skills. And that could be the way we essentially score our position as a leader within the space of AI. And that is going to impact The global economy is going to impact the GDP of Africa and its various countries. So it’s a very, very wise bet and we should make it.
CLAUDE:
American tech companies are at the forefront of offering training opportunities to African talent. Microsoft aims to provide 1 million people in South Africa with AI training by next year. Nvidia, the American microchip company, has partnered with Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa, to establish Africa’s first AI factory. And Google has announced a $5.8 million initiative to develop AI skills on the continent.
But Adewale Yusuf, the founder of AltSchool Africa, a digital learning platform, thinks training and skills will only go so far.
ADEWALE YUSUF
I think infrastructure is one thing we are not talking about at all. when I’m actually talking about infrastructure, I’m talking about even roads, connecting roads, buildings, even transportation, like some of these airlines, some of these, some things that can actually provide opportunity at scale. That’s one of the things. And also we’re going to be in a world where we’re going to see data centres, assembly plants, and also electricity. Electricity is one of the most powerful infrastructure.
CLAUDE:
His digital learning platform is based in Nigeria but it’s teaching students all over the world.
ADEWALE:
So since we launched over three years ago, we’ve engaged over 100,000 users from over 100 countries in the world. Even though Africa is our largest market, however, US, Canada, and UK are one of the top 10 where we see influx from.
So what we do is we give students skills, no matter your background. Right now, we live in a world where everything has been automated. AI is taking jobs and lot of jobs have been impacted. We position them for the new opportunity that is out there in the market.
CLAUDE:
But education can only go so far.
ADEWALE:
And the question to me is, you need to also not just give us impact angle of saying we want to educate. You need to give us opportunity. Because if opportunity, if people get money, they’re able to contribute, that’s a big impact compared to just training, training without outcome. Jobs, just jobs.
CLAUDE:
His startup has also benefited from American support.
ADEWALE:
So, we’ve had investment from the U.S. I think maybe 25% of the entire money we have is from the US. we’ve always known US investors to take risk and to bet in the future so we’re always raising from there.
CLAUDE:
And that’s why he decided to base himself between the US and Nigeria.
ADEWALE:
America is known for taking risks, and I think it’s one of the reasons why it’s the most successful in the world.
The regulation doesn’t come before innovation compared to every other part of the world, especially Europe, where regulation also comes before innovation.
But also when you look at the US leading the AI race right now at the moment, because I go to San Francisco a lot, and Silicon Valley, just to understand what is going on. And I think also the way AI and U.S. is leading, is one of the reasons why I’m also strategically in the U.S. to make sure we are at the forefront. And for us, for Africans, this is the first time we can be at the same pace with the rest of the world. One thing I like about the U.S. is the approach, the leadership mindset, the mindset of I can do everything, The mindset really, really changed the way I built actually.
So AI was able to help me to think broader. Like, hey, whatever you want to do, you can actually do, you can tackle a bigger problem and win. That’s the most important thing. You win. And the capitalist mind like, hey, just go get it.
DIMPHO
AI is a huge opportunity for Africans and Americans to collaborate. We need to work together to solve some of the hardest challenges in healthcare, agriculture, and employment.
It’s time to think big.
CLAUDE
Thank you for listening to Limitless Africa, the podcast that looks at how Africa and America can work together for shared prosperity.
It’s sponsored by the US Department of State and the Seenfire foundation.
DIMPHO:
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your friends and follow or leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. I’m Dimpho Lekgeu. Until next time.
