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In pursuit of the need for Africa to prepare its next generation for responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Prof. Rose Margaret Ekeng-Itua, the founder of African Technology and Innovation Institute (ATII) and other experts have called for Afrocentric Artificial Intelligence (AI) development for climate action in Africa during a webinar to commemorate Africa Day 2024.
Africa Day is the annual event celebrated in Africa and across the world every May 25 to commemorate the foundation of African Union (AU) established as Organisation of Africa Union (OAU) on May 25, 1963. This year’s event is themed: “Education Fit for the 21st Century”
At the webinar hosted by ATTI’s Prof. Rose-Margaret, panellists across the continent of Africa discussed and proffered solutions to Africa’s preparedness for its future at the event themed “Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) For Climate Action in Africa.”
On the panel were Prof. Jerry John Kponyo, Dean of the Quality Assurance and Planning Office of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana; Mrs Nela Duke Ekpeyong, a conservationist, and Co-Founder/CEO of LEGA.C Capital; and Mr. John Kamara, the CEO of Adanian Labs and Chair of the AI Centre of Excellence Africa.
According to Prof Rose-Margaret, the world’s first black woman, to earn a Ph.D. in Cybernetics, Africa must equip its human talents with the necessary skills to utilize AI in addressing African challenges, especially for climate action. Citing the recent devastating flooding in Kenya, she said “the far-reaching effect on climate action are real, and they are here in Africa. It is high time we acted on it, and Africa should be at the centre forward in this leadership of climate action.”
For Prof. Kponyo, Africa must decide an area of focus and own the space. “We must invest in research and development to lead the conversation on climate action, ensuring that policies we put together address where we want to be as against a global policy or protectionist agenda.”
“It is important for us to first build capacity among the users of new technologies to increase adoption. This capacity building scope should not be limited to only the formal sector. It must be holistic and inclusive.” He said Africa needs to focus more on applying those theories and start the training from the secondary high school levels.”
In corroborating Prof. Kponyo’s submission, Mrs. Nela Ekpeyong said Africa must take training the next generation seriously to combat climate action. “What’s missing is skill acquisition and knowledge gap.” As an emerging economy, Africa has a level of underdevelopment that allows us to innovate for sustainability in mind from the get-go.
While speaking at the event, Mr. John Kamara affirmed that Africa needs to build more data scientists. “Without data science, we can’t develop. We must build more data scientists who can make sense out of data in Africa.” With ground source data, we can create a lot of jobs for young people who then become a lot more involved in how they use AI from the adoption perspective.”
As a consensus, the panelists concluded that Africa needs to take the lead and build its own solution with Africa-sourced data to be able to understand its peculiar challenges, empower the younger generations and improve adoption of AI to combat climate action.
Meanwhile, three finalists of a poetry challenge titled along with the theme of the event — Annette Chinelo Nwafor (Winner); Benjamin Chimdiuto PraiseGod (First Runner up); and Sophia Michael Akpan (Second Runner up) — were respectively awarded 50USD, 30USD, and 20USD prize money.You can use this picture
