Over the past few months, it has rapidly become impossible to visit a news site without seeing an article about artificial intelligence (AI). According to these stories, AI has reached a tipping point and is poised to revolutionize and change our lives forever.
Africans may already see AI in many aspects of how businesses and NGOs work today, from interacting with chatbots when booking flights to helping with shipment forecasting and using ChatGPT in research. not. However, next-generation AI programs are predicted to be disparate in nature, with a similar impact “before and after the internet” or even “before and after the use of internal combustion engines.”
I am somewhat skeptical of this hype, but at the same time, there are already quite a few articles concerned about how Africa lags behind the rest of the world in terms of AI development, and how the region is progressing. You will be left behind.For example, earlier this year africa business We published an excellent article focusing on ChatGPT: ChatGPT and the future of AI in Africa.
“With limited training data that matches the cultural and economic realities of Africa, ChatGPT’s outcomes may be biased toward strengthening Western cultural and ideological hegemony,” the report said. claimed.
Fears of European, American and Asian dominance in AI in general, and in programs like ChatGPT in particular, are well-founded and real. Consider the distribution of AI companies.
In 2021, in the midst of Covid-19, the UK is estimated to have 2,000 companies dedicated to AI. That number would have increased rapidly since then. There are now reportedly over 13,000 AI startups in the US, and he has well over 2,000 in China. The United States and China are also home to some of the world’s leading medium- and large-sized AI companies.
fly to our continent A 2022 report suggests that Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya are the main hubs, with more than 2,400 AI companies in Africa. The dominance of these hubs is no accident. These countries have announced national AI or digital strategies and may even have national AI centers and training institutes.
That aside, comparisons of this sort are not uncommon and, again, not coincidental. Despite the best efforts of many African governments, a combination of financial constraints and risk perception has left the region behind the world in research and development (R&D) volumes, foreign direct investment (FDI) and digital infrastructure. lagging behind other regions. It is therefore not surprising that the scale of AI use and development is relatively small, even though AI is growing rapidly where it exists and being highly innovative.
it’s all within regulation
But there is one aspect that is neglected in all too many discussions of this issue, especially when it comes to Africa. That’s AI regulation.
How new-generation AI programs are regulated will determine what it means for businesses, NGOs, and ultimately the African continent. Like many new technologies, these regulations are being decided in other parts of the world, with little regard for the African continent.
Let me explain with a simple example.
In the 1990s, there were similar predictions that the Internet would change the way we live and do business. Of course those predictions were correct, but how they changed our lives was largely determined by the regulations that were in place at the time.
In 1996, then-US President Bill Clinton signed the Communications Decency Act. Within that regulation was a small subsection entitled “Section 230.” Perhaps Section 230 is key in determining how the Internet as a whole has evolved since then. It states that “A provider or user of an interactive computer service shall not be treated as a publisher or speaker of information provided by another information content her provider.” What this means in practice is that Internet platforms have legal protection against litigation for the content they host.
Without Section 230, internet giants like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and YouTube would not exist. The European Union followed suit, enacting the Electronic Commerce Directive in 2000. Similar regulations affecting other business models exist in China, for example, enabling the growth of the likes of Alibaba and Tencent.
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make an impact around the world
Now think about how these platforms have impacted the publishing industry, e-commerce and e-payments around the world, and how democracy may or may not work on our continent. Let’s. In a globalized world, it quickly becomes apparent how regulations around the world can affect people on continents thousands of miles away.
And the regulation on AI is going to be tightened.
In May of this year, more than 300 executives, researchers and engineers working on AI released a statement calling for better regulation. Even Elon Musk is calling for better regulation. The UK is planning an AI summit on regulation, hoping that London will be home to a global AI watchdog.
The question, of course, is in whose interest the new regulation will be created. What new business models will these regulations unlock and enable, and what will they stifle around the world?
The fear, of course, is that they will act in the interests of those seated at the metaphorical table and those who shout the loudest. But for now, these do not appear to include African businesses, much less African civil society.
These fears become even more ominous when Africa’s large population is cited as the main reason for “investing in Africa.” For AI to thrive, it needs people (information, data points).
That is why the voice of Africa, at least from the continent’s AI hubs, should be represented in shaping the new rules that will shape the future of AI.
What are the best rules for Africa?
We need to ask what rules and regulations around AI are best for us. Which rules and regulations recognize and advance some of the unique features of African markets, such as the advancement of financial inclusion through digital technology and the need for more jobs on the continent? , what intellectual property (IP), including your business model, should be heavily guarded?
In fact, the idea of a new international oversight body to oversee this new technology could be very useful.
However, given Africa’s future role in global markets, the new organization is likely to be based in Cairo, Lagos, Nairobi or Cape Town rather than London. Indeed, if not, there is a real risk that digital inequalities between Africa and the rest of the world will be exacerbated without being mitigated or managed by AI.
Now is the time to ponder these issues and plan ahead before AI really takes off on the continent. By then it will be too late to retreat.
