2nd Summit on AI AICE, takes place in Nairobi.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Africa Center of Excellence (AICE), brings together industry leaders to explore the transformative value of AI technology in emerging economies

AICE's mission is to champion AI transformation, build AI capability and create an infrastructure for organizations to easily integrate Artificial Intelligence solutions in Africa

It is with this in mind that, this year 2023, the 2nd Summit on AI of the AICE.

The Summit will bring together policymakers, thought leaders and industry experts to explore the impact of AI in Kenya and Africa as a whole; thematic areas to be explored include ethical AI and investment in AI.

The AICE Summit

The Africa Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence (AICE) will hold its 2nd AI Leaders Summit in Kenya on 27th April 2023, for industry leaders to explore the growth and transformative value of AI technology in economies emerging.

AICE's mission is to champion the transformation of AI, build its capacity and create an infrastructure for organizations to easily integrate AI solutions in Africa.

The Summit will cover a range of topics including how Africa can develop a clear AI strategy; Invest in AI infrastructure; workforce training and qualification; Foster collaboration and partnerships across education, industry, and government to advance the development and deployment of AI solutions and AI ethical issues.

John Kamara, Founder and President of AICE, said:

"The world is in an AI frenzy, but we see that Africa needs to accelerate its vision and share in the immense value that the AI ​​industry has to offer our continent."

“We need to create a strategy on how we can also become producers and owners of technology infrastructure and not just consumers as is the case right now.”

"To do this, we must invest in AI and data science talent as a key factor in building qualitative human capital that can have a huge impact on our FDI."

“Investing in AI research, training more AI engineers, investing in AI startups and investing in the necessary infrastructure to support AI are essential for Africa to fully seize the opportunity presented by 4IR¹4IR – Fourth Industrial Revolution, in Portuguese, Industry 4.0 or Fourth Industrial Revolution, is an expression that encompasses some technologies for automation and data exchange and uses concepts of cyber-physical systems, Internet of Things (IoT) and Cloud Computing. The focus of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is on improving process efficiency and productivity.".

By leveraging AI technology, African countries can automate and streamline numerous processes across multiple sectors including healthcare, education and agriculture. For example, AI algorithms can be used to diagnose diseases and recommend treatment plans, simplify administrative tasks at schools and universities, and optimize agricultural production.

These solutions can lead to better results, higher productivity and cost savings, which can contribute to the growth of the African economy.

The intervenients

The Summit attracted some of the top global AI leaders as panelists, including but not limited to:

Amit Kumar Pandey, co-founder of BEING AI – A robotics and AI scientist, thought leader and strong believer in technology for humanity. He also served as President, Chief Science Officer (CSO) and CTO of Hanson Robotics, the company that created one of the most expressive humanoid robots – Sophia.

doctor Jacques Ludik, founder and CEO, Machine Intelligence Institute Africa, smart technology entrepreneur, AI expert, author, AI ecosystem creator, and award-winning Ph.D. AI leader. in Computer Science (AI) and over 25 years of experience in AI and Data Science and their applications.

Ado Lohmus, CEO Greenziel Ltd, a visionary, forward-thinking and results-oriented business consultant with a focus on African markets and climate finance initiatives.

With more than 15 years of experience in environmental and climate policy in the Estonian government and the European Union, he has worked with EU institutions, the United Nations, governments around the world and the private sector on green technology and digitalization.

doctor Kwon, Choon, president of NACSI – National Bureau of Cognitive Science Industry, South Korea, Professor in the Department of Digital Media at Suwon Woman's College, Suwon.

Kate Kalot, Founder and CEO, formerly Director, Head of Global Developer Relations and Emerging Areas at NVIDIA, leading a global team working closely with partners to create disruptive AI applications with social impact and the goal of building an AI community truly global and inclusive.

She was also a co-founder of the United AI Alliance dedicated to using data to drive environmental and social progress.

Steven Sutherland, Adapt IT Divisional Executive, a dynamic business leader with a proven 25-year history in the Telecommunications and IoT industries²IoT – Internet of Things, in Portuguese, Internet of Things, is a concept that refers to the digital interconnection of everyday objects with the Internet..

The objectives

2nd AI Leaders Summit, aims to build a solid foundation for AI adoption in Kenya and beyond, including building smart capacity and growing the AI ​​market economy.

AI technology offers enormous growth and development potential for emerging economies in Africa. With this in mind, AICE is committed to leading the adoption and implementation of this transformative technology in Kenya and beyond.

To that end, AICE is working in partnership with various stakeholders around the world to develop a skilled AI workforce, provide training and resources for AI engineers and data scientists, promote research and development in the field of AI, and collaborate with government and other organizations to create an enabling environment for technology adoption.

This includes policies and regulations that support its development and use. AICE's aim is to ensure that Kenya is at the forefront of this technology revolution.

AICE

The Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence (AICE) is an organization with a mission to champion AI solutions, build AI capacity and create ethical AI solutions that effectively address challenges in Africa.

The Center of Excellence is built on three models: AI Knowledge Sharing and Enablement, AI Research and Development, and AI-as-a-Service Delivery.

Founded in 2020, the AI Center of Excellence is passionate about creating long-term value and impact in the AI ​​and ML space in Africa. The Center aims to achieve this by providing specialized training to create skilled and employable AI and ML engineers.

The Center aims to continually create sustainable impact through Research and Development. It is estimated that AI research and products will contribute more than $13 trillion to the global economy by 2030. This gives the Center the opportunity to conduct research in specific sectors and build products around research-based challenges.

Conclusion

Kenya is already well advanced in the adoption of AI technology, with several startups and organizations leveraging the technology to solve various challenges.

However, there is still a long way to go and AICE is committed to accelerating the AI ​​transformation process, with the ultimate goal of transforming Kenya's economy and ensuring that it remains competitive in the rapidly changing global landscape.

The objective of this summit is not only to promote the development of AI technologies in Kenya, but also to try to encourage growth in Africa. Let's hope lunatics don't show up trying to stop the advance of AI in Africa, as they are trying to do in the rest of the world.

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Picture: © 2023 AICE