Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Its Benefit to Africa

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines programmed to think, learn, and perform tasks typically requiring human cognitive functions. These tasks include problem-solving, decision-making, language understanding, vision, and more.

In other words, Artificial Intelligence is the development of computer systems capable of performing tasks that would normally require human intelligence. These tasks include reasoning, learning, language understanding, and perception. AI systems are designed to analyse data, recognise patterns, and make decisions based on that information.

The Google CEO, Sundar Pichai once said that AI is more important than fire and electricity put together. His assertion is completely valid seeing the drastic changes AI has brought about in the world. I see AI as the closest thing to magic.

This is part of the Gospel I have been preaching for a decade ago, which is gradually becoming a reality. When I first proposed this, many Africans gathered to stone me but this is inevitable. The fifth industrial revolution is about humans and AI working together. But how many Africans are ready to merge with the machines?

How many of us can do without our phones? In reality, we cannot do without our phones; we look up to our phones for virtually everything. We are already merging with the machines via our constant usage via activities like time check, GPS, health check, education via YouTube, Google Maps and the likes.

How AI can benefit Africa
The benefits of AI to Africans are innumerable. It is our best catalyst to bridge the gap between the Global North and the Global South. Countries who invest in AI early enough would reap the benefits. Let us look at some of these benefits.

1. Educational Benefits: The Ogba Educational Clinic I founded about a decade ago is leveraging AI to give the same quality of education in Harvard to someone in Effurun Delta State, Nigeria. By using tools like Occulust Quest-2, one can tour the Great China Wall and Amazon rainforest from the comfort of his or her home or office.

2. Health care benefits: By leveraging AI, doctors can now be performing operations from the comfort of their bedroom in faraway Ontario Canada on a patient in Warri, Delta State.

3. AI in Infrastructural Development: With AI, development of certain infrastructure that would have taken years are accelerated. For instance, roads that previously took years to be constructed can now be achieved in a matter of weeks. AI has also made the transfer of engineering knowledge seamless thus enhancing the development of infrastructure in Africa. Similarly, by using AI-related software, the design and planning of infrastructure have also been made very easy. Design calculations that previously took weeks to compute can now be completed in a few seconds.

4. AI in governance: In Nigeria, there is a lot of controversy about Dele Farotimi today being unable to get justice. The same thing applies to many African countries where there has been ease in discharging justice. By adopting AI, Estonia was able to correctly administer justice in many cases within the shortest possible time. As such, AI can heavily benefit Africans in governance. It can also help her to curb the corruption that has long plagued the continent.

Unless Africa invest in Artificial intelligence we may be forced to seek recolonization. The time for the continent to starts reaping the benefits of AI is now!

Article Written by Kelvin Ogba Dafiaghor

Kelvin Ogba Dafiaghor is the Chief Promoter of AI in Africa and Director of the Ogba Educational Clinic.