Rwanda to Pioneer Artificial Intelligence Research in Africa

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) sweeps the globe, Rwanda will play host to a major technology firm that will perform AI research and develop AI solutions for Africa.

On September 8, CEO Karim Beguir announced during an annual gathering of the African machine learning and artificial intelligence community with the goal of strengthening African AI that the London-based startup InstaDeep will open an office in Kigali.

Any technology that enables machines to mimic human sensation, comprehension, and action is known as artificial intelligence, or AI.

The majority of the time, it focuses on automating a specific task and carrying it out as effectively as possible, demonstrating the potential of technology systems to think as intelligently as an individual across domains.

One of the first African countries to implement a national AI policy was Rwanda. The six main areas of this policy include infrastructure, data strategy, acceptance of AI in both the public and private sectors, and ethical implementation.

Beguir claimed that given Rwanda’s position as a pioneer in creating the economy of the future, it makes sense to station and expand their staff in Kigali.

InstaDeep’s head of AI research for Africa, Arnu Pretorius, was chosen to lead the Kigali branch. According to him, this offers a chance to advance AI in Africa and keep working on long-term solutions for the region and beyond.

“Rwanda is at the vanguard of policy, as demonstrated by its recent hosting of ICLR, the premier AI conference for the first time in Africa. We are able to provide many more chances for African AI talent from all regions of the continent thanks to our location in Kigali.

InstaDeep may be found right now in Tunis, London, Lagos, Dubai, Berlin, Cape Town, Paris, Boston, and San Francisco.

It reveals an ecosystem supported by the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) charged with fostering AI in the nation, as well as other businesses embracing AI solutions like Zipline and Babyl in the healthcare industry, among others.

The Minister of ICT and Innovation, Paula Ingabire, emphasized that Rwanda is establishing itself as the top location in Africa for experimenting with and developing reliable AI technologies tailored for the African continent when the nation unveiled its national AI policy.

According to her, the nation has set an ambitious plan to use AI to boost public service delivery, promote equitable and sustainable development, and drive economic growth in order to realize this vision.

While the government projects that the potential value of the AI ecosystem will be $589 million over the next five years, it will cost $76.5 million to implement the program over that time.