The Tony Blair Institute has hosted the first African Women in Artificial Intelligence Summit in Accra.
The summit held on September 14, 2022, paneled an entirely African Women line-up of experts, speakers, and contributors.
It brought together government officials, policymakers, change makers, investors, technology enthusiasts, and key voices in AI.
By promoting knowledge sharing within this unique community, The Tony Blair Institute sought to highlight opportunities, innovations, challenges, and networks and serve as a bridge between AI enthusiasts and the decision-making arena.
Stakeholders at this year’s African Women in Artificial Intelligence (AI) Summit called on the industry to increase the representation of African women in AI through investment and training to ensure new products are inclusive, accessible, and sustainable for all.
“AI is one of the fields in which women can experience tremendous success, especially with the right push towards female participation in the industry. The notion that it is difficult should be broken and when this happens, a lot of women would be interested in joining the sector,” they said.
The Tony Blair Institute has also launched the #AI1000 across social media to encourage the African AI community to highlight their actions towards progressing the African AI agenda. Every little counts, from hosting webinars to delivering training sessions, to online audio conversations.
Excellence
In a speech read by Madam Veronica Sackey, Director of Policy, Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation Directorate at the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization, on behalf of Mrs. Ursula Owusu –Ekuful Minister for Communications and Digitalization, she mentioned that the quest for excellence in AI and other emerging technologies is a journey, not a race.
“Adopting AI in Africa is not a goal in itself; the goal is to use AI as a tool, alongside many others at our disposal, to deliver economic and social transformation for Africa’s citizens,” she said.
SDG’s
Furthermore, the minister added that, for AI to deliver for Africa’s citizens; “it must be adopted responsibly and it should be centered on goals such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).”
Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful continued that, AI stands on the prerequisites of digital and regulatory infrastructure such as internet access and digital literacy.
“These foundational elements must be addressed meaningfully to ensure that technology benefits everyone. It is for this reason that Ghana and many African governments such as African women ICT ministers have started their AI journeys by embarking on ambitious digitalization agendas,” she said.
Initiatives
Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful further listed government initiatives such as; e-Transform Ghana project and Ghana Digital Acceleration Project, underpinned by the Ghana Care “Obaatanpa” Programme to foster a quicker recovery and boost the country’s stride in the digital economy.
Interest
Subsequently, she noted the government was putting in more work to accelerate interest in AI.
“My ministry has initiatives such as AI Education & Training, Empowering the Youth for AI Jobs of the Future, and Investing in Applied AI Research in order to get more people interested in this area,” the minister said.
Future
For her part, the Director of the Tony Blair Institute’s Technology & Development Policy Unit, organizers of the summit, Sinit Zeru also stated that AI is increasingly dominating the way things are done, and so, it should not be taken for granted.
“I’m preaching about the future of AI, this is another dimension in which justice, equality and representation must be fought for. The technology dimension may be new. I want to invite all of us together to commit to collectively support African women in AI,” she said.
Sinit Zeru added, “Do it in person, do it virtually on whatever platform works for you. The point is to do it. Let’s go places and take those who don’t have the privilege of being here with us.”
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Africa is a budding industry with lots of growth potential.
African governments are making strides towards building capacity for AI to improve public services and support innovation to help tackle poverty, reduce unemployment and create lasting tech solutions to boost socio-economic prospects.
TBI’s latest report, titled ‘Reaping the Rewards of the Technology Revolution: How Africa Can Accelerate AI Adoption Today’, delves into the potential of AI in Africa, dubbing it ‘ one of the biggest economic opportunities available to countries and their leaders’ given projections that it could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030.
It also highlights notable developments in the AI ecosystem growth through start-up acts and research hubs, while public services and data deployment in healthcare are already strengthened by AI.
Though optimistic, the report encourages comprehensive government action toward AI policy roadmaps to unlock the opportunities AI presents, most importantly locally contextualized offers and human-centered, inclusive, and transparent development.
The report hosts a toolkit that guides policymakers through the questions, processes, and activities that can be used to accelerate and shape AI adoption in the short- to medium-term for positive, long-term economic and social impacts.
