Chronicle Editor
Nqobile Bhebhe in Victoria Falls
RWANDA President Paul Kagame yesterday said Africa has a unique opportunity to develop its competitiveness through artificial intelligence (AI) which it must explore, adopt and utilise as it has great potential to enhance critical sectors such as agriculture, health and education.
AI is powerful technology that has made headlines in recent weeks, mainly for the right reasons, he said.
While Africa has been left behind in many ways, President Kagame said there are many problems that technology can solve.
AI is generally defined as the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings.
The term is frequently applied to the project of developing systems endowed with the intellectual processes characteristic of humans, such as the ability to reason, discover meaning, generalise, or learn from past experience.
President Kagame made the remarks yesterday during the official opening of the 6th Transform Africa Summit that attracted five heads of states, scores of government ministers, diplomats and global technology firms.
“This powerful technology has made headlines in recent weeks, for the right reasons, at most. It is still unclear how it will affect existing jobs and what safety concerns there will be, but it is also already possible seeing that Africa has the most to gain,” said President Kagame who is the chairman of the Smart Africa Board
“This is because AI applications can narrow productivity gaps between African firms and their competitors on other continents. We should therefore move quickly to embrace AI and make it work for us,” he noted.
President Kagame said transforming Africa means digitising the continent’s economies and already many of the new quality jobs being created in Africa are powered by technology and connectivity.
“That applies even to traditional sectors like agriculture, mining and retail. This trend is only going to speed up. How do we become ready? Everyone has to be connected to affordable broadband and have a smart device,” he said.
He also said despite its rapid growth, more than 60 percent don’t use it, hence the need to also keep reducing cost.
Close to 3 000 delegates from over 100 countries are expected to attend the three day high level summit whose focus is on digital transformation of the African continent. The summit is running under the theme: “Connect, Innovate, and Transform.” The previous five editions were all held in Rwanda.
The summit is Africa’s leading annual forum bringing together global and regional leaders as well as digital experts to collaborate on new ways of shaping, accelerating and sustaining Africa’s on-going digital revolution.
Zimbabwe won the bid because it is an active member that is leading the continental Agri-Tech blueprint.
President Kagame said the big piece of the puzzle is digital skill and literacy.
“One of the reasons is that they are not comfortable with the interface or sometimes the language barrier factor. We need to make digital identities of individuals and business portable across borders while reducing barriers to trade.
President Mnangagwa hosted four Heads of State, among them King Mswati III and presidents Kagame, Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi and Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia.
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