SA PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa Calls on AU to Establish AI Forum

South African president and 2020 chair of the African Union (AU) Cyril Ramaphosa has called on the AU to establish an Africa Artificial Intelligence Forum.

RAMAPHOSA URGED this move during his acceptance speech for the AU chair on 9 February in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Ramaphosa pointed out that the Fourth Industrial Revolution presents Africa with “great opportunities.”

“The uptake of digital technologies will lead to improved competitiveness and provides fresh opportunities for inclusive growth.

“Millions of our continent’s young citizens are digital natives, and we must drive a skills revolution to enable Africa to take a quantum leap into the economy of the future.

“To give full effect to our attention to this important area of work, we should look to establish an Africa Artificial Intelligence (AI) Forum, that also includes the diaspora,” said Ramaphosa. The remark comes against the backdrop of the growth of the development of the continent’s AI ecosystem including the establishment of an AI research centre in Accra, Ghana by Google in 2018.

Another exciting recent development is the approval of

regulation by Ethiopia’s Council of Ministers in January that facilitates the setting up of an AI research and development centre in the country.

Ethiopian publication New Business Ethiopia said in January that the centre will help startups and developers working on AI as well as regulate the industry. ai