natasha-ochiel
In a bid to champion Artificial Intelligence in Africa, she co-founded the AI Centre of Excellence that aims to build sustainable value for AI in Africa by building capacity, building demand and building AI solutions through the Centre in Kenya.
darlingtonakogo
Darlington Akogo is a global leader in Artificial Intelligence. He's the Founder and Director of Artificial Intelligence at GUDRA, and its subsidiaries; minoHealth; an AI Healthtech company based in Ghana.
Naomi is the co-Founder and Chapter Director for women in Big Data SA; a registered NPO that is part of a global community of 17 000 women. The learning community works with strategic partners to cultivate tangible opportunities for women, unlock latent potential through accessible training and act as a catalyst for the advancement of women in Big Data fields.
INTERNATIONAL EDITOR
deonvanzyl
For 25 years, I have been an accomplished IT professional who is skilled in multiple languages with a strong background in development, security, digital forensics, automation, AI, management, and teaching. Through my work, I have been exposed to various industries, influenced public opinion, and networked with innovative leaders. As a roving Guest Editor, I write about new technologies that are reshaping the world such as Artificial Intelligence, VR & AR, Cybersecurity, Web3 and more.
nickbradshaw
Nick is a Tech focused Executive / Entrepreneur helping clients, communities, practitioners & start-ups understand the value of Artificial Intelligence, Automation & Digital solutions in EMEA region. With 25 years experience in Europe, North America & Africa Nick has worked with a diverse set of Multi $bn global clients seeking to deploy and mature Enterprise grade software & cloud solutions. He is founder of the AI Media Group a new hybrid media, events, consulting & trade community offering clients insights into the growing 4IR opportunity in Africa. AI Media publish Synapse Magazine and run Africa’s largest Enterprise AI Trade Show – AI Expo Africa."
Wow! What a start to the new year – with the release of ChatGPT in Q4 last year, the generative AI “prompt engineering” landscape has exploded and interest in AI has broadened beyond that of ML engineers and data scientists. According to Google, the most searched term by South Africans in January 2023 was “Artificial Intelligence” and we are seeing no end of creative use cases emerging, the discourse and “buzz” is electric as to what the future might hold. We are really excited to include in this edition a generative AI art feature from creators in Nigeria and South Africa. We are also seeing the launch of a new 4IR African focused VC fund by Convergence Partners plus new global programmes directed a Black Founders from Google and Female AI Founders from AWS. Microsoft and Google seem to be facing off with their rival AI products and keeping up with the pace of innovation (even for us) is hard !! It feels like 2023 is going to be the year that AI goes “mainstream” and no longer consigned to headline grabbing “killer robots” and “end of humanity” news soundbites. If the next 6 months are anything like the last 6, it will be interesting to see what the near future will bring. With the sad passing Gordon Moore, Intel co-founder and Moore’s Law author, its a timely reminder that the speed of change and accessibility of tech now means the current generation of African AI innovators have an almost infinitely expansive palette of tools (most of which are free) to experiment and create new products and services leveraging AI and intelligent automation. As Bill Gates recently penned, “The Age of AI has now begun” so watch this space! We at AI Media HQ cannot wait to see what will be on display and being discussed at the upcoming 6th Edition of AI Expo Africa later this year. We hope you enjoy the 19th Edition of Synapse Magazine!
Synapse Magazine chronicles the 4th Industrial Revolution as it unfolds in Africa and plays a vital part in connecting the members of this rapidly growing trade community across the region. With a global readership, it puts Africa centre stage with a clear focus on the African 4IR innovation & investment narrative. We cover a range of technologies including; artificial intelligence (AI), intelligent automation (IA), robotic process automation (RPA), internet of things (IoT), big data, analytics & devices, as well as emerging standards, ethics and privacy concerns. Now entering its 6th year of publication, this unique quarterly trade publication is FREE to read on the ISSUU platform.
PUBLISHER
AI Media Group
Web www.aimediagroup.co.za
EDITOR
Nick Bradshaw
GUEST EDITORS
Natasha Ochiel (Kenya)
Darlington Akogo (Ghana)
Naomi Molefe (South Africa)
Deon Van Zyl (Global)
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44 62% of Tanzanians are Against the Use of Artificial Intelligence – Report
47 Multiple IEEE AI Ethics and Governance Standards Offered for Free!
47 New Book – Responsible AI in Africa Challenges and Opportunities
48 AI Used to Reduce Intrapartum Stillbirths and Early Neonatal Deaths in Malawi
My name is Shamira Ahmed, I am the executive director of the Data Economy Policy Hub (DepHUB), the first data economy policy, digital development, and artificial intelligence (AI) governance think-tank founded by an indigenous African woman in South Africa.
I have a quantitative development economics academic background and a proven track record of working on transdisciplinary research projects on data economy policy, AI for development (AI4D), and providing technical assistance to policymakers and regulators in SSA, including through co-authorship of continental public policy outputs such as the African Union (AU) Commission's Data Policy Framework and the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) on the Digital Economy and Society, to name a few.
I have over a decade of combined practical experience working as a trade, industrialization, investment, and economic advisor, development researcher, and quantitative economist in the public policy and policy implementation ecosystem in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Global Majority, which includes working for the South African (SA) government, a think tank, and an international development assistance organisation.
I also have experience working in the private sector as a researcher for one of the world’s largest leading data, insights and consulting companies, so I understand how incentives and collaboration are crucial to create public-private partnerships, for developing sustainable and inclusive innovation ecosystems, in SSA.
I am also the founder of the AI for Circularity Exchange (AI4CE), a platform launched to promote open debate and interdisciplinary perspectives on the potential and risks of data and AI, to enhance
pathways for a just green-digital “twintransition” through leveraging the circular economy model (CEM).
Both initiatives focus on developing public-policy-oriented advocacy and rigorous research with an aim to promote human-centred, data-driven digital development and responsible AI governance in SSA.
The DepHUB is a think-tank that offers tailor-made public interest research and advisory services for sustainable and inclusive digital development (holistic economic regulation, data management, data economy policy, public data value creation, artificial intelligence (AI) governance., and inclusive digital transformation).
Our services include rigorous research on the techno-social-political nexus of complex dynamic digital ecosystems in SSA.
We offer capacity building, and tailormade support for grass-roots communities, businesses, governments, regulators, and international development assistance organisations, in SSA and beyond.
We fill a strategic gap by providing research to policy support, through rigorous digital development and public policyoriented market research, grounded in empirical evidence, socioeconomic theory, sociocybernetics, innovation policy, and sustainable economic development, to name a few.
I developed the DepHUB for four main reasons:
i. I have the skills and technical expertise to contribute to the policymaking and knowledge-generation ecosystem on transnational responsible AI governance, data economy policy, and digital
development research. I have practical experience as a data steward in the private and public sectors. I am an experienced quantitative economist, industrial development researcher, and interdisciplinary policy specialist with a track record of leading multi-country SSA research projects, producing high-quality outputs, managing the data lifecycle, and working in multicultural, multidisciplinary, and dynamic work environments.
ii. Similar to other Science Technology Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) related ecosystems, there is no diversity in STEM think tank leadership and the overall knowledge and policy ecosystem in South Africa (SA). Certain policy areas such as trade, science technology and innovation (STI), and industrialisation are saturated with decision makers and policy advisors who do not capture the diversity of South Africa. A lot more needs to be done to engender more diverse stakeholders to have a seat at the high table. My point is that indigenous African women are often kept out and not funded to lead policy oriented research in key policy areas that are seen as complex, technical issues, despite having both the expertise and interest to be involved. It’s shocking that I am the first indigenous African woman who is an independent think tank founder, in SA- let alone leading transdisciplinary policy oriented research on data economy policy, AI governance, and digital development.
iii. There is limited African-led research that captures the multidimensional aspects of AI governance, data economy policy, and digital development. The DepHUB will fill this gap by offering a platform for researchers and practitioners to actively collaborate, spur research, and impact transnational data economy policies.
iv. On the AI4CE front, to the best of my knowledge, there are no platforms to share information on how the just green-
digital twin transition could be applied in an African context, including risks of adopting Global North AI and circular economy models that do not capture the stark contrasts and realities of SSA and the general Global Majority.
What is the core focus of the DepHub?
The DepHUB's focus includes providing rigorous public-interest research to inform policies. Our research is intended to highlight the multidimensional aspects of the datadriven digital economy. Our research is grounded in ensuring data justice in public policy decision making, and contributing to a repository of just knowledge production, for transformative public policy research and participatory policy-making. We aim to influence public policies that enable humancentred data-driven digital trade, sustainable industrialisation, an equitable pan-African digital single market, and inclusive AI-based digital development in SSA.
What are big challenges you are aiming to solve?
The challenges associated with AI, digitalisation, and data-driven digital economy are not limited to information and communication technologies (ICT) issues or STEM, they are classic economic development challenges, that require interdisciplinary solutions.
As a trained quantitative development economist, who worked in both the
public sector and private sector as a data practitioner and has practical expertise in transnational policy formulation and implementation, I saw a lot of gaps in the way public policy and advocacy on the data economy, AI governance, and digital development was formulated. In Africa, most of the narratives about data, AI, ethics, and public policy are from a privacy and security lens and are often led by professionals who have no experience working in the African public sector and/or working with economic development and/or public data value creation. We need more data economy policy and AI governance experts who are qualified with the technical skills to understand public data value creation and have policy expertise in our governments to give well informed, practical digital development, AI governance, and data economy policy advice, that considers SSA’s contextual realities.
There are a lot of overlapping structural economic deficits that hinders deployment of trustworthy and beneficial AI at scale in Africa. For example, as the continent with the most late internet adopters, lowest number of innovators, and industrialisers, Africa has not achieved critical infrastructure prerequisites and network effects to effectively deploy AI as envisioned in many African country’s digital transformation and STI strategies. Yes, there are pockets of excellence and inspiring use-cases, but for the most part the continent is falling
behind in the multidimensional global AI race, we have limited human capital and operate from a position of relative weakness in transnational AI governance, data governance, participation in semi-conductor value chains, to name a few.
The situation is dire and unless there is concerted efforts from our governments and support from the multilateral system, to revamp institutions, political leadership and dynamic public sector capabilities to create contextually relevant responsible AI deployments (which require so many crosscutting enablers and prerequisites), the uneven status quo will continue or even worsen as most AI is not designed for improving African innovation ecosystems.
Which countries in Africa are leading in AI policy?
None, that I could say are “leading” as this space is dynamic, the global AI policy space is multidimensional and evolving faster than many SSA countries can regulate or create interventions to mitigate risks and harms.
Also, SSA has a weak position and/or are not represented in many global multilateral platforms on the data economy, ICT infrastructure, and AI governance.
How can people reach you?
You can contact me via email at sahmed@africa-digital.org
Social engineering is the practice of deceiving others into disclosing private information or carrying out specific tasks which is a major concern for every person including organizations in Africa. Artificial intelligence (AI) is making it even more complex and effective. There are numerous AI technologies available with various free and easy-to-use options.
Deepfake pictures, audio, and video are examples of how AI is being used in social engineering. Copied photos of real people for phishing profiles have been around for many years but the usage of such AI-generated photos on social media is a new element. The generation of AI-generated photos of non-existing people, might make you look twice. LinkedIn which is used by both job seekers and employers is a target for fake profiles with such a AI twist. Profiles and photos seem so authentic that even Twitter are fooled to stamp them as verified
AI-generated voices are near perfect, with the ability to mimic celebrities or any other person given enough data. AI voices were recently used in the theft of $35 million by impersonating a company`s director.
Lastly, the most familiar format might be the Deepfake videos, where a face of a person in an original video is normally replaced with another face. These ultra-realistic personas are a growing cybersecurity risk to businesses.
The key areas of concern:
Corporate Sabotage
Stock Manipulation
Fraud
The defeat of Biometric Security
Propaganda
Deepfake extortion, which is the portrayal of individuals or organizations engaging in a variety of illicit (but fictitious) activities that could harm their reputation
- Election influence
- Inciting Violence
- Deepfake Kidnapping
- Cyberbullying
- The production of false evidence in criminal cases
While AI has given criminals new and sophisticated ways to perpetrate cybercrime, it has also given businesses a chance to create new tools and strategies to defend against AI-powered cyberattacks.
There are numerous solutions coming to the forefront to address AI-generated media. China has issued regulations that make it illegal to create AI media without watermarks. A good indication of how governance and law might help in this fight.
Adobe (in partnership with Microsoft) has approached the problem with a solution called “Content Credentials.” Companies who adopt the solution will add a button to video and images to state the history of the content (such as who took the photo, when it was made and edited) which then would be an indicator of trust although it is not a silver bullet.
Deepfake audio detection is also possible with new research that point to tells in synthetic versus organic voices. This is due to the different areas of the human anatomy which is used for biological vocal tracts.
Intel has introduced their real-time Deepfake detector which promises to detect fakes even in formats such as streaming video by looking for authentic clues in real videos, by assessing what makes us human such as subtle “blood flow” in the pixels of a video. Clearly, Deepfakes will increasingly be counter by protective AI measures.
Internal/Digital Security: Traditional security measures such as antivirus (spyware and trojan protection), spam protection and network traffic monitoring. These aid to prevent even text-based attacks like phishing and possible digital against snooping.
Implementation of efficient security policy and procedures. Prevent data leakage: Text, audio, photos, and videos may be available to unintended viewers for nefarious uses. Secure meetings and conversation recordings: Introduce passwords and encryption to avoid unintended bad actors using the data.
Training and Security Awareness: Continuous training which may include inspecting visual or audio tells such as limited blinking, glitches which includes blurring, choppy sentences or phrasing that seems out of place. On a text level the email addresses should be inspected for validity along with the context, spelling, and structure of the message.
Penetration testing: Get a second opinion. This is a great measure of the implemented security measures effectiveness.
By implementing these steps, with the combination of AI assisted counter measures, we can prevent Deepfake attack based social engineering and lessen the effects of cybercrime.
BCom (Hons), Senior System Developer
Linkedin: deonvanzyl
Deon is a sophisticated technical IT professional with a solid history of effectively bridging the gap between Programming, Security, Digital Forensics, Artificial Intelligence, and Teaching. His track record of over 24 years, has a footprint which spans major corporations, academic institutions, and government.
“ Intel has introduced their realtime Deepfake detector which promises to detect fakes even in formats such as streaming video by looking for authentic clues in real videos, by assessing what makes us human such as subtle “blood flow” in the pixels of a video. Clearly, Deepfakes will increasingly be counter by protective AI measures. ”
/ Read original article here /
By Dr. Bienvenu Agbokponto Soglo, Director, Government Affairs Africa & IGA CTO Liaison (PE), Intel; Kate Hach, Head of Program at Intel Ignite’s Accelerator; Sven Beckmann, Emerging Markets Director for Government and Education, Intel; Professor Barry Dwolatsky, Director of Innovation Strategy at University of the Witwatersrand; Ms. Daleen Fourie, Reporting and Business Intelligence Manager at Tshimologong; Mr. Mahfouz Raffee - Research Analyst at Tshimologong.Technology transfer on the continent is not well documented and remains in its early stages according to a publication from Dos Santos in 2020. In 2021, Popper’s publication suggests that many African universities with the exceptions of South Africa, Egypt, Mauritius, and Benin still struggle to successfully commercialise research. A lack of funding for research and development, as well as a lack of policy reforms to support commercialisation are cited as the most notable causes for the low level of spin-off creation on the continent.
According to Bigliardi et al.; Spin-offs are most commonly defined as companies founded by academic inventors with the objective of utilising technological knowledge that originated within a university setting to produce products and services.
This report seeks to address the gap that there have been very few previous studies investigating the commercialisation of research in Africa, particularly the creation of spin-offs. Our research, as presented in this report, therefore seeks to address this research gap, by providing relevant stakeholders with a better understanding of the African spin-off and Deep Tech
ecosystems, the challenges facing these ecosystems and the opportunities for growth and industry support. The research primarily focuses on spin-offs from universities, with exceptions made for institutions like science parks that are connected to a university. Finally, the research scope is limited to the criteria for what constitutes a spin-off as provided by Pattnaik and Pandey.
For more information on the findings and recommendations on how stakeholders in the ecosystem particularly the private sector, public and intergovernmental agencies, international organizations can collaborate and work together to support the development of the Deep Tech Spin-off ecosystem in Africa, please check out the link to the report here
/ Read original article here /
Telkom and the University of the Witwatersrand are joining forces to establish the new Telkom Industry Solutions Lab, a commercial research and development (R&D) facility dedicated to accelerating synergistic collaboration between industry and academia.
Bringing together multi-disciplinary teams from Wits, the Telkom Group, and beyond, this collaborative effort will pave the way for stateof-the-art innovations in telecommunications and the development of transformative digital solutions for various industries.
The new initiative formally came into being at a ceremony today where, on behalf of the Telkom Group, BCX CEO, Jonas Bogoshi and Wits University’s Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Zeblon Vilakazi signed the agreement launching the venture.
“We are excited to sign the strategic agreement that puts this partnership with Wits into effect,” said Bogoshi. “We see the Lab as a platform to translate academic research into commercially viable and socially impactful solutions.”
The Lab is the first industry solutions lab to join the newly established Wits Innovation Centre (WIC) where brilliant minds from various disciplines converge to ideate, research, collaborate, and support innovation, from the initial stages to entrepreneurship and commercialisation.
“The WIC is the epicentre of our innovation ecosystem at Wits where we harness a wellspring of diverse expertise and talent to solve complex, real-world problems. Collaboration in innovation is key and we are excited to see the cutting-edge solutions that will emerge from the Telkom Industry Solutions Lab,” said Vilakazi.
The Lab is a key strategic initiative aimed at supporting innovation within the Telkom Group. It is also the latest in Telkom’s longstanding tradition of forging partnerships with South African universities, says Telkom Group Executive for Innovation and Transformation, Dr Mmaki Jantjies. "Globally, many of the most transformative inventions have been developed through innovation partnerships between industry leaders in technology and researchintensive universities," she explains. "Similarly, this partnership with Wits aims to foster an ecosystem where creativity and collaboration will flourish - leveraging the combined expertise and resources of the Telkom Group and the University."
Projects will span industry products and solutions, applied research for specific industries, disruptive innovation driven by local challenges, advanced technology solutions, and industry-led fundamental science and engineering.
The Telkom Industry Solutions Lab will be led by a team of Telkom and Wits research and innovation leaders: Dr Maletsabisa Molapo, Executive for Research and Innovation at Telkom, and Letlotlo Phohole, Senior Programme Manager of the Wits Innovation Centre.
Telkom SA SOC Ltd is a leading information and communications technology services provider in South Africa. Our mission is to seamlessly connect people to a better life. We carry this through in all our brands, whether at the consumer, business, or wholesale level. Telkom consists of the following business units: BCX, an endto-end digital solutions provider; connectivity and wholesale division Openserve; Telkom Consumer and Small Business and property company Gyro.
As Wits University celebrates its 100th anniversary, we remain dedicated to cultivating the next generation of researchers and innovators who are equipped to translate knowledge into meaningful solutions. We are committed to leveraging our knowledge to drive progress for good in our community, our city, country, continent, and the world at large. The new Wits Innovation Centre (WIC) is a dynamic hub of creativity and ingenuity that seeks to develop an ‘innovation mindset’ across all disciplines and boundaries, and strives to assist researchers and students to transform their ideas from research outputs to innovation and enterprise.
Telkom and Wits sign a partnership agreement to establish the new Telkom Industry Solutions Lab.
Alison Jacobson
Alison Jacobson, co-founder and director The Field Institute (strategy and digital transformation consultancy) and d-lab (non-profit digital workplace-readiness programme for unemployed youth).
AI and I made these images using midjourney.com. You can do this too. Soon we'll all be doing it as a matter of course, in all of our daily applications. Create an account and get step-by-step instructions here https:// docs.midjourney.com/
I am enthralled, mesmerised, effervescent with excitement, a bit scared, and more full of unknowns and uncertainties than ever before. Producing art and content in AI hasn't just made me question what's possible, it's made me question what I am. Learn more about Alison’s work at https://thefieldinstitute.com/ and https://d-lab.co.za/
He became a filmmaker and now produces commercials, documentary films and virtual reality exhibitions. He also embraced the emergence of AI as a newly leading force in art.
With his fashion show series, he saw an opportunity to challenge what he sees as the marginalisation of older people in society and wanted to challenge perceptions around ageing.
"I've never seen a fashion show for elderly people, but they exist - so why not?"
/ All images copyright Malik Afegbua or SlickCity - Read original article here / Artworks generated by artificial intelligence (AI) have become a source of controversy, but Nigerian filmmaker and artist Malik Afegbua is making a case that it can challenge us to create a better real worldand a more stylish one for older people.
At first glance, his images look like they were snapped on the edge of a fashion runway, but these models are not actually real people. Instead, the pictures are the result of Afegbua's imagination working in conjunction with AI software, showing olderlooking models in beautiful clothes.
He knew he had created something special after he had posted them on social media. Especially after they caught the eye of the Oscar-winning costume designer behind the Black Panther films, Ruth Carter. "This is so dope!!" she wrote on Instagram.
The series of images, called Fashion Show For Seniors, has attracted thousands of similar comments.
With more than 100,000 likes for the pictures on social media, Afegbua's work has clearly made an impact in the real world. But questions linger about whether computergenerated work is a threat to human creativity. There are ethical issues as well.
The artist, though, takes a thoughtful and nuanced approach.
We are just about to get the Zoom interview started, with Afegbua sitting in his home office in Lagos, Nigeria - when his two-year-old son calls out for a bit of attention.
"He was born smart and everything he does is so techie. He already knows how to use mobile phones and iPads," he says proudly.
It is clear that he is passing down his love of technology and art to his son, but what made this business-school graduate pivot into pursuing a creative career?
"Someone gifted me a camera and that's where it took off."
One obvious objection is that there are real elderly people, and real fashion designers, who could have been photographed in the real world.
But for Afegbua it is the aspirational message behind the images that is crucial.
He believes they can make people think: "What if we start doing things in this way?"
There has been some backlash against the use of AI in art, centred around whether computers can truly replicate human creativity, but Afegbua sees this an exciting opportunity for artists to evolve.
AI image software either takes key words (called prompts) that are suggested by the artist or uses uploaded photos, to create an image based on that information.
What Afegbua says he is doing with his work is teaching AI to become more creative and, in turn, he makes new discoveries.
"Artificial intelligence learns from us and learns from the World Wide Web. I try to learn from it as well. I try to learn how to talk to it, how to communicate better to get exact results from it."
For the Fashion Show for Seniors pictures, Afegbua went back and forth with several AI-image generators - he uses three different ones for a variety of results - to find a look that was just right for his "models".
"I'm a lover of fashion, and I always like to experiment. I wanted to mix traditional African Nigerian fashion with something futuristic, something Afro-futuristic."
Another set of pictures, which he calls his Fiction series, is also inspired by an idea of the future - despite dating the world he has created to 250,000 years ago.
Galvanised by the stylings of Black Panther's Wakanda army and his new Hollywood pal, Ruth Carter, the collection of images represents the people of Ngochola, an imagined ancient African civilisation.
"They can speak to machines with their minds because they've cracked different codes. They're very technologically advanced in a way that they understand how to mix biology with, you know, technology, and combine it together," he says of the people that live in Ngochola.
It is clear that Afegbua is an unapologetic champion for the use of AI in art, but he recognises concerns around its use may be valid.
Recently there have been complaints that, without acknowledgement, artists' original work is being used as source material which is then manipulated.
This is not Afegbua's method, but he knows that AI can be used like this.
"When it comes to AI, there are a lot of ethical issues in terms of it stealing other people's work to create lots of different things," he admits. "It's a tool - and every tool can be used in an unethical way."
There does not seem to be any let-up in demand for AI-generated images, with the #AIfilter hashtag racking up 1.3 billion views on TikTok, where users have been uploading selfies in return for a new computer-generated picture of themselves.
Afegbua is an optimist when it comes to the use of technology in art.
"I don't think it has a shelf life. I think it's only going to get better because the algorithms keep getting better. The engines keep getting better.
"I feel that it's going help shape the storytelling and the intentional picture of Africa now, because it makes things a lot more accessible."
In this vein, Afegbua plans to continue developing the Elder series.
He wants to use the AI technology to help re-imagine what is possible today and in the future.
All images copyright Malik Afegbua/ SlickCity.
“
AI image software either takes key words (called prompts) that are suggested by the artist or uses uploaded photos, to create an image based on that information ”
/ Read original article here /
Some of the most recurrent questions and comments we receive when we publish information on investment in Africa - like our recent post on the most active investors - have to do with the provenance of the funds that are invested in start-ups on the continent. Some would want to be able to celebrate Africa’s ability to attract capital from all over the globe, while others are looking for arguments to fuel the debate on Africa’s ability to finance its own innovation, with the question of tech sovereignty in the background.
This post won’t tell you where the money is coming from: indeed, VCs very rarely share detailed information about who their LPs are, not that knowing an LPs’ name would always tell you for sure the ‘nationality’ of the money they’re investing. What we can do though - based on an analysis of the close to 2,000 $100k+ deals over 2021-2022 in our database - is give you an overview of where investors - excluding angels - are headquartered. And what do we learn?
In 2021-2022, out of the 1,400+ investors who made at least one $100k+ deal on the continent, 36% were HQ’ed in North America, 27% in Africa, followed by Europe (21%), Asia Pacific (8%), and the Middle East (7%). This geographical split was extremely consistent between 2021 and 2022, and there were only minor variations if we compare with 2020 ($500k+ deals only) and 2019 ($1m+ deals only). Where we see
a difference though, is when it comes to the level of activity of these investors. Indeed, the more active they are (in number of deals), the more likely they are to be HQ’ed in Africa versus in the US or elsewhere: from only 24% Africa- vs. 39% US-HQ’ed (and 37% elsewhere) for the most ‘opportunistic’ of them (who did only 1 deal over 2 years) to a 29%/35%/36% split for those who did 2-4 deals, 40%/28%/32% (5-9 deals) and 45%/19%/36% (10-19 deals). However, this is not true of those ‘super investors’ who did 20+ deals in 2021-2022: for them the split is 35% Africa / 48% US/ 17% elsewhere.
Which countries in particular are those investors HQ’ed in? In North America, it’s almost exclusively the US (96%). In Africa, South Africa leads with 100 of the investors (27%) doing at least one deal on the continent in the past couple of years, followed by Nigeria (77), Egypt (66), and Kenya (44); the Big Four combined
represent 78% of the region’s total. In Europe, the UK (91) is in the lead with a third of the European investors active in Africa. Follow France (37), the Netherlands (31), Switzerland (23) and Germany (21); these five countries make up 72% of the European total. The three Asia Pacific countries where most Africa-active investors are located are Japan (28), China (25), and Singapore (22). In the Middle East, 80% of those are either based in the UAE (36) or Saudi Arabia (30).
We’re just short of 1,000 downloads on the deck we shared last week, which feels great! Thanks everyone for your interest in our work: we look forward to seeing those graphs and maps pop up here and there :)) And if there’s a specific visual or analysis you think would be particularly helpful, never hesitate to get in touch! But if you’re one to prefer to play with the data yourself, head straight to our database. I mean, through this link of course, so you get the discount ;)
The US, Africa, and Europe are home to 84% of the investors active on the continent.
/ Read original article here /
Convergence Partners, the leading private equity investor dedicated to the technology sector across sub-Saharan Africa, is proud to announce the successful closing of its Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund (CPDIF) at $296 million, surpassing its initial target by over 18%. This achievement is despite subdued private capital fundraising on the Continent in 2022.
The recent close of CPDIF marks a significant milestone for the company, as it represents Convergence Partners’ largest fund to date, bringing total funds under management to more than $600m.
The close was backed by a combination of existing and new investors comprising leading global and regional development finance institutions (DFIs), pension funds and financial institutions based in Europe and Africa.
CPDIF was launched in June 2020 and had a first close of $120m in July 2021. The Fund is focused on investing in digital infrastructure opportunities across sub-Saharan Africa. This includes investments in fibre networks, data centres, wireless, towers, cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and other critical digital infrastructure that is vital for the growth of the digital economy in the region. In addition to investing in physical assets, CPDIF is also aimed at developing and supporting initiatives that promote access to education, financial services, healthcare, and other essential services through digital technologies.
The last 20 years have seen internet penetration in sub–Saharan Africa grow exponentially as a result of investments in enabling infrastructure. Since inception, Convergence Partners has seen the need to invest in this space, motivated at the time by the ITU’s The Missing Link/Maitland Report. Years later there is still more work to be done if we wish to close the digital divide and ensure that the Africa is able to reap the benefits from the current and next iteration of the technologies.
“The closing of CPDIF is a major step forward for Convergence Partners and for the development of the digital economy in subSaharan Africa,” says Brandon Doyle CEO and Founding Partner of Convergence Partners – “This closing is just the beginning, and we look forward to working with our investors and partners to build the digital infrastructure required to support the growth of the region's digital economy. We strongly believe such collaborations promote innovation, entrepreneurship, skill development, and job creation by vastly expanding access to the internet and all the essential digital tools it provides.”
Convergence Partners has played a crucial role in ensuring the sustained growth of digital technologies across sub-Saharan Africa and is committed to continuing to support the growth and development of the region's digital economy through investments in critical digital infrastructure.
"We are extremely grateful for the continued support of our repeat investors and the new support given to us from first-time investors that have joined us on this journey to address the challenge of the digital inclusion across the Continent, one technology at a time. As we are 7 years away from 2030 we commit to addressing SDGs and preparing Digital Infrastructure for Africa which is soon to be home to 2 Billion people with the youngest population on our planet," says Andile Ngcaba, Chairman and Founding Partner at Convergence Partners. " We will continue to build on our original vision by investing in digital infrastructure that is a key enabler for digital inclusion. This Fund will enable us to continue leveraging our deep knowledge of technology, investments and the African market to deliver measurable impact.”
South Africa’s Capital City, the City of Tshwane, is situated in the province of Gauteng, the economic centre of South Africa. As the seat of government, Tshwane is the country’s administrative hub and houses 134 embassies, 30 international organisations making it second only to Washington DC in terms of the concentration of the diplomatic and foreign missions. It is also home to over 30 Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed companies as well as various multinational companies.
The city is home to four universities and various research institutes and its knowledge and information industry is well-developed. Tshwane has a high literacy rate, a large concentration of financial and business services in the region, support of educational institutions and communication infrastructure, including broadband capacity.
Tshwane is the knowledge centre of South Africa. The City has a high concentration of academic, medical, social science, technology and scientific institutions which produces 90% of medical, science and technology research in the country and 60% of the country’s overall research output. The city has a student population of 60000 and high levels of literacy, giving investors access to a skilled workforce and continuous learning.
Your investment is safe with us, we are governed by investment protection legislation, The Protection of Investment Act 22 of 2015 which specifically gives foreign investors similar rights and protections available to South Africans.
We have great investment incentives such as the duty drawback schemes that provide refunds for import duties paid on the materials used in the production of goods that are re-exported.
There are no restrictions for foreign investors to acquire property in the country. There are no restrictions on foreign investors to acquire companies or businesses in South Africa.
Tshwane has a well-developed infrastructure and road network and is centrally situated on the national road network with direct links to Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia along the east-west N4 route, and with Zimbabwe along the south-north N1 route.
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Acquisition to enable creation of a fully integrated, enterprise-wide capability to discover, design and develop nextgeneration immunotherapies at scale by leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies across BioNTech’s therapeutic platforms and operations
Builds on multi-year strategic collaboration between BioNTech and InstaDeep which included the formation of an AI Innovation Lab in 2020 and completion of dozens of joint projects
Acquisition expected to add approximately 240 highly skilled professionals and a global network of research partners in the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science based in the world’s leading global technology hubs BioNTech to pay an upfront consideration of approximately £362 million in cash and BioNTech shares, to acquire 100% of remaining InstaDeep shares following BioNTech’s Series B investment in 2022 InstaDeep to operate globally from London headquarters as a BioNTech company post-closing, which is expected in the first half of 2023, subject to regulatory approval
MAINZ, Germany, and LONDON, United Kingdom, January 09, 2023 – BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX, “BioNTech”) and InstaDeep Ltd. (“InstaDeep”) today announced that they have entered into an agreement under which BioNTech will acquire InstaDeep, a leading global technology company in the field of artificial intelligence (“AI”) and
machine learning (“ML”). The transaction includes a total upfront consideration of approximately £362 million in cash and BioNTech shares to acquire 100% of the remaining InstaDeep shares, excluding the shares already owned by BioNTech. In addition, InstaDeep shareholders will be eligible to receive additional performancebased future milestone payments up to approximately £200 million. The transaction follows BioNTech’s initial equity investment as part of InstaDeep’s Series B financing round in January 2022. The acquisition supports BioNTech’s strategy to build world-leading capabilities in AI-driven drug discovery and development of nextgeneration immunotherapies and vaccines to address diseases with high unmet medical need. The transaction will combine two organizations with a common culture and is expected to add approximately 240 highly skilled professionals to BioNTech’s workforce, including teams in AI, ML, bioengineering, data science, and software development. Through the acquisition, BioNTech will grow
its network of global research collaborators in the field and expand its footprint in key talent hubs across the United States, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
With the acquisition of InstaDeep, validated and novel BioNTech-trained AIand ML-based models are planned to be embedded across BioNTech’s discovery platforms and connected, through InstaDeep’s DeepChain™ platform, to an integrated automated lab infrastructure. This has the objective to enable highthroughput design and testing of novel drug candidates at scale. In addition, BioNTech plans to develop novel AI and ML technology solutions which it aims to apply across key strategic and operational functions.
The acquisition builds on a successful track record of increasing collaboration between the two companies since 2019: In November 2020, the companies announced a multi-year strategic collaboration and joint AI Innovation Lab to apply the latest advances in AI and ML technology to develop novel medicines for a range of cancers and infectious diseases. The companies have jointly developed multiple end-to-end AI-based applications trained on public and proprietary datasets across a wide variety of scientific domains. These include projects to enhance neoantigen selection, ribological sequence optimization for BioNTech’s RiboCytokine® and RiboMab® platforms as well as the development of an Early Warning System to detect and monitor high risk SARS-CoV-2 variants, based on their ability to escape immune defenses and transmissibility potential, defined as fitness, which was announced in January 2022
“Since the inception of BioNTech, we have focused on leveraging computational solutions to create personalized immunotherapies that can reach a wide patient population,” said Prof. Ugur Sahin, M.D., CEO and Co-founder of BioNTech “The acquisition of InstaDeep allows us to incorporate the rapidly evolving AI capabilities of the digital world into our technologies, research, drug discovery, manufacturing, and deployment processes. Our aim is to make BioNTech a technology company where AI is seamlessly integrated into all aspects of our work.”
BioNTech recognized the growing importance of AI and ML capabilities early on. For example, the fully individualized neoantigen specific immunotherapy approach (“iNeST1”) is based on mRNA encoding multiple patient-specific neoepitopes. For the first patients treated with an individualized vaccine in clinical trials starting 2014, BioNTech selected the neoepitopes manually. It invested early in developing ML-trained algorithms to improve the prediction of neoepitopes with initial results published in Nature in 2017. These algorithms have been further enhanced in collaboration with InstaDeep.
“AI is progressing exponentially and our mission at InstaDeep has always been to make sure it benefits everyone. We are very excited to join forces and become one team with BioNTech, with whom we share the same culture of deep tech innovation and focus on positive human impact,” said Karim Beguir, CEO and Co-Founder of InstaDeep “Together, we envision building a world leader that combines biopharmaceutical research and AI with the aim to design next-generation immunotherapies that enhance medical care –thus, helping fight cancer and other diseases.”
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2023, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Upon closing, InstaDeep will operate as a UK-based global subsidiary of BioNTech. InstaDeep is expected to become the centerpiece of a growing portfolio of initiatives around AI and ML at BioNTech. In addition to BioNTechfocused projects, InstaDeep will continue to provide its services to clients around the world in diverse industries, including in the Technology, Transport & Logistics, Industrial, and Financial Services sectors.
Biopharmaceutical New Technologies is a next generation immunotherapy company pioneering novel therapies for cancer and other serious diseases. BioNTech exploits a wide array of computational discovery and therapeutic drug platforms for the rapid development of novel biopharmaceuticals. Its broad portfolio of oncology product candidates includes individualized and off-the-shelf mRNA-based therapies, innovative chimeric antigen receptor T cells, bispecific immune checkpoint modulators, targeted cancer antibodies and small molecules. Based on its deep expertise in mRNA vaccine development and in-house manufacturing capabilities, BioNTech and its collaborators are developing multiple mRNA vaccine candidates for a range of infectious diseases alongside its diverse oncology pipeline. BioNTech has established a broad set of relationships with multiple global pharmaceutical collaborators, including Genmab, Sanofi, Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, Regeneron, Genevant, Fosun Pharma, and Pfizer. For more information, please visit www.BioNTech.com
This press release contains “forwardlooking statements” of BioNTech within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements may include, but may not be limited to, statements concerning: the expected impact of this proposed acquisition on BioNTech’s and InstaDeep’s business; the timing of the closing of the proposed acquisition; the creation of long-term value for BioNTech and InstaDeep shareholders;
“ Together, we envision building a world leader that combines biopharmaceutical research and AI with the aim to design nextgeneration immunotherapies that enhance medical care – thus, helping fight cancer and other diseases. ”
potential synergies between BioNTech and InstaDeep and their businesses; the ability of the DeepChain™ protein design platform to engineer new mRNA sequences for protein targets; the ability of the SARS-CoV-2 Early Warning System to predict potential high-risk variants; the ability of AI and ML to advance drug discovery and development of new drug classes; the ability of AI and ML to quicken and scale up the delivery of next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics; the ability of ML and edge analytics to identify novel predictive biomarkers, inform patient selection, and accelerate the development of therapeutic programs; the ability to utilize AI and ML applications to further optimize manufacturing and supply chain processes, including by using robotics and autonomous decision-making; and BioNTech’s efforts to combat COVID-19. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on BioNTech current expectations and beliefs of future events, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the possibility that the proposed transaction may not close, the reaction to the proposed transaction of InstaDeep’s business partners, the reaction of competitors to the proposed transaction, the retention of InstaDeep employees, BioNTech’s plans for InstaDeep, the future growth of InstaDeep’s and BioNTech’s businesses and the possibility that integration following the proposed transaction may be more difficult than expected; the risk that InstaDeep’s collaborations will not continue or will not be successful; risks related to InstaDeep’s ability to protect and maintain InstaDeep’s intellectual property position; risks related to InstaDeep’s capital requirements, use of capital and unexpected expenditures, including InstaDeep’s ability to manage operating expenses or obtain funding to support planned business activities or to explore and establish strategic alternative transactions; risks related to InstaDeep’s ability to attract and retain personnel; and the ability of AI and ML to produce improvements in the drug discovery and development
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process or deliver efficiencies in drug manufacturing, logistics and supply chain. For a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, see BioNTech’s Quarterly Report on Form 6-K for the quarter ended September 30, 2022, filed with the SEC on November 7, 2022, which is available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and BioNTech undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.
About InstaDeep
InstaDeep is a leader in decision-making AI systems with headquarters in London, and offices in Paris, Tunis, Lagos, Dubai, Cape Town, Berlin, Boston and San Francisco. InstaDeep was founded in 2014 in North Africa and has been named for three consecutive years to CB Insights’ influential
AI 100 ranking, which showcases the 100 most innovative private artificial intelligence companies in the world. It was also named in 2022 as one of Europe’s 100 most promising B2B companies by the Financial Times-backed media site Sifted. With expertise in both machine intelligence research and concrete business deployments, InstaDeep gives its partners a competitive advantage in an AI-first world. Leveraging its extensive know-how in GPU-accelerated computing, deep learning and reinforcement learning, InstaDeep products, such as its DeepChainTM protein design platform, tackle the most complex challenges across a range of industries. InstaDeep has also developed collaborations with global leaders in the AI ecosystem, such as Nvidia and Google Cloud and has published joint research with DeepMind.
CONTACTS
BioNTech: Media Relations
Jasmina Alatovic
+49 (0)6131 9084 1513
Media@biontech.de
Investor Relations
Sylke Maas, Ph.D.
+49 (0)6131 9084 1074
Investors@biontech.de
InstaDeep: Media Relations
Liz Johns
+44 (0)797 005 7603
l.johns@instadeep.com
Using machine learning techniques to predict the age of mosquitoes from different populations could reduce turnaround time for malaria research and improve surveillance programmes, a study says.
Knowledge of a mosquito's age helps scientists to understand its potential to spread malaria but the existing tools used for foreseeing this are costly, labour-intensive and often prone to human errors, the researchers say.
A female anopheles mosquito. A study says machine learning techniques to predict the age of mosquitoes from different populations could reduce turnaround time for malaria research. Credit: James Gathany, USCDCP on Pixnio, (CC0 1.0)
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According to the World Health Organization, the African region accounted for about 95 per cent of the 247 million cases of malaria globally in 2021, and scientists say the adoption of innovative tools to control mosquitoes and prevent the spread of malaria is key to eliminating the disease.
The study targeted strains of mosquitoes raised in laboratories at the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania and the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
Using analytical tools known as infrared spectroscopy, the researchers recorded the biochemical composition of mosquitoes, and used machine learning — a form of artificial intelligence (AI) — to train models that can predict the age of mosquitoes.
Mwanga says that machine learning is a more efficient option compared to the existing tools for predicting mosquito ages which are laborious and costly.
"There is a challenge that we have been facing in machine learning, which is the difficulty in accurately identifying the ages of mosquitoes from different locations,” says Emmanuel Mwanga, the study's lead author and a research scientist at Ifakara Health Institute. "This is the main problem that this paper is addressing.”
A machine learning technique that predicts the ages of mosquitoes is a win for malaria control, say African researchers.
Our technologies can help close the inequality gaps in South Africa, including the education system.
In September izwe.ai was launched.
It is an AI platform developed by Telkom, in collaboration with Enlabeler, which transcribes and translates speech into text from English and local languages. izwe.ai aims to deliver local-language transcription and translation that gives all learners equal access to learning material.
This will also have a far-reaching impact on the health and business sectors, allowing for academic and legal transcription; contact centre transcription and analysis; and media production services.
Visit www.izwe.ai for more information.
The use of Artificial Intelligence forms a core part of Telkom’s commitment to technological advancement and digital transformation.
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Nigeria launched a $672 million fund on Tuesday to support tech and creative sectors for young investors who struggle to raise capital in Africa’s largest economy. The fund – targeting 15 to 35-year-olds – comes at a time when there are concerns locally about the failure of U.S. startup-focused lender SVB Financial Group, which has supported startups in Nigeria.
So far only Chipper Cash, a cross border payments startup, has said it had $1 million in SVB. Some of the biggest startups, including e-commerce firm Jumia and Africafocused fintech firm Flutterwave, told Reuters they had no exposure to the bank.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo launched the $672 million fund under the Digital and Creative Enterprises Programme (DCEP) in the federal capital Abuja, the presidency said in a statement.
African Development Bank will put in $170 million, $116 million will come from Agence Francaise de Developpement and another $70 million from Islamic Development Bank, the presidency said.
The government through Bank of Industry Nigeria will release $45 million while the private sector pledged $271 million.
“DCEP is a government initiative to promote innovation and entrepreneurship
in the digital tech and creative industries and especially targeted at job creation,” Osinbajo was quoted as saying at the launch of the fund.
Nigeria has the largest number of startups in Africa – mostly in tech and fintech – which have pulled funding from overseas banks and venture capital firms. But most startups still struggle to attract funding because banks demand that they provide collateral, which they do not have.
“ Nigeria has the largest number of startups in Africa – mostly in tech and fintech – which have pulled funding from overseas banks and venture capital firms. ”
On 24 March 2023, the Department of Communications and Digital Technology, the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) as well as the University of Johannesburg (UJ) will, officially launch the TUT Hub of the Artificial Intelligence Institute of South Africa.
It is with a sense of pride and enthusiasm that TUT has responded to the call of the Department of Communications and Digital Technology, for the University to put its high-end expertise in Artificial Intelligence at the service of the digital advancement of our country. For this great national duty, TUT could not have been paired with a better institution than UJ. Having participated joyfully in the launch of the UJ Hub in November 2022, we cannot wait for the launch of the TUT Hub of the Artificial Intelligence Institute of South Africa. We are excited that TUT will be part of a network of AI centres of excellence nationally and continentally.
“The time has come for South Africa to join the digital revolution that is sweeping across the nations of the world. The work of the Artificial Intelligence Institute of South Africa is to bend the arch of the digital universe in favour of South Africa. This way, South Africa will stop being a consumer and a victim of solutions and algorithms conceptualised elsewhere. Instead, South Africa will become the author and shaper of its own digital destiny” said the ViceChancellor and Principal of TUT, Prof Maluleke.
TUT has several projects in AI that are linked to Government Catalytic projects. These projects include AI Capacity Building for Public Servants, the AI Motor Industry Infrastructure Enhancement Programme, Modernising Public Services and AI in Farming and Food Production, which will all be showcased at the TUT AI Hub launch.
These projects target three sectors of the country’s economy, namely 4IR in Manufacturing (value chain), Healthcare as well as Farming/Agriculture and Food Processing (Agriculture 5.0).
Positioning South Africa as a global technological competitor
"The AI Institute of South Africa (AIISA) has great potential to help us fight the problem of youth unemployment by imparting the much needed modern skills that will turn them into job creators and shapers of the 21st century workplace.
The catalytic projects already in place at TUT and UJ are indicative of how AI can become the engine of economic advancement in various sectors. Through the formation of AIISA, South Africa is poised to become a significant player in the global Fourth Industrial Revolution. We are looking forward to this important launch of the TUT AI Hub.” commented the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Honourable Mondli Gungubele.
UJ’s Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Letlhokwa Mpedi says: “The establishment of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence is a testament to the collective agility and impact of the two universities and the department in the 4IR space, which reaches far beyond South Africa’s borders to Africa and elsewhere in the world. As we declared at the inaugural launch at UJ, the Institute presents South Africa with the opportunity to reskill the labour force for a digital future, whereby working collaboratively with machines will be the norm. This is in line with UJ’s strategic objective to ensure that our approach to digital technologies is not only
innovative but that it is also human-centric, in a manner that it has a positive and transformative impact on people.”
In conclusion, Prof Maluleke also spoke about the strategic significance of the TUT AI Hub, saying: “Our role in the establishment of the AIISA is the clearest articulation of our University’s intention to take its place in the construction of the technological future of the country, this; in a world in which AI is becoming both ubiquitous and indispensable.”
For more information on the Tshwane University of Technology, please contact Phaphama Tshisikhawe, Corporate Affairs and Marketing.
Tel: +27 12 382 4711
Email: tshisikhawerpt@tut.ac.za
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Expert knowledge of contact center, medical & debt collection domains
An AI powered transcription & translation platform using ML and humans-in-theloop to deliver highly accurate outputs. Expert knowledge of contact center, medical & debt collection domains.
Our teams also specialise in speech analytics, speaker diarization, sentiment labeling and deliver performance dashboards per project.
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The AI Hub launch at Tshwane University of Technology, forms part of the wider strategy of the AI Institute of South Africa. TUT and University of JHB are the leading institutes and the plan is to reach to all other University institutes all over the country, with all focusing on different Economic sectors. For example the TUT hub is linked to the sectors of Automotive, Health and Transport while UJ Business school is linked to Manufacturing, Mining and Criminal Justice systems amongst others.
TUT is playing its part in the founding and shaping of the agenda in the institute of AI:
AI in Motor Industries
AI in farming & food production
AI in 4IR Manufacturing
AI in Tourism
AI in Transport
AI in Health
AI in Telecommunications
The emphasis will be on empowering the youth to make sure that they are acquired with the training, skills and formal education making sure that we succeed in the 4IR. “We have a role to play that as we move forward we empower the youth with the skills that will make them active participants in the 4IR”. TUT and UJ will help young South Africans get inspired and excited about the 4IR in South Africa.
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Newly-opened artificial intelligence (AI) research and product lab Lelapa AI will go to market with its first natural language model solution, Vulavula, within the next two months.
So says co-founder and CEO Pelonomi Moiloa, explaining the start-up’s plans to build AI-based customer-facing products and services that solve uniquely-African problems.
This comes as the world is witnessing accelerated interest in natural language processing tools driven by AI, with tech giants Google, Microsoft and Meta adding AI into their product offerings and services.
Moiloa tells ITWeb that because of its “very strong base and experience” in the language space, Lelapa AI started with a language product as its first offering.
Vulavula is powered by language model technology, which has received lots of attention since the release of ChatGPT, she explains. “Vulavula is a language technology-as-a-service, focusing on underrepresented languages (specifically South African languages), through text and voice technologies.
“Despite 90% of the internet being in English, only one in 10 South Africans speak English at home. Languages represent culture and people, and it’s imperative that people from across the world are supported by technology.”
Moiloa reveals Vulavula has several primary features or capabilities. “The first one is called named entity recognition. This means the machine is able to recognise pronouns – names, cities, locations, numbers, etc. For example, when you type your name into Microsoft Word and it puts a red squiggly line underneath. This kind of technology is able to identify African names as people, or African places as places.
“The next feature is speech to text or text to speech. This is useful for things like subtitling for news articles or TV programmes. There is also a feature for machine translation, which is the most difficult task for a machine to do because it has to understand the language quite well.”
According to Moiloa, Lelapa AI was founded out of the need to address how AI can be used for solutions and applications from an African lens.
The founding members consist of Moiloa, Jade Abbott, Vukosi Marivate, Benjamin Rosman, Pravesh Ranchod and George Konidaris, who have backgrounds in academics, research, data science and engineering.
Moiloa explains that in 2018, co-founder Abbott realised there was no research that existed around machine understanding of local languages on the continent. Abbott wanted to learn isiZulu and could not find a technical tool to help her do that.
“She set out to develop this grassroots movement, because she knew she couldn’t do it alone, to develop the research field which understands African languages from a contemporary machine methodology.
“This research institution contributes to understanding how to better adapt technologies that exist to our local context and local
languages, so that machines are able to better understand us and facilitate us communicating in our languages through certain tools.”
She highlights that the team hopes to make a change in the country, using AI to improve sectors such as agriculture, education, healthcare and energy.
“Africa has many unique issues that could be addressed by AI solutions, and these issues need to be addressed by people who understand the nuances of the context, rather than by Western counterparts. When other parts of the world aim to solve our problems, they often fail because of this lack of context − and quite often cause harm.
“Right now, there is a wave of AI talent on the African continent − many of these are PhD graduates who left the continent to study abroad. Unfortunately, despite the many problems they could be solving, that talent has very few places to go, and so often choose to remain abroad or end up working somewhere that can’t take advantage of their skillset. Lelapa AI aims to be the home of that talent.”
The co-founder indicates the AI lab’s products are focused on the business-to-business market, as these companies have to communicate with their customers on a regular basis. This is mainly communication through text or voice.
“For example, in a text-based application like any of the banking apps that communicate through a chat application – for payments, ordering airtime or prepaid electricity via text.
“From an audio perspective, these are businesses that have to deal with call centres, or any type of service industry where you’re calling in because you’re trying to get something done and you have to speak to a person to sort through an issue.”
From a commercial perspective, she notes Vulavula is available predominantly in isiZulu for now. “However, we’ve already done a lot of the ground research in order to support the next languages.
“By adding isiZulu, Xhosa, Sesotho, Setswana and Afrikaans, we get up to 80% of the population and create access for people to be spoken to in their own languages and speak in their own languages.”
Moiloa concludes that the lab would like to expand its product offerings into other fields, but right now, the focus is language and that product is Vulavula.
Hospitals around the world face huge internal logistic problems as a result of the labor intensive environment, many small packages need to be delivered on time from various depots to wards where patients need their medication, medical supplies, linen, and meals.
We piloted our delivery module on a custom configured robot to deliver scheduled drugs in a live hospital environment and found the following improvements: results over a 4 week period in a live hospital environment
find out more @ ctrlrobotics.com/better-hospitals
ctrl easily integrates to multiple robots for dynamic automation needs
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Convergence Partners sees the growing tech adoption and innovation driven by the continent's young population signifying a bright digital future for the continent. Africa's young digital natives provide a solid base for tech industry growth and serve as a target market for innovation and consumption. By 2045, Africa must have built a robust digital infrastructure network in preparation for new technologies such as 6G, 7G, and High-Altitude Platforms (HAPS). Now is the time for Africa to shape its digital infrastructure future by strategically consolidating all resources that impact the digital. The newly established Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund (CPDIF) aligns with the 2063 vision of the "Africa We Want".
History shows that communications infrastructure combined with resources like Outer Space orbital slots, Electromagnetic Frequency Spectrum, technology-centric rare earth elements (REE), submarine terrain, maritime satellite, IP numbers, addresses and Domain Name Systems (DNS) can transform lives. Unfortunately, due to the colonial system, Africa was denied a seat at the global telecommunication decision-making table when these resources were discussed and allocated. Only after their independence in the late 1960s did African countries start participating in institutions like the Office of Outer Space Affairs, Intelsat, ITU, and others. Similarly, challenges surfaced in the early developments of global and regional internet registries. IP addresses and domain name systems are a resource crucial to the success of the digital infrastructure. Therefore, as we advance, Africa must guard its IPV4, IPV6 and
DNS assets, as these are foundational to the successful development of its digital infrastructure.
Recently, the significance of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) in tech has emerged. Their magnetic, catalytic, and electrochemical properties are essential for the tech industry, used in semiconductors, hardware, and networks. African countries such as Madagascar, South Africa, Namibia, and Burundi have large quantities of REEs like neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium. Therefore, Africa must attract investment in REE exploration and material science research and development for semiconductor technology. By doing so, Africa can secure a strategic position in the semiconductor industry and drive the digital world as one of the biggest consumers and suppliers of REEs by 2050.
In the 1970s, African nations formed PANAFTEL to address the lack of connectivity on the continent. PANAFTEL later led to the establishment of the Pan
African Telecommunications Union (PATU) in 1979, now African Telecommunications Union (ATU), which showed a commitment to bridging the digital divide. The ITU Plenipotentiary conference in Nairobi in 1982 resulted in the formation of the Independent Commission for World-Wide Telecommunications Development to address the barriers to communication infrastructure growth. The commission's "missing link" report highlighted the unequal distribution of telephone access between developed and developing nations and played a significant role in attracting investment into the telecommunications infrastructure. However, on Planet earth there are still two billion people without internet access. This disparity prompted the recent establishment of the ITU Partner to Connect coalition. The coalition's first annual report was launched in Kigali in June 2022, emphasizing the importance of continued cooperation in bridging the digital divide. The coming
age of blockchain, Metaverse, and Web 3.0, mandates a review of ATU's role. In addition, there is a need to reform the disparate national policies and regulatory frameworks to keep pace with new developments. For example, the Pan African regulatory framework needs a relook to establish digital infrastructure policy and regulatory regime in line with The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), promoting regional network integration.
Africa skipped fixed telephony to bring many online mobile phones to where Africa is on par with global technology applications. The growth of mobile phone diffusion and the continent's youthful population are great assets. Just as investing in technology is critical to building 21st-century industries, youth education in deep technology is essential. The youth are key to Africa's progress.
In February 2023, industry leaders will gather at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress (MWC) to discuss the future of technology and its impact on telecommunications and mobile networks. One of the focus areas of the congress is Web 3.0 and its role in shaping industries. Later in the year, the World Radio Conference 2023 in Dubai will set the 2027 World Radio Conference agenda, including the 6G spectrum and the preliminary agenda for WRC -2031. Clearly, the view of long-term investment is crucial in this fast-paced industry where technology transitions and disruptions are commonplace.
In the same way, that transition from Web 1.0 to Web 20 appeared to bring the internet capacity into question; recent developments brought all we know into question. ChatGPT has "thrown the cat amongst the pigeons". ChatGPT is growing rapidly in users and value, with over 100
“ African countries such as Madagascar, South Africa, Namibia, and Burundi have large quantities of REEs like neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium. Therefore, Africa must attract investment in REE exploration and material science research and development for semiconductor technology. By doing so, Africa can secure a strategic position in the semiconductor industry and drive the digital world as one of the biggest consumers and suppliers of REEs by 2050. ”
“ Convergence Partners (CP) impact focus bridges the digital divide with strategic digital infrastructure investments that positively impact the markets it invests in. The unmet need of the unconnected pushes us to invest in companies that tackle this issue head-on. Africa requires increased investment in submarine cables, terrestrial fiber networks, data centers, satellite services, High Altitude Platforms (HAPS), and more to support its growing digital ecosystem. ”
million users in two months and valued at $29 Billion. The move from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 was a transformative shift, and now Web 3.0 is likely to bring new transformational and exponential changes. The creator of Gmail, Paul Buchheit, even went so far as to say that AI chatbots like ChatGPT will destroy Google in the same way that Google killed the yellow pages. Innovations like ChatGPT have been years in the making, even though we are only starting to see the results now. We must, however, be mindful of the algorithm's unintended consequences or bias. Similarly, after the 2nd World War, attendees of the 1947 International Radio Conference in Atlantic City thought advancements in the electromagnetic frequency spectrum had reached their limit, but now we are entering Terahertz. These events highlight the underestimated limitations of technology that are subject to change.
Convergence Partners (CP) impact focus bridges the digital divide with strategic digital infrastructure investments that positively impact the markets it invests in. The unmet need of the unconnected pushes us to invest in companies that tackle this issue head-on. Africa requires increased investment in submarine cables, terrestrial fiber networks, data centers, satellite services, High Altitude Platforms (HAPS), and more to support its growing digital ecosystem. CPDIF also recognizes the importance of sustainable development goals in supporting sectors like Fintech, Agritech, Edutech, and Healthtech in Africa's digital landscape.
Web 3.0 technology is another exciting opportunity for Africa. The decentralized nature of Web 3.0 renders it more secure and resilient to cyber-attacks. With Africa being a key growth market for the tech industry, the potential for Web 3.0 to thrive in Africa is enormous. However, to fully realize the potential of Web 3.0, Africa needs to have a robust digital infrastructure in place. By investing in digital infrastructure, Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund aims to help lay the foundation for Web 3.0 to take off in Africa. Web 3.0 offers a new way of interacting with the internet. Digital infrastructure finds representation in verticals like Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN). DePIN aims to revolutionize communication networks with blockchain-based incentive mechanisms. Sub-verticals such as Decentralized Wireless (DeWi) exist in over 14 networks globally. In addition, Africa's growing population requires efficient spectrum management, and the exploration of spectrum sharing on the blockchain has the potential to enable spectrum trading markets.
Additionally, Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) has the potential for wide adoption in Africa because of the inherent identification challenges. Given the digital divide and growing youth population, these verticals will thrive on the continent. With the proper digital infrastructure in place, Africa has the potential to leapfrog many Web 2.0 technologies and move directly to Web 3.0.
In conclusion, Africa must take control of its digital future by embracing Web 3.0 and related technologies. Africa must craft its narrative within the Web 3.0 ecosystem incorporating Natural Language Processing (NLP) solutions that can translate between its diverse range of languages, from Lingala to Hausa, Arabic to Sesotho, and Nama to Songhai.
Connecting Africa, from Benin to Mombasa, Cape to Cairo, Djibouti to Mauritania, and beyond, requires a robust land-based cross-border optical fiber network. In addition, central and edge data centers are crucial in providing the necessary digital infrastructure to support this next generation of technologies. The future is undeniably digital, we are moving closer to cyborgs, humanoids, and uncanny valley, and Africa must secure its place.
/ Read original article here /
Kenya has been ranked fifth in Africa on the government’s readiness to implement Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the delivery of services to the public, a new global survey shows.
The 2022 edition of the annual Government AI Readiness Index released by Oxford Insights shows Kenya’s overall score of 40.36 percent placing it behind Egypt, South Africa, Tunisia and Morocco.
Globally, Kenya was ranked position 90 as countries prepare the ground for disruption expected from the new technology.
On the technology sector pillar that examines the availability of requisite skills to enable AI adoption, the country posted a dismal score of 28.76 percent which is below the world average of 35.17 percent.
The report comes at a time AI is gaining traction globally.
Analysts say that if the correct set of skill base was developed in Kenya, the technology would come in handy in areas such as boosting education outcomes through personalised learning, disease control and weather forecasting.
“AI might be the medicine the continent needs to root out problems and inconsistencies in education. Indeed, the fact that African languages were suppressed in favour of European languages as a strategy to separate thought and speech, Africa now has the opportunity to begin the process of decolonizing education,” observes Kenya’s Ambassador to Belgium Bitange Ndemo.
Over the last decade, Kenya’s total value of investment in AI is estimated at Sh13 billion which hardly compares with South Africa’s Sh165.8 billion and Nigeria’s 60.3 billion, according to Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence in the Middle East and Africa Outlook report.
According to ICT experts, data and tech skills, more than all other factors, are key to the development of AI in the country and take-off will only be effected if the two are sorted out.
“Data is the engine of AI since AI creates algorithms for predictions mainly based on historical data. If that’s missing, the power and impact of AI will be suboptimal, or worse still, have a negative impact,” notes John Walubengo, an ICT lecturer at the Multimedia University of Kenya.
Mr Walubengo sat as a member of the Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence Task Force that was constituted in February 2018 to provide the government with recommendations on how to harness emerging technologies over the consequent five years.
/ Read original article here /
Technology agnostic, the RPA Developer qualification empowers learners to acquire a solid set of RPA skills and offers predictable career path
The national qualification in RPA is set to boost upskilling and reskilling among existing employees and lower barrier of entry for young people into tech jobs
The initiative went live in August 2022 in collaboration with UiPath, the Sector Education and Training Authority (MICT SETA), the Quality Council For Trades & Occupations (QCTO), and local educators
UiPath (NYSE: PATH), a leading enterprise automation software company, has collaborated with the Media, Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority (MICT SETA) in South Africa to develop the first national qualification in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region. The initiative aims to provide the workforce of the future with valuable tech skills and will potentially have a positive impact on youth unemployment by creating new jobs in software development, setting up for further growth the expanding automation ecosystem in South Africa.
Mark Gibbs, President, Europe, Middle East, and Africa at UiPath, said:
“South Africa has seen the emergence of a strong automation ecosystem, which includes forward-thinking enterprises
that have made intelligent automation a priority, automation services providers, and universities who teach their students automation skills to prepare them for the workplace of the future. Automation adoption has led to the creation of new roles; however, the need for qualified automation talent is acute. This qualification is set to provide companies with the next generation of talented RPA Developers and help narrow the current skills gap in the country.”
Recent research points to skills shortages being among the most significant business risks facing South African organizations. According to the 2022 JCSE – IITPSA Skills Survey, RPA skills are among those recording “significant shortages,” alongside information security, big data design and analytics, and artificial intelligence, for which demand exceeds supply by a big margin. For this reason, the introduction of the national qualification in RPA is well positioned to help address the current shortage of RPA skills in South Africa. It will empower workers with the skills needed to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the field of automation, which is becoming ubiquitous across industries.
Considering how unemployment among South Africa’s youth is a pressing issue, the development of a standardized qualification in RPA will provide a clear and defined career pathway for individuals interested in this field, ultimately delivering a positive contribution to the local economy. According to MICT SETA, the National Qualification in RPA will prepare young professionals and the current workforce to deal with the disruptive effects of new technologies. The qualification will also enable young professionals to innovate and create new products and services across industries.
Matome Madibana, CEO, MICT SETA, said: “We are hopeful that by means of this qualification, we will bridge the current shortage of skilled labour within the ICT and digital industries and ultimately, increase the youth employment rate in South Africa. It is important for all stakeholders to come together and ensure South Africa will have people with the skills to innovate and exploit Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies. Perhaps, most importantly, it will provide those whose jobs face redundancy to be reskilled.”
Certified RPA Developers will be able to create RPA solutions that emulate human actions during the project development stage using platform knowledge and data analysis capabilities. They will also be able to execute test procedures and modify and improve existing RPA solutions with the skills required to build reusable components. This aligns with the findings of the Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) by providing people with the opportunity to further their skills and benefit from employment opportunities in a talentstrapped technology industry.
Mo Kola, CTO Business Solutions at TFG, said:
“Within the Foschini Retail Group, one of the top performers throughout our three-year automation journey is our finance function, where the automated processes are in their double digits, amounting to an ROI of 242% over a period of 18 months. As we look to scale our automation deployment within the enterprise, we welcome the introduction of the national qualification for RPA Developers in South Africa as a valuable step towards
...continues on page 41
New qualification has potential to positively impact the severe skills and youth unemployment crisis in the country
Model risk management is crucial to effectively using AI in various domains. As you know, AI has advanced rapidly and integrated into different areas of our lives, including healthcare, finance, and transportation. Even so, AI systems’ reliance on complex models makes them vulnerable to errors and biases, which could lead to significant risks for the individuals and organisations that use — or are impacted by — them.
/ Read original article here /
n the context of AI, managing risk involves evaluating the model’s accuracy, robustness, and potential biases. It also includes establishing effective governance frameworks, internal controls, and validation processes to ensure the models are reliable and safe.
Why is model risk management crucial for AI systems?
It helps to ensure that the models you’re using are accurate, reliable, and free from biases. The reality is that AI systems are only as good as the models they use. So,
if those models are flawed, the system’s results can be unreliable, inaccurate, or even dangerous.
Let’s explore accuracy, bias, robustness, and compliance a bit more:
Accuracy. AI systems rely on models to make predictions and decisions. If these models are inaccurate, the system may generate incorrect or misleading results.
Bias. AI models can be biased in various ways, such as gender or racial bias, leading to unfair or discriminatory outcomes. Model risk management can help identify and mitigate biases like these.
What is model risk management?
Model risk management is the process of identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks associated with using complex models.
I
Robustness. AI systems can be vulnerable to attacks or unexpected data patterns. Model risk management can help ensure that models are robust and can withstand such scenarios.
Compliance. Many industries and regulatory bodies have specific requirements for model risk management. Compliance with these requirements is essential to avoid legal and reputational risks.
The healthcare industry develops AI models to predict patient outcomes, diagnose diseases, and create personalised treatment plans. However, these models rely on large datasets, which probably contain biases. These biases, in turn, often lead to incorrect predictions. By implementing effective model risk management practices, healthcare organisations can ensure that their AI models are accurate, reliable, and safe.
The finance work uses AI models to create trading algorithms, risk models, and fraud detection systems. However, these models could be vulnerable to errors or biases, leading to significant financial losses. By establishing robust governance frameworks and validation processes, finance companies can mitigate these risks and ensure the accuracy and reliability of their AI models.
An example of AI applied in the transportation sector is autonomous vehicles. These vehicles rely on complex machine learning models to make decisions on the road, such as when to accelerate,
“
The healthcare industry develops AI models to predict patient outcomes, diagnose diseases, and create personalised treatment plans. However, these models rely on large datasets, which probably contain biases. These biases, in turn, often lead to incorrect predictions. By implementing effective model risk management practices, healthcare organisations can ensure that their AI models are accurate, reliable, and safe. ”
“
In the context of AI, managing risk involves evaluating the model’s accuracy, robustness, and potential biases. It also includes establishing effective governance frameworks, internal controls, and validation processes to ensure the models are reliable and safe. ”
brake, or change lanes. To manage the risks associated with these models, transportation companies must thoroughly test and validate models before deploying them on the road. They must also monitor their ongoing performance in line with their approach to managing risk.
- evaluating its sensitivity to changes in input data and assumptions.
Monitor model performance. After deployment, you should monitor models to detect any issues or changes in performance. Further, this process includes regular monitoring of model output and monitoring changes in input data or assumptions that may impact model performance.
Implement a model governance framework. A model governance framework is a set of policies and procedures that govern the entire model lifecycle, from development to retirement. This framework should include controls for model development, validation, deployment, monitoring, and retirement, as well as mechanisms for escalation and resolution of issues.
7 practical
It requires a comprehensive approach that involves various stakeholders, including data scientists, business leaders, and risk management professionals.
Here are some practical steps you can take to implement model risk management for AI systems:
Establish a clear governance structure. The first step is to establish a governance structure that outlines the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders in the model risk management process. This includes identifying the individuals responsible for model development, testing, and validation and those responsible for monitoring and reporting on model performance.
Develop a robust model development process. The model development process should be robust and follow best practices, including data preprocessing, model selection, and evaluation.
In addition, this process should be documented and include appropriate checks and balances to ensure that models are developed in a controlled and transparent manner.
Conduct thorough model validation
Once you’ve deployed a mode, it should undergo thorough validation to ensure that it is accurate, reliable, and meets the business’s needs. This process includes:
- testing the model on different datasets,
- assessing its performance against various metrics, and
Provide regular training and education. To ensure that all stakeholders understand the model risk management process and their roles and responsibilities, you should provide regular training and education. This approach includes training on best practices for model development, validation and monitoring, and the business context in which you use the models.
Stay up to date on regulatory requirements. Finally, it would be best to stay current on regulatory requirements for model risk management, including data privacy, security, and ethical considerations. This includes staying informed of changes in regulations and industry standards and participating in industry working groups and forums.
Actions you can take next
Move towards trustworthy AI by consulting with our specialists or attending our public or private workshops.
Determine how AI impacts your organisation by asking us for an AI risk assessment.
Collect and acquire big data you use to train AI lawfully by asking us to draft your big data contracts.
Protect your commercial interests by asking us to draft your AI contracts.
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Discover more about AI by reading our AI law page
OpenAI said Tuesday the tool is “40% more likely to produce factual responses than GPT-3.5 on our internal evaluations.”
The new version can also handle text and image queries — so a user can submit a picture with a related question and ask GPT4 to describe it or answer questions.
GPT-3 was released in 2020, and along with the 3.5 version, was used to create the Dall-E image-generation tool and the chatbot ChatGPT — two products that caught the public imagination and spurred other tech companies to pursue AI more aggressively.
Since then, buzz has grown over whether the next model will be more proficient and possibly able to take on additional tasks.
OpenAI said Morgan Stanley is using GPT-4 to organise data, while Stripe Inc., an electronic payments company, is testing whether it will help combat fraud.
things that you couldn’t otherwise,” said Greg Brockman, president and co-founder of OpenAI.
The new version is better at things like finding specific information in a corporate earnings report, or providing an answer about a detailed part of the US federal tax code — basically combing through “dense business legalese” to find an answer, he said.
Like GPT-3, GPT-4 can’t reason about current events — it was trained on data that, for the most part, existed before September 2021.
In a January interview, OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman tried to keep expectations in check.
“The GPT-4 rumor mill is a ridiculous thing,” he said. “I don’t know where it all comes from. People are begging to be disappointed and they will be.”
The startup said the new version of the technology, called GPT-4, is more accurate, creative and collaborative. Microsoft Corp., which has invested more than $10 billion in OpenAI, said the new version of the AI tool is powering its Bing search engine.
GPT-4, which stands for generative pretrained transformer 4, will be available to OpenAI’s paid ChatGPT Plus subscribers, and developers can sign up to build applications with it.
Other customers include language learning company Duolingo Inc., the Khan Academy and the Icelandic government.
Be My Eyes, a company that works on tools for people who are blind or have low vision, is also using the software for a virtual volunteer service that lets people send images to an AI-powered service, which will answer questions and provide visual assistance.
“We’re really starting to get to systems that are actually quite capable and can give you new ideas and help you understand
The company’s chief technology officer, Mira Murati, told Fast Company earlier this month that “less hype would be good.”
GPT-4 is what’s called a large language model, a type of AI system that analyses vast quantities of writing from across the internet in order to determine how to generate human-sounding text.
The technology has spurred excitement as well as controversy in recent months. In addition to fears that text-generation systems will be used to cheat on schoolwork, it can perpetuate biases and misinformation. When OpenAI initially released GPT-2 in 2019, it opted to make only part of the model
OpenAI is unveiling the successor to an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that spawned viral services ChatGPT and Dall-E, and set off an intense competition among technology companies in the area known as generative AI.
public because of concerns about malicious use.
Researchers have noted that large language models can sometimes meander off topic or wade into inappropriate or racist speech.
They’ve also raised concerns about the carbon emissions associated with all the computing power needed to train and run these AI models.
OpenAI said it spent six months making the artificial intelligence software safer.
For example, the final version of GPT-4 is better at handling questions about how to create a bomb or where to buy cheap cigarettes — for the latter case, it now offers a warning about the health impacts of smoking along with possible ways to save money on tobacco products.
“GPT-4 still has many known limitations that we are working to address, such as social biases, hallucinations and adversarial prompts,” the company said Tuesday in a blog, referring to things like submitting a prompt or question designed to provoke an unfavourable action or damage the system.
“We encourage and facilitate transparency, user education and wider AI literacy as society adopts these models. We also aim to expand the avenues of input people have in shaping our models.”
The company declined to provide specific technical information about GPT-4 including the size of the model.
Brockman, the company’s president, said OpenAI expects cutting-edge models will be developed in the future by companies spending on billion-dollar supercomputers and some of the most advanced tools will come with risks.
OpenAI wants to keep some parts of their work secret to give the startup “some breathing room to really focus on safety and get it right.”
It’s an approach that is controversial in the AI field. Some other companies and experts say safety will be improved by more openness and making the artificial intelligence models available publicly.
OpenAI also said that while it is keeping some details of model training confidential, it is providing more information on what it’s
prompts,”
the company said Tuesday in a blog, referring to things like submitting a prompt or question designed to provoke an unfavourable action or damage the system ”
doing to root out bias and make the product more responsible.
“We have actually been very transparent about the safety training stage,” said Sandhini Agarwal, an OpenAI policy researcher.
The release is part of a flood of AI announcements coming from OpenAI and backer Microsoft, as well as rivals in the nascent industry.
Companies have released new chatbots, AI-powered search and novel ways to embed the technology in corporate software meant for salespeople and office workers. GPT-4, like OpenAI’s other recent models, was trained on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.
Google-backed Anthropic, a startup founded by former OpenAI executives, announced the release of its Claude chatbot to business customers earlier Tuesday.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google, meanwhile, said it is giving customers access to some of its language models, and Microsoft is scheduled to talk Thursday about how it plans to offer AI features for Office software.
The flurry of new general-purpose AI models is also raising questions about the copyright and ownership, both when the AI programs create something that looks similar to existing content and around whether these systems should be able to use other people’s art, writing and programming code to train.
Lawsuits have been filed against OpenAI, Microsoft and rivals.
...continued from page 36
creating a highly qualified workforce of the future, which can both drive and benefit from enterprise automation."
Ugan Maistry, CEO at FIRtech, said: “Technological innovation advances through disruption, which brings about both opportunities and challenges. However, the flip side of technological disruption is technological absorption. How are we going to mitigate skills churn and the skills mismatch through reskilling and upskilling? The NQF accredited RPA programme does exactly this for the South African economy. It gives displaced employees and unemployed youth an opportunity to learn skills that are in demand. Further, being a recognized qualification, means that it builds on the individuals’ educational achievements."
About UiPath UiPath (NYSE: PATH) is on a mission to uplevel knowledge work so more people can work more creatively, collaboratively, and strategically. The AI-powered UiPath Business Automation Platform combines the leading robotic process automation (RPA) solution with a full suite of capabilities to understand, automate, and operate end-toend processes, offering unprecedented time-tovalue. For organizations that need to evolve to survive and thrive through increasingly changing times, UiPath is The Foundation of Innovation™.
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“ GPT-4 still has many known limitations that we are working to address, such as social biases, hallucinations and adversarial
/ Read original article here /
processing, an AI method that grants machines to comprehend words and text to analyze and recognize any danger. From there, marked messages can be delivered to a small team that could provide help in emergencies. TRIM-AI, when compared to Jacaranda Health’s baseline model, is around 17 percent more precise when transcribing potential emergencies, allowing help-desk agents to have their work reduced by 12 percent.
"At our current scale on PROMPTS, we increasingly depend on rapid, reliable systems to fast-track mothers in need of lifesaving care. Our partnership with Penn State has helped us improve both the accuracy and speed by which we interact with the 2 million mothers on PROMPTS, ensuring that they get the right care at the right time," shared co-executive director of Jacaranda Health, Sathyanath Rajasekharan.
Kenya sits high in the world’s top morality rates, and approximately one-third of Kenya’s maternal and neonatal deaths occur from mothers not having sufficient and prompt supervision. To help with this matter, Pennsylvania State University and Jacaranda Health developed a new tool that could potentially upgrade maternal and neonatal outcomes for those in need.
The tool, called TRIage for Mothers using AI (TRIM-AI) utilizes natural language
TRIM-AI is also more structured and precise, providing additional help for Kenyan mothers. "Being able to quickly and accurately automate the classification of messages is a critical step in improving maternal health care," said PNC Career Development Assistant Professor at Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology Amulya Yadav.
"Our tool improves the system's ability to identify at-risk cases in real-time, helping mothers connect more promptly with local hospitals and clinics for care." Jacaranda Health's baseline model called PROMPTS, a two-way text messaging system that TRIM-AI uses, allows pregnant and new mothers to freely use the platform. It provides crucial information on pregnancy, birth, and postpartum care that mothers need.
PROMPTS has more than 350,000 users across Kenya and sends 1.1 million messages per month, which is far more than what help-desk agents can possibly handle. This is where the new TRIMP-AI jumps in, allowing a much faster and more efficient operation. Jacaranda Health said mothers who called for help using the AI system were contacted by a help desk agent within just one hour and taken into professional care, and approximately 85 percent of cases ended up in the hospital.
Yadav concluded: "With the success of our pilot deployment, we are incentivized to explore the possibility of scaling up our risk-prediction system for improving maternal care in other developing countries around the world."
Pregnancy is an immensely difficult process and requires constant care. It is crucial that pregnant women have access to all the necessary help they deserve, not only for themselves but also for their babies.
/ Read original article here /
The review, which was commissioned by Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK-based safety charity, indicated that 62 percent of Tanzania’s respondents oppose the technology
Dar es Salaam. A new global survey about the transformative Artificial Intelligent (AI) has found Tanzania stand out in East African countries with more than half (51 percent) of its people, saying the technology would mostly harm people over the next 20 years.
The review, which was commissioned by Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK-based safety charity, indicated that 62 percent of Tanzania’s respondents oppose the technology, followed by Kenya and Uganda which tie together by having 57 percent respondents mistrusting AI usage.
“Despite the potentially transformative applications of AI, only one in five (this is equivalent to more than 25 percent of respondents) believes that the technology would mostly help people in the next 20 years,” the report reads in part.
The report is based on the 2021 Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll, powered by Gallup. 125,000 people across 121 countries were polled about their attitudes towards AI and data, among other risk and safety issues. A key barrier, according to the survey findings, is the level of exposure people in Eastern Africa have to AI technology through internet access and education.
On the other hand, the poll found out that only 29 percent of the Eastern Africans had used the internet in the past 30 days, which is 34 percentage points lower than the global average (63 percent).
The survey also found that people with primary education or less still represent the majority in Eastern Africa, at 55 percent.
Dr Sarah Cumbers, Director of Evidence, and Insight at the foundation, was quoted saying: “Artificial intelligence has huge potential to bring good to the world, and we’re already seeing some of its benefits within healthcare, disaster risk management and government services.”
Adding: “However, if we don’t engage the public with the development of these technologies and address their concerns, we may fail to introduce them in a way that is accepted by the majority.”
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Very proud and excited that the IEEE Standards Association is offering a series of standards I helped create and support for free (note - IEEE free email account is required to download).
These standards were created by hundreds of expert volunteers and represent some of the earliest and most groundbreaking pragmatic work oriented towards applied ethics and technological design available in the English speaking world (and yes, I'm not objective, but in my professional capacity also believe this to be true).
But please see for yourself, and of course this work supports the ever-growing body of amazing work from around the world designed to ensure that Artificial Intelligence Systems increase ecological flourishing and human wellbeing while innovating, improving, and delighting the world and all its inhabitants.
To download and learn more: https://lnkd.in/g8seksie
/ Read original article here /
Editors: Damian Okaibedi Eke, Kutoma Wakunuma, Simisola Akintoye
Discusses AI ethics from theoretical and practical African perspectives Focuses on history of the industry, ethics, data privacy, surveillance, BigTech intrusions & globalization/ colonization.
Explores the socio-cultural contexts of Responsible AI that is sensitive to African cultures and societies
This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access.
Sub-Saharan Africa has a high maternal death rate and an even higher stillbirth and neonatal death rate. Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital have a longstanding maternal neonatal health project in Malawi, in partnership with Baylor’s Children’s Foundation Malawi and the Malawi Ministry of Health. Their efforts in using artificial intelligence augmented continuous electronic fetal monitoring (AI-CEFM) has assisted with successful deliveries among mothers and newborns in Malawi. Their findings were published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
“In Malawi, there is a shockingly high maternal death rate, with about 1 in every 200 women dying around the time of delivery, and even higher levels of early neonatal death and stillbirth rate, ranging between 2 to 6 percent of all babies during the time of delivery, either in the womb or outside the womb,” said Dr. Jeffrey Wilkinson, professor and vice chair of Global Women’s Health in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baylor and director of the global women’s health fellowship program at Texas Children’s.
PeriGen Inc., which makes the AI-CEFM system, partners with thousands of health professionals in the United States to promote safe outcomes for mothers and babies. The deployment of this technology in Malawi is the first of its kind, offering promising results for future opportunities in low-income settings. Fetal monitoring is standard in high-income settings but very limited in low-income countries like Malawi due to low midwife-to-patient ratios, so it is difficult for midwives to monitor babies in the womb. Researchers focused on whether intrapartum stillbirth and early neonatal death could be reduced by instituting AI fetal monitoring, looking at their outcomes six months before and after the implementation.
“There is reason to believe it helps with the low nurse-to-patient ratio because the initial interpretation of the fetal monitoring strip is done by AI and it doesn’t require this huge background of knowledge and experience with fetal monitoring,” Wilkinson said.
The fetal monitoring looks for signs of compromise in the fetus before delivery, generally in the form of hypoxia or acidosis. This can lead to stillbirth or severe birth asphyxia, which can result in early neonatal death. Early identification of fetal heart rate changes can prompt intervention, which
/ Read original article here /
might include operative delivery, preventing both intrapartum still birth, early neonatal death or long-term problems with the baby related to brain damage related to the birth asphyxia.
“Having the confidence to know you can safely monitor babies in a full labor ward is reassuring. The AI augmented fetal monitoring system helps to mitigate the age-old problem of high nurse-to-patient ratio, which is a barrier to quality care,” said Dr. Chikondi Chiweza, co-director of the Baylor Malawi Area 25 Project and co-first author of the research letter. “One neonatal death is a 100 percent still birth rate in the eyes of that poor woman. We should actively try whatever means necessary to reduce the statistic.”
By training staff to use this system, dramatic decreases resulted in intrapartum stillbirths, stillbirths that occur during labor and in neonatal deaths. This resulted in about a 75 percent reduction in intrapartum still births and early neonatal deaths, with a small increase in cesarean deliveries.
“Artificial intelligence augmented fetal monitoring, along with enhanced quality of care, has the potential to create a paradigm shift in the care of women and babies in low-income settings. I am very encouraged by these preliminary results,” said Dr. Michael Belfort, professor and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baylor and OB/GYN-in-chief at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women.
"Adopting the use of artificial intelligence to inform healthcare providers about the fetal condition has proven to be
the best quality improvement strategy in preventing birth asphyxia and still births in this setting,” said Dziwenji Makombe, head nurse matron at the Area 25 Hospital in Malawi.
At the Area 25 Community Hospital where the project is being deployed in the nation’s capital, Lilongwe, the team saw 7,500 deliveries last year and are projected to deliver around 8,000 babies this year. According to Wilkinson, this is the first time this system has been employed on the African continent, where stillbirths and early neonatal deaths are quite common (especially in low-income countries). They hope to scale this to other centers to make a difference on rates of these tragedies.
“Healthcare systems, international agencies and funders have made very little progress in the reduction of stillbirth and early neonatal death in low-income countries,” Wilkinson said. “Until quality of care is emphasized and technology is introduced in a contextually appropriate manner, babies will continue to die around the time of delivery with the suffering of women, families and society that comes along with these preventable deaths.”
Other contributors to this work include Dr. Ibe Iwuh (co-first author), Dr. Abida Hasan and Dr. Address Malata with Malawi University of Science and Technology.
Funding for this study was provided by Texas Children’s Hospital and UNFPA Malawi. PeriGen Inc. provided software and technical support. The authors have no conflict of interests to disclose.
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Synapse Magazine is Africa’s first and only business quarterly publication covering developments across the continent in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Science, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) smart technologies.
Synapse offers industry executives, practitioners, investors and researchers relevant news, in-depth analysis, and thought leadership articles on trends around 4IR innovation and digital transformation in industries that include banking, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, mining, agriculture, education, and government, among others.
With its insights, interviews and case studies, the magazine aims to be a voice for African 4IR practitioners, researchers, innovators, thought leaders, and the wider African AI community.
Since its launch in 2018, Synapse has amassed a combined readership of 31,300 across the Issuu platform (on which it is published), the AI Media Group’s email database, the AI Expo Africa Community Group on LinkedIn and the AI Media Group’s social media channels where the magazine is distributed. It also links to AI TV, Africa’s only dedicated YouTube streaming channel focused on 4IR business users and trade.
Over the years the magazine has established a significant following across Africa as well as globally, with readers from as far afield as the North America, South America, Europe and Asia. This makes Synapse a great marketing platform for startups and established tech companies to reach a broader community of buyers, investors and partners.
