Building the future through Artificial Intelligence

South Africa’s first-of-itskind Artificial Intelligence (AI) Institute will not only but also contribute to economic growth.

In a statement, Cabinet noted that the institution, which was launched in November 2022, Africa’s digital transformation

“It will stimulate economic ployment and create a positive social impact. ing of robotics and being offered in public schools,” Cabinet said. Speaking at the G20

Indonesia in September 2022, Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni noted the importance of investing in the development of the youth

“It is essential that we provide our youth with access to modern training, skill sets and formal education. To achieve this, [the] Department of Basic Education has introduced robotics and coding as school subjects in primary and high schools.

“At present, learners in over a thousand schools are designing and producing robots both for gaming and to complete tasks the learners find tedious for human completion.

“Next year [2023], learners in these and additional schools that will join this category will compete in a National Robotics Development Challenge,” said the Minister.

The AI Institute is a collaboration between the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, Tshwane University of Technology and the University of Johannesburg.

“The institute is designed to ensure that government academia and industry work together in a unique partnership to apply their collective knowledge, expertise and experience to implement coordinated solutions to some of South Africa and Africa’s most critical and long-standing challenges, and to take the continent forward,” noted Cabinet.

Government’s focus on digital skills includes creating platforms to support and promote the ability of youth, and small and medium enterprises, in particular start-ups, to develop digital content.

Founded upon the vision set out by the Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the institute positions itself as an adjacent innovation engine for public and private sectors. The institution’s website states that it intends to “generate knowledge and applications that will position South Africa as a competitive player in the global AI space.

“Al is the most transformative tool of our era. Its applications are ubiquitous across all sectors, enhancing production and services like never before.

Al might be poised to take over roles occupied by people, but the technology has the potential to actually enhance industry and address unemployment. It presents South Africa with the opportunity to re-skill the labour force for a digital future, whereby working collaboratively with machines will be the norm”.