The case for optimism in the AFRICAN AI SPACE

Africa finds itself at an inflection point, an event horizon. As a continent, we find ourselves subject to a number of complementary or conflicting trajectories, compounding uncertainty and making it difficult to see clearly what the future holds. A period of international aid and Western policy direction is coming to an end, as a new wave of ‘for Africa, by Africa’ optimism is bubbling up across the continent. At the same time, we are seeing a booming youth population, and the growing wealth and international clout of the African diaspora. Add to this mix growing interest in mineral extraction in Africa driven by the global electric vehicle boom, and you have a wild time for the continent.

And in the global landscape, the economy has receded from the bull markets and bloated tech stocks of COVID lockdown. However, the new generation of AI startups and large language models is making its presence felt. With $3.6B invested in 269 AI startups in the US already in 2023, and GPT4 making an even bigger splash than its predecessor ChatGPT, demand for AI and data skills is hotter than ever, and here to stay.

In fact, 2022 saw a 295% increase in demand for data skills, according to DevSkiller. And a recent report from Women in AI highlighted just how much AI is changing the labour market worldwide: “According to the World Economic Forum (2021), 97 million new jobs will emerge by 2025, with a majority requiring skills in artificial intelligence, engineering, product development, and emerging programming languages.”

The question that every organisation on the continent needs to be asking themselves is: Are we ready for the future where AI tools and data science skills are not a nice-to-have but a competitive necessity to stay in the game?

The exploding global demand for skilled individuals will hit Africa hard, for better or for worse. The answer is up to us.

Consider the digital divide we are facing on the continent. As Nigerian human rights lawyer and advocate Chioma Nwaodike points out in a blog-post:

“Only 28.2% of people in Africa have access to the internet. As data is the prerequisite asset allowing AI systems to function, questions about connectivity and unequal access to data also must be considered. For instance, in Nigeria data is expensive and internet connectivity variable. These disadvantages developers and AI entrepreneurs. Without reliable core infrastructure, affordable data plans, and easy access to technologies, current digital divides will only be exacerbated with the rise and continued advancement of AI.”

At Zindi, we are betting on the ingenuity of our thousands of users across the continent to find ways around these challenges. From Johannesburg to Tunis, Lagos to Nairobi, our 60,000 users find their way around high data costs, unreliable internet speeds, expensive equipment and even rolling blackouts in order to compete, connect and grow themselves in their chosen field. They show up in force to work on the very real challenges faced by African organisations, businesses and governments. And they build models and innovations that can compete with the best in the world.

Zindi recently hosted more than 1000 students from a wide range of academic disciplines at UmojaHack Africa 2023, brought together by a desire to learn and develop their skills in the AI space. These are the next generation, the ones that recognise that a university education isn’t enough to get ahead in the globally connected world we live in, who see the challenges Africa faces in connectivity, in education, and in access to opportunity, and decided that they are the ones to do something about it.

Speaking at the event, Avishkar Boopchand, Senior Research Engineer at DeepMind and Director for Deep Learning Indaba 2023 said: “We need Africans to build African solutions to African problems. I’m really excited by the young, talented, and enthusiastic population on the continent. We’re not encumbered by old technology and an aging population; we can leapfrog the developed world, learn from their mistakes and leverage tech innovation to solve problems and drive growth. Our core strength is our strong communities - organisations like Zindi, Deep Learning Indaba, and Data Scientists Network (DSN), to name a few. This is an extremely powerful, continentwide community of like-minded people that will shape the future of the continent.”

Over the past four years, we have awarded nearly $500 000 in prizes to hundreds of young, ambitious and incredibly smart technologists all over the continent, and supported many more through our mentorship and community ambassador programmes. We have run hundreds of community events, and seen thousands of young Africans build their first machine learning model using skills and support they got from Zindi. Our hope and our belief is that this investment in Africa’s future will bear fruit, in the form of a new generation of talent to fuel new startups, capable and data-savvy institutions, and well-resourced governments. The community on Zindi gives me a lot to be optimistic about, and it should for you too.

ARE WE READY FOR THE FUTURE WHERE AI TOOLS AND DATA SCIENCE SKILLS ARE NOT A NICE-TO-HAVE BUT A COMPETITIVE NECESSITY TO STAY IN THE GAME?

THE EXPLODING GLOBAL DEMAND FOR SKILLED INDIVIDUALS WILL HIT AFRICA HARD, FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE. THE ANSWER IS UP TO US.