A balancing act between innovation and job concerns, as Africa taps AI to drive growth
ACCRA, Ghana: Africa is increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to boost growth across the continent as the technology evolves at an unprecedented pace in recent years.
Like major economies globally, Africa does not want to be left behind in the AI race, and some local companies are already starting to harness its power to improve their operations.
There remain, however, growing concerns that the technology could inadvertently lead to a massive loss of job opportunities for young Africans.
FIGHTING PEST AND DISEASE
Among the uses of AI in Africa is dealing with crop losses from pests and diseases in the agriculture sector.
Ghana, for instance, is among Africa’s largest producers of cashew nuts, but at least 30 percent of its crop yield is ravaged by insect pests every year.
AI engineer Darlington Akogo, who founded the company KaraAgro AI, said his firm harnesses technology to provide solutions that boost productivity in sectors such as agriculture and health.
He started using a drone to help detect diseases on a cashew farm in Ghana last year after its owners contacted him for help.
“We fly the drone across the field, capture images, and then we run those images through the AI system. It will analyse each of them, tell you which ones have diseases, which ones have pests, and where they are,” Mr. Akogo told CNA.
“So when the farmer gets that information, he can go back to the farm and then treat that disease and pest.”
Mr Akogo said that such AI technology can help cashew farmers massively reduce losses linked to pests and diseases by up to 200 percent.
AN AI-READY WORKFORCE
While farmers are tapping into the technology to improve their crop yields, lawmakers in Ghana are pushing for legislation to be passed to control the overall use of AI in the country.
Security and privacy issues are some of the key concerns.
Lawmakers also believe that AI brings some risks and could actually increase inequality in other sectors of the economy, such as job losses in industries such as information technology.
Already, about 100 million young people in Africa will be unable to find jobs by 2030, according to the African Development Bank’s projections.
However, some experts believe that AI could create new job opportunities to make up for the jobs lost, although those will require technical skills.
Governments in Africa are therefore trying to prepare the workforce for the future.
For example, the Nigerian government last year secured a US$500 million loan from the World Bank to fund its digital economy.
AI ADOPTION IN AFRICA
While AI is not yet widely used in Ghana, its use in countries like Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya continues to grow.
There is a need for Africa to invest more in technology infrastructure in order to harness the full potential of AI, according to experts.
Mr. Lateef Olatunji, CEO of JAM Forte Technologies in Nigeria, told CNA: “AI has come, and it is here to stay. So it’s either you are in or in; there’s no going out. AI is here to complement our day-to-day work and not to take our jobs.”
There are now more than 30 AI and deep technology groups across Africa.
In Tanzania, for instance, Mr. Harrison Mariki, director for partnerships and innovation at Afya Intelligence, manages a team using AI to improve healthcare delivery in the East African country.
The technology firm collects data from hospitals in the country and runs it through an AI system to predict where essential services are needed.
“The current ecosystem is allowing us to be more innovative and build solutions that can accurately predict where medicines will be needed and how much to avoid stock-outs and long queues. For us, it is a game changer,” Mr. Mariki told CNA.
A 2023 report from Bloomberg Intelligence estimated that the global market for generative AI could hit nearly US$1.3 trillion by 2032.
Source : channelnewsasia.com
