The Artificial Intelligence Revolution has been branded as the Fourth Industrial Revolution for its implication of transforming human productivity. Yet not all are positioned to equally benefit from this revolutionary potential of AI. While Europe, North America and parts of Asia seem poised to herald a new era of development, the potential seems to be limited for some parts of the world. Africa, in particular, has had a difficult relationship with ‘industrial’ development in Europe, which has resulted in its own destruction, subjugation and colonization. Needless to remind most readers that one of the crucial elements that made the Industrial Revolution in England possible was African slaves working in cotton plantations in North America (and Indian indentured labour as well, but that is another story). African miners continue to have to bear near-slavery conditions in order to mine minerals like Cobalt, which are crucial to the tech industry. At the same time, the rate of internet penetration remains abysmally low in the African continent which puts it at a disadvantage in the tech race. What will be Africa’s role in this revolution? Here we will deeply analyze Artificial Intelligence in Africa.
The Colonization of Africa
It is nearly impossible to talk about Africa without mentioning the perennially lingering presence of colonialism and neo-colonialism in the continent. Its political boundaries, economy and even culture is continuously reshaped by this lingering presence. It is perhaps prudent to deal with the issue at the outset. The colonization of Africa had started with the European ‘Age of Discovery’, when countries like Portugal and Spain set up factories (colonies) along the African coast, in order to act primarily as supply stops in their journeys en route to the Asian countries. These factories also served as points for trade with the inland, where European powers rarely ventured. Africa became a lucrative centre for trade in gold, ivory and importantly slaves, who had to work in plantations in the Americas. As mentioned earlier, plantation crops like sugarcane and cotton could only be sustainably produced and sent for manufacture because of the free labour provided by African slaves.
By the 1800s, most of coastal Africa was dominated by European powers and soon enough a ‘Scramble for Africa’ started with older European powers like Europe and France negotiating with rising powers like Germany and Italy in order to carve up the entire continent amongst themselves. After the Berlin Conference of 1885, where the division of Africa took place, most European powers sought to convert their newly acquired colonies into a profitable market and extract their resources. This resulted in brutal and horrific conditions of labour in the African continent for plantation crops, like rubber and palm oil, as well as for extraction of precious mineral resources, like diamonds. In places like South Africa and Rhodesia, a brutal apartheid regime was put in place, which suppressed the political rights of native Africans. Similar occupation regimes were maintained by the French in its North African colonies like Algeria. This was done in order to ensure that Africans remained suppressed so that they could provide labour for cheap. Even as colonialism formally came to an end, the African continent found itself mired in countless conflicts which were often linked directly or indirectly to their former colonizers. When we combine these histories, it becomes evident from here why Africans might be apprehensive of the possible repercussions of the AI Revolution.
Is Tech Transforming Africa?
Africa, as a growing economic powerhouse, has often been at the focus of attention with its economic potential. Many African nations have demonstrated remarkable potential for growth, with 643 innovation hubs on the continent. By 2016, one-fifth of Africans had access to broadband, and this figure has doubled by now. Multiple reports have pointed out that a large number of Africans have benefitted from the widespread availability of the internet, and there is an expectation that greater internet penetration will bring about greater prosperity for Africans. As we have emphasized earlier, a tech revolution is rarely a ‘harmless’ process, especially in a continent like Africa with immense differences in access to wealth, education and other basic necessities, a ‘digital divide’ can have devastating consequences for parts of the population.
It may be pragmatic to start off with the more positive aspects of technological changes. Sub-Saharan Africa had always been prone to droughts, which has resulted in mass famines and starvations. The use of AI-driven weather prediction technology has the potential to change that. Research has been made into the possibility of using the ‘non-mystical’ aspects of traditional methods of weather forecasting in fine-tuning the process of prediction68. Apps like UjuziKilimo have helped Kenyan farmers with their irrigation practices using SMS-based technology. The analysis of crop diseases is another region where AI shows promise. In Nigeria, the chatbot named Kudi has been helping users avail banking services using Facebook’s Messenger app. This demonstrates the potential of AI being a major component to the endemic problems that a large number of Africans seem to be facing on a daily basis.
Yet there is another aspect of tech that we seldom like to discuss, precisely because it makes us uncomfortable and complicit in violations of human rights. While Africa lags behind every other continent in terms of technological advancement, it plays a major role in the supply of Cobalt, which is a key component of Lithium batteries. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is the source of nearly half of the world’s production of Cobalt, has been repeatedly accused of using slaves, especially child-slaves, for the mining of Cobalt. In fact, in a 2019 lawsuit by International Rights Advocates, nearly every major tech giant was named for their role in the illegal use of slave labour for mining Cobalt. In fact, many have pointed out that the so-called ‘tech boom’ in Africa is really only a new colonialist initiative emanating from Europe and North America, as the previous ones were. The Financial Times points out that companies like Jumia, which has been dubbed to be the ‘Amazon of Africa’, have hardly anything to do with Africa besides the fact that they are predominantly aimed at an African clientele. Using cheap labour of impoverished Africans in order to exploit its markets while benefiting mostly European and American investors hardly seems to be a recipe for success for Africans.
The Hurdles for Artificial Intelligence in Africa
Google’s head of AI in Africa points to the significant challenges that Africans face regarding AI. This includes the lack of sufficient training available on the continent which means that IT professionals often have to travel outside the country to gain the necessary skills. Often visas are denied to students of African origin, which points to a larger systematic problem of racism that plagues the development of tech. Here lies a structural hurdle to the growth of AI-based tech industries on the African continent. Another major problem that plagues the growth of AI in the continent is the low level of statistical capacity. AI relies on statistical data in order to develop its models, which makes the development of AI extremely hard in the African context.
This brings us to the problem of underdevelopment in Africa. The lack of traditional infrastructure means that as AI rapidly grows and changes the nature of jobs, Africans might find it difficult to acquire skills quickly enough to help reap the benefits. Education sectors across most of Africa already struggle with their task of providing basic facilities for STEM education, and thus the elevated requirements that are crucial in the AI centred economy might not be accessible to Africans. The lack of broadband connectivity in Africa is also a key problem that cannot simply be wished away. Approximately 267 million people in Africa do not have access to the internet, and this lack of access affects certain social groups more than others. Here lies the risk of recreating and even increasing the already existing inequalities in African societies.
The lack of availability of data, which we have mentioned earlier, has made Africa into what is called a ‘Data Desert’. This is a problem that is deeply political as much as it is technological since it all boils down to the question of who ‘counts’ in a society. In a continent like Africa that has been fractured by the worst of colonialism, these differences often replicate colonial structures and hierarchies.
The Transformative Potential of ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
In a study conducted by the University of Pretoria, the opportunities presented by AI in key sectors are underscored75. Sectors like agriculture, healthcare, public services, financial services and education, can all benefit from the influx of AI as we shall see.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, 65% of the labour force works in agriculture and it contributes to 32% of the GDP. Environmental factors play a major hindrance in improving productivity in this sector. AI, along with machine learning, satellite imagery and advanced analytics, has the potential to improve improve productivity and efficiency at all stages of the agricultural value chain. Apps like FarmDrive, a credit-scoring platform for smallholder farmers, have been helping financial institutions reach out to creditworthy farmers within the smallholder category. AI has also helped develop ‘smart farm’ technologies that help document the growth of every single plant in a field, helping manage the decisions at the granular level. Similarly, the Sowing App, developed by Microsoft and ICRISAT, uses AI to study weather forecasting models in order to guide farmers to pick the ideal sowing week.
The healthcare sector is another area in which Africa has a lot of catching up to do with the rest of the world. The scarcity of medical staff and medical supplies can seriously hamper access to healthcare in many cases. AI could play a major role in diagnostics, improving access to healthcare, as well as help public policy by providing greater information about the pattern of spread of diseases. One example would be that of Corti, a machine learning company from Denmark, which helps responders first make life-saving decisions by identifying any pre-existing conditions the patient may have. In other areas, bots have been used to provide a conversational interface for patients to understand more about their conditions using popular messaging apps.
The poor experience of Africans with public services can seriously erode trust with the government. Redundancy and red tape are compounded by corruption and lack of transparency. Research by the Harvard Kennedy School demonstrates that AI can play a major role in increasing the accessibility of governance by common citizens76. Chatbots have helped with filling out and completing documents and helped cut through bureaucratic delays. While internet connectivity across Africa has not been great, cell phones are easily accessible and services must be modified to suit these needs. Bringing government services closer to Africans will also help build trust with the government, which can go a long way to end the entrenched conflict in the region.
hronic poverty has been a major problem all over Africa, and increased access to financial services is one way to mitigate the problem. The algorithmic processing of data frees up banking from the possibility of human error and reduces the risk of The Nigerian Zenith Bank Plc, providing an easy way of processing transactions, helping customers with mobile banking facilities. Another program, ALAT, operated by the Wema Bank, helps clients open up bank accounts online, also providing debit card facilities within two to three days. This easy availability of banking facilities can provide economic mobility to common Africans, which in turn can help stimulate economic growth within the region.
In a region like Africa, where traditional infrastructure can hamstring growth potential, AI can help bypass conventional bottlenecks, providing a major impetus for economic growth. While conventional conventional technological benefits are still lacking in several parts of Africa, AI has allowed Africans to catch up with the developed world, which in turn can further fuel a process of global integration.
Towards an African Century in the ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Age
Africa has been heralded as the ‘next big thing’ on the technological and economic frontier as Asia had been in the 20th and early 21st centuries. Yet this optimism needs to be grounded in a sober analysis of the reality of the continent. Not all of Africa will proceed at the same pace, and these inequalities will be major challenges since they will be masked as a ‘natural’ outcome of the AI age. Blind pursuit of standards set by European or Asian societies might be a recipe for disaster as lucrative emulating these standards as the global benchmark for progress might seem. If Africa is to ‘skip’ the stage of traditional industrialization in order to more aggressively pursue the AI-centred growth model, it will need to proceed with extreme caution.
