Africa-Press – Rwanda. It is important that innovators build Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions ethically and are driven by values to ensure relevancy to societal problems, according to Paula Ingabire, the Minister of ICT and Innovation.
In a podcast interview by The Rundown released on April 15, she noted that in building an ecosystem for AI and technological advancement, Rwanda has laid critical foundations, including the data protection and privacy law to guide innovators in creating solutions fit for purpose
“As we think about the values, we are also looking at the data we are using, where we get it, and how accurate and reliable, how relevant it is to the problems we are going to use it for.”
Ingabire reflected on the successful Global AI Summit on Africa hosted in Kigali early this month, noting that it was commendable to have young innovators hold dialogues with policymakers shaping the path to advancing the AI industry in Africa. However, she emphasized that there are prerequisites for the success of AI adoption in Rwanda and beyond, including data, skills, compute infrastructure, regulatory environment, and use cases.
“Money follows talent. We have the advantage of a youthful population that will be more open to using AI and building AI solutions,” she said.
The minister noted that while the country put efforts in partnership with educational institutions like Carnegie Mellon University, the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and the Rwanda Coding Academy, it is not enough.
“What we are increasingly seeing is that we will have to attract more partners to help us to build the talent that we need, but at the same time to also create the market that absorbs them,” she said, pointing to the need to be able to capitalize on the investment.
With a pool of skilled talent, she added, it is easier to create an investment ecosystem to mobilize the needed funding.
During the AI summit, Rwanda and the Gates Foundation signed an agreement establishing the Rwanda AI Scaling Hub with an initial funding of $7.5 million to accelerate the development and responsible deployment of AI technologies in Rwanda and across Africa.
“But [African] startups that have proven AI solutions are going to need much more funding than the $7.5 million…the ability to attract the Venture Capitals to come and look at this potential is also going to depend on the quality of talent that we have creating solutions that then make a good business case,” Ingabire said.
‘Humans cannot be replaced by AI’
When it comes to the fear of AI taking over humans’ approach, she noted that empathy is one thing that technology cannot replace. While there are many opinions about whether or not AI is going to replace human beings and jobs, Ingabire noted, “We can be very deliberate about designing AI solutions that complement and augment the roles of human beings.”
She said that this is where the aspect of values in designing solutions becomes more relevant to ensure complementarity than creating fear and stigma.
With a variety of sectors in which AI-driven solutions are applied, the minister highlighted that the government is ensuring that the investments are directed to solutions that reach the underserved population, bridging the gap between urban and rural areas.
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