The U.S., China, and Europe are in a global race to innovate as AI systems such as ChatGPT start to impact our lives in an ever-more intertwined world. Advances in this area are developing rapidly, each region vying for the biggest discoveries.
Africa is preparing to seize its opportunity and become a part of the fourth industrial revolution. For example, BAAMTU, a company based in Dakar specializing in software engineering, big data, and artificial intelligence, displays the continent’s readiness to join this industrial revolution.
Harness The Power Of Leverage For Progress And Growth
ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by OpenAI in San Francisco, has become the talk of the town. Due to its training in an immense library of texts, it can engage in human-like conversations, answer questions, write computer code, and compose natural-sounding text on any topic.
The interest generated by artificial intelligence (AI) has garnered global recognition, and Africa is no exception. Companies and projects in the continent have been exploring opportunities offered by AI to increase their capabilities.
In Dakar, Mayoro Diagne, Director of Operations at BAAMTU, is driving initiatives to tackle African-specific problems using artificial intelligence. This is part of a broader trend in Senegal, where more and more applications are being created.
Mayoro Diagne says:
“African languages are poorly represented on the web. With chatbots, we provide custom conversational systems in any language. We are thus improving the means of translation and facilitating access to information for all,”
Mbaye, a research engineer, is employed at BAAMTU. She specializes in engineering research.
Mbaye says:
“In the field of telemedicine, chatbots help guide people through their care. At the request of the Ministry of Health, we have developed a self-diagnosis technology for hemophilia, accessible on a smartphone,”
Artificial intelligence is assisting Dakar-based companies in making tedious administrative tasks simpler and more efficient. This technology has enabled the firm to free up time and resources, thus streamlining its productivity.
Mbaye went on to say:
“With optical character or image recognition, artificial intelligence can easily compile data and automate tasks. It is a great alternative to paper, when many citizens have difficulties finding their civil status,”
As artificial intelligence continuously seeps into our daily lives, Africans have been entailed to provide their expertise in various fields; this includes agriculture, education, security, health, and commerce on the international scene.
Diagne went on to say:
“New jobs are coming up. We are seeing new training institutions emerge in Senegal, while more and more local companies are interested in data science and want to take advantage of artificial intelligence,”
“Africa is in the process of taking a leap forward and building a proper model to meet its own challenges, in line with the expectations of its people.”
At the International Trade Fair for Digital Economy Professionals in Dakar, the increased enthusiasm towards the NTF V project of the International Trade Centre (ITC) prompted a conference hosted by BAAMTU in February to provide more insight and discussion on the questions that arose.
BAAMTU seized the opportunity of a presentation to display its AI capabilities and demonstrate its chatbot. After this, many new partners started engaging with the company, which has consequently broadened its reach with the help of subsidiaries, most prevalently in Nigeria.
Mbaye continues to say:
“BAAMTU’s goal is to embrace the opportunities of artificial intelligence to ensure that it has a positive human impact. Just like the Tunisian startup InstaDeep, which has been purchased by the German laboratory BioNtech, we are convinced that African expertise in artificial intelligence has strong assets to promote internationally.”
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is gaining momentum in Africa as businesses begin to explore its potential applications. With a growing number of tech startups and government initiatives focused on AI development, the continent has the potential to become a major player in the global AI market. However, significant challenges remain, including access to funding, talent, and infrastructure.
Nevertheless, African countries have shown a strong commitment to developing their tech ecosystems, and AI is poised to play an important role in their future growth. As such, it will be interesting to see how African businesses continue to innovate and adopt AI technologies in the future.
Source: Business Traffic
