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Artificial Intelligence in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities

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The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Implementation of Artificial Intelligence for Growing Business Success

Part of the book series: Studies in Computational Intelligence ((SCI,volume 935))

Abstract

The developments in artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to disrupt and transform socio-economic activities across industries. While evidence is emerging that businesses and governments across the world are positioning themselves to maximise these potentials, evidence also indicates that countries in the Global North are better prepared to reap the benefits of AI even though a significant number of jobs that could be displaced in the process are in the Global South. Therefore, we posit that countries in the Global South such as those in Africa need to tackle governance issues and lack of institutional capacity to establish the building blocks to allow AI to flourish. It is important to also examine the roles of international communities’ in bridging the technological gaps in Africa by adopting a problem-driven approach where local needs and problems are contextualised into AI policy formulation rather than a blanket ‘copy-and-paste’ practice that has limited the advancement of development policies in Africa. A problem-driven approach would help African countries to formulate robust AI policies that are relevant to their unique circumstances.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    First industrial revolution adopted water and steam engine to mechanise and advance production process.

  2. 2.

    Second industrial revolution adopted the power of electricity to advance mass production.

  3. 3.

    Third industrial revolution (3IR) adopted electronics and information technology to automate production.

  4. 4.

    Fourth industrial revolution adopts a fusion of digital technologies to further advance production automation.

  5. 5.

    Samasource is an AI data training company headquartered in San Francisco with operations in East Africa.

  6. 6.

    Cellulant is a fintech start-up located in Nigeria. It uses AI to facilitate digital payments and transfers.

  7. 7.

    Mines.IO is a fintech start-up located in Nigeria. Mines provides a platform that uses financial analytics to develop credit rating and fraud detection.

  8. 8.

    Digital divides here refer to the lack of access and skills to and affordability of ICTs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, City Campus East 1, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK

    Emmanuel Ogiemwonyi Arakpogun, Ziad Elsahn & Femi Olan

  2. Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Doha, Qatar

    Farid Elsahn

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  1. Emmanuel Ogiemwonyi Arakpogun
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  2. Ziad Elsahn
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  3. Femi Olan
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  4. Farid Elsahn
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Correspondence to Emmanuel Ogiemwonyi Arakpogun .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business and Finance, Ahlia University, Manama, Bahrain

    Allam Hamdan

  2. Information Technology Department, Faculty of Computers and Information, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

    Aboul Ella Hassanien

  3. College of Business and Finance, Ahlia University, Manama, Bahrain

    Anjum Razzaque

  4. Middle East Technical University - Northern Cyprus Campus, Kalkanlı, Güzelyurt, KKTC, Turkey

    Bahaaeddin Alareeni

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Arakpogun, E.O., Elsahn, Z., Olan, F., Elsahn, F. (2021). Artificial Intelligence in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities. In: Hamdan, A., Hassanien, A.E., Razzaque, A., Alareeni, B. (eds) The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Implementation of Artificial Intelligence for Growing Business Success. Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol 935. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62796-6_22

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