Rwanda is preparing to play home to a worldwide technology business that will perform Artificial Intelligence (AI) research and solutions for the African continent. This comes as AI continues to make waves around the globe.
On September 8, 2018, at an annual gathering of the African community for machine learning and artificial intelligence to strengthen African AI, the CEO of the London-based startup InstaDeep, Karim Beguir, announced that an office for the company would open in Kigali.
The term “artificial intelligence,” more usually abbreviated as “AI,” refers to any technology that allows robots to feel, understand, and behave in the same way humans do.
It focuses, for the most part, on automating a given work and carrying it out in the most effective manner possible, demonstrating technological systems with an intellectual competence across all disciplines that is equivalent to or higher than that of a human.
A national artificial intelligence strategy was enacted in Rwanda, making it one of the first countries in Africa to do so. This policy primarily emphasizes the following six critical areas: AI literacy, infrastructure, data strategy, AI adoption in public and commercial sectors, and ethical implementation.
Since Rwanda is quickly becoming a frontrunner in constructing the future economy, it makes sense, according to Beguir, to deploy and expand its team in Kigali.
Arnu Pretorius, formerly in charge of artificial intelligence research for InstaDeep throughout Africa, has been responsible for leading the Kigali office. According to him, this gives a chance to advance artificial intelligence (AI) in Africa and keep working towards developing sustainable solutions for the continent and beyond.
“Rwanda is at the vanguard of policy, as seen by the country’s recent hosting of a leading worldwide conference on artificial intelligence (AI), ICLR, for the first time in Africa. The fact that we have an office in Kigali makes it feasible to provide many more employment chances to AI specialists from different parts of the African continent.
InstaDeep currently has offices in Tunis, London, Lagos, Dubai, Berlin, Cape Town, Paris, Boston, and San Francisco.
It finds an ecosystem spearheaded by the Centre of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR), which is entrusted with the development of artificial intelligence in the nation, as well as other firms taking on AI solutions, such as Babyl in the healthcare industry and Zipline.
Paula Ingabire, the Minister of ICT and Innovation for Rwanda, said that the country is positioning itself to become the top destination in Africa for experimenting with and producing trustworthy AI technologies that are contextualized for the African continent as she spoke at the unveiling of the country’s national AI strategy.
She said, ” To accomplish this vision, the nation has adopted an ambitious plan to leverage the power of AI to drive economic growth, enhance the delivery of public services, and foster inclusive and sustainable development.”
Although the government anticipates an artificial intelligence ecosystem with a potential value of $589 million over the next five years, the implementation of the policy will need an expenditure of $76.5 million over the same period.
