AI Ghana, a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to address real-world challenges, held its inaugural AI Afahyɛ event on Saturday, September 21st, in Accra.
The event brought together tech experts and enthusiasts from across Ghana, alongside participation and partnerships from various tech startups and institutions.
Delivering the first keynote address, Dr. Stephen Moore, a senior lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, highlighted both the benefits and challenges of AI. He pointed out that while AI applications such as robotics, natural language processing, and generative AI hold great promise, the technology still suffers from biases, particularly racial and gender biases. Dr. Moore attributed these biases to inadequate data sets, especially those representing Africa.
He emphasised the importance of understanding the global market value of AI and the role of different regions and continents in contributing to this value. “So that when you are doing these things, you see it as, are you doing it for fun, or are you doing it just to participate, or are you using it as a tool to make yourself rich, or what is the real impact of these things?” he stated.
“This is the main reason we like to talk about market value, so that we position students, we position researchers, we position our leaders, and the government into a way to think about what the market value is and how we can increase our market value. Because in the end, it is really about market value,” he added.
Dr. Moore shared that based on research, the projected global AI market value in 2025 is $767 billion, expected to reach approximately $4 trillion by 2034. Regions such as the U.S., China, Europe, and Latin America are expected to dominate AI-driven initiatives across sectors like healthcare, finance, agriculture, education, and transportation.
In contrast, Africa’s contribution to the global AI market remains minimal. By 2030, the continent is projected to contribute only $18 billion to a global market value of around $1.5 trillion. Dr. Moore called for supportive policies and regulatory frameworks to increase AI adoption and investment in Africa.
For the second keynote address, Darlington Akogo, Founder and CEO of minoHealth AI, spoke on the topic “The Future of AI in Health & Agriculture.”
Darlington demonstrated the use of his proprietary AI tool, minoHealth AI, in diagnosing and prescribing treatments for diverse health conditions, particularly cancer.
Addressing concerns about how minoHealth AI navigates the complexities and strict regulations surrounding medical prescriptions, Darlington emphasised the importance of collaboration with regulatory bodies. “In applying AI in the medical space, it is crucial to work with relevant institutions such as the Data Protection Commission and the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA),” he noted.
Winifred Kotin, CEO of Eagle Innovations, encouraged both tech and non-tech professionals to prepare for the evolving job market. Citing World Economic Forum research, she pointed out that traditional job roles are likely to be replaced in the near future.
She advised individuals to continuously reskill and upgrade their skills to remain relevant.
Winifred, who is also a career coach, proposed strategies based on her own “evaluation metrics,” which both tech and non-tech professionals can adopt to stay relevant, including being at the right place, open-mindedness, continuous learning, and frequent transformation.
“Transformation is nothing new. From childbirth till date, we’ve been transforming and will keep transforming. It’s innate to us, so we shouldn’t see transformation as something that should be dreaded. Let us lean into it to seize the opportunities that come with it,” she said.
The first panel discussion, titled “Women Transforming the AI Industry,” featured Precious Darkwa of Blossom Academy, Faiza Seidu-Adam of Girly Tech, Kweyakie Blebo of BecauseSheCan, and Naa Lamle Boye, a machine learning researcher.
The discussants shared their individual journeys in their tech careers, with some highlighting the vital contribution of women in their journeys.
Precious and Faiza emphasised the need for proactiveness in incorporating security and controls during the development of AI systems, rather than as an afterthought.
Kweyakie encouraged women in tech to be bold in pursuing their goals, while also critiquing workplace structures that often disadvantage women. “It is not women’s fault that they are the gender chosen to reproduce, and so they should not be punished for that,” she asserted.
Naa also advised women to seek out mentors for guidance, and Faiza encouraged female tech professionals to join supportive communities like AI Ghana to navigate the challenges they face.
The second panel, titled “The Evolution of AI in Africa,” included Mabel Osei of Maverick Research, Theophilus Dogbe of Ennovate Blck, Derek Degbe of Smarkets, and Joshua Opoku Agyeman of IOT Africa.
Mabel underscored the lack of implementation of AI strategies in Ghana, contributing to the country’s lag in the AI industry.
Theophilus emphasised the need for collaboration between the public and private sectors, noting that while the public sector holds valuable data sets, the private sector has the talent and skills to drive AI development. He also warned that the government must stop hindering AI initiatives, as the youth will eventually challenge the status quo.
Derek stressed the importance of demonstrating the business case for AI projects to attract investors. “People are much more interested in the value that is created around that. On the AI front, seriously, there is a lot for everyone, but the bigger picture is always about the value that people are looking at creating and then getting their monies back,” he said.
Joshua reflected on the evolution of AI, noting that while the field initially began as experimental, it has since gained commercial traction. He acknowledged that Ghana has made progress in AI, citing the establishment of the National Data Centre and the formulation of AI policies. However, according to him, fundamental challenges, such as limited internet connectivity and power shortages, remain obstacles to further growth. “Collectively, we need to find a way to work together to ensure that in the value chain, we have identified each of the actors, and they are doing their part to drive the ecosystem,” he stated.
The event also featured the presentation of awards to finalists in a hackathon competition, with Ike Asamoah Ansah from KNUST winning the ultimate prize.
Further, two workshops: “Cashew Disease Identification AI Training,” facilitated by GIZ and minoHealth, and “Responsible AI for Generative Models,” led by Dennis Agyarko from Google, were held.
In an interview with the media, Deborah Arthur, Co-founder and Vice-President of AI Ghana, explained that the event, which was a key project for her outfit in 2024, aimed at bringing together researchers and innovators to discuss the progress of AI in Ghana and Africa. She noted the fast-paced evolution of the field, emphasising the need for ongoing, meaningful conversations.
Looking ahead, Deborah expressed optimism for AI Afahyɛ’s future. “We are looking forward to actually making it bigger, collaborating more, and partnering with big techs,” she said.
The event was held in partnership with Ennovate Blck, Zindi Africa, Kweku Tech, Google Research Accra, and was sponsored by GIZ Ghana, GHAIDEMS LTD, and Aya Data.
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