The African Union(AU) Executive session is set to be held in Ghana between July 18 and 19, 2024, for deliberation on the “Continental Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy” and “African Digital Compact”.
The African AU’s Ministers of Communications and ICT unanimously approved the plan last month, among other groups.
Before the strategy’s official adoption on Tuesday, July 17, 2024, the AU made this known via its X page.
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Continental AI Strategy for Sustainable Development
The plan intends to unleash the potential of emerging digital technologies in Nigeria and other African nations, thereby expediting “Africa’s digital transformation.”
As part of the AU’s 2nd Extraordinary session of the Specialised Technical Committee on Communication and ICT, around 130 African ministers and experts were reportedly virtually gathered between June 11 and June 13, 2024.
The meeting aimed to ignite digital transformation across the continent amidst rapid evolutions in the sector fueled by artificial intelligence (AI) technology and applications.
They eventually endorsed a Continental AI Strategy that will guide African countries to harness artificial intelligence to meet the continent’s development aspirations and the well-being of its people.
Building African-owned AI infrastructure will pave the path for data processing and deployment.
AI infrastructure is an integrated ecosystem of hardware and software made especially for AI and machine learning workloads.
Regulation of AI is one of the plans that suggests policies that will restrain the application of AI across the continent. Also, Finance for AI-based research is the plan that asks for financial assistance to increase Africans’ understanding of AI’s functionalities and potential.
AU Leads Africa’s AI Revolution for Sustainable Development
The AU said on Tuesday that these new developments will be discussed in its executive session before being officially adopted.
It said the action is intended to determine important goals and courses of action to guarantee Africa makes the most of the enormous potential that artificial intelligence presents.
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The AU plans to accelerate African countries’ AI capabilities through an Africa-owned, people-centred, development-oriented, and inclusive approach, ensuring adequate safeguards and protection from threats.
The AU Mission to the UN disclosed this during a Special United Nations Economic and Social Council meeting two months ago.
The strategy, endorsed by the committee, is set to be Africa’s contribution to the Global Digital Compact and the United Nations Summit of the Future in 2024.
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