Namibia in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on Wednesday opened the Southern Africa sub-Regional Forum on Artificial Intelligence (AI) aimed at finding AI sustainable development for the region.
The three-day event hosted here under the theme ‘Towards a sustainable development-oriented and ethical use of artificial intelligence’ will debate the important role artificial intelligence can play for the development of the southern Africa sub-region.
Artificial intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. Specific applications of AI include expert systems, natural language processing, speech recognition and machine vision.
Speaking at the event Minister of Higher Education, Training and Innovation Itah Kandjii-Murangi said the forum is a momentum booster for Namibia and the government’s efforts in building awareness towards harnessing the fourth industrial revolution.
She said it is important for Namibia to strategise and optimise best practices and knowledge transfer in an effort to contribute towards the development of green and blue economies as articulated by the economic pillar of the Harambee Prosperity Plan.
“The forum should inform on how to implement effective continuing education programmes, how to create an enabling environment for industry and community involvement throughout the AI development life cycles,” she noted.
Kandjii-Murangi stressed that the region continues to witness the creation of a cycle of digital imperatives, noting that while playing catch-up, the global south countries are facing a dilemma of balancing between sustainable technological consumption and addressing technology development gaps.
She noted that the region still has a heavy responsibility to implement the necessary evidence-based measuring instruments, such as national and regional AI regulatory frameworks and enabling structures.
At the same event UNESCO regional director and representative for southern Africa, Lidia Brito said UNESCO aims to help member states find ethical norms and principles to effectively implement AI policies.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
