Artificial Intelligence Needs Assessment Survey In Africa

This open access book tackles the pressing problem of integrating concerns related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) ethics into higher education curriculums aimed at future AI developers in Africa and beyond. For doing so, it analyzes the present and future states of AI ethics education in local computer science and engineering programs. The authors share relevant best practices and use cases for teaching, develop answers to ongoing organizational challenges, and reflect on the practical implications of different theoretical approaches to AI ethics. The book is of great interest to faculty members, researchers, and students in the fields of artificial intelligence, computer science, mathematics, computer engineering, and related areas, as well as higher education administration.

AI in and for Africa: A Humanistic Perspective explores the convoluted intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) with Africa’s unique socio-economic realities. This book is the first of its kind to provide a comprehensive overview of how AI is currently being deployed on the African continent. Given the existence of significant disparities in Africa related to gender, race, labour, and power, the book argues that the continent requires different AI solutions to its problems, ones that are not founded on technological determinism or exclusively on the adoption of Eurocentric or Western-centric worldviews. It embraces a decolonial approach to exploring and addressing issues such as AI’s diversity crisis, the absence of ethical policies around AI that are tailor-made for Africa, the ever-widening digital divide, and the ongoing practice of dismissing African knowledge systems in the contexts of AI research and education. Although the book suggests a number of humanistic strategies with the goal of ensuring that Africa does not appropriate AI in a manner that is skewed in favour of a privileged few, it does not support the notion that the continent should simply opt for a "one-size-fits-all" solution either. Rather, in light of Africa’s rich diversity, the book embraces the need for plurality within different regions’ AI ecosystems. The book advocates that Africa-inclusive AI policies incorporate a relational ethics of care which explicitly addresses how Africa’s unique landscape is entwined in an AI ecosystem. The book also works to provide actionable AI tenets that can be incorporated into policy documents that suit Africa’s needs. This book will be of great interest to researchers, students, and readers who wish to critically appraise the different facets of AI in the context of Africa, across many areas that run the gamut from education, gender studies, and linguistics to agriculture, data science, and economics. This book is of special appeal to scholars in disciplines including anthropology, computer science, philosophy, and sociology, to name a few.

This open access book contributes to the discourse of Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) from an African perspective. It is a unique collection that brings together prominent AI scholars to discuss AI ethics from theoretical and practical African perspectives and makes a case for African values, interests, expectations and principles to underpin the design, development and deployment (DDD) of AI in Africa. The book is a first in that it pays attention to the socio-cultural contexts of Responsible AI that is sensitive to African cultures and societies. It makes an important contribution to the global AI ethics discourse that often neglects AI narratives from Africa despite growing evidence of DDD in many domains. Nine original contributions provide useful insights to advance the understanding and implementation of Responsible AI in Africa, including discussions on epistemic injustice of global AI ethics, opportunities and challenges, an examination of AI co-bots and chatbots in an African work space, gender and AI, a consideration of African philosophies such as Ubuntu in the application of AI, African AI policy, and a look towards a future of Responsible AI in Africa. This is an open access book.

AI in and for Africa: A Humanistic Perspective explores the convoluted intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) with Africa’s unique socio-economic realities. This book is the first of its kind to provide a comprehensive overview of how AI is currently being deployed on the African continent. Given the existence of significant disparities in Africa related to gender, race, labour, and power, the book argues that the continent requires different AI solutions to its problems, ones that are not founded on technological determinism or exclusively on the adoption of Eurocentric or Western-centric worldviews. It embraces a decolonial approach to exploring and addressing issues such as AI’s diversity crisis, the absence of ethical policies around AI that are tailor-made for Africa, the ever-widening digital divide, and the ongoing practice of dismissing African knowledge systems in the contexts of AI research and education. Although the book suggests a number of humanistic strategies with the goal of ensuring that Africa does not appropriate AI in a manner that is skewed in favour of a privileged few, it does not support the notion that the continent should simply opt for a "one-size-fits-all" solution either. Rather, in light of Africa’s rich diversity, the book embraces the need for plurality within different regions’ AI ecosystems. The book advocates that Africa-inclusive AI policies incorporate a relational ethics of care which explicitly addresses how Africa’s unique landscape is entwined in an AI ecosystem. The book also works to provide actionable AI tenets that can be incorporated into policy documents that suit Africa’s needs. This book will be of great interest to researchers, students, and readers who wish to critically appraise the different facets of AI in the context of Africa, across many areas that run the gamut from education, gender studies, and linguistics to agriculture, data science, and economics. This book is of special appeal to scholars in disciplines including anthropology, computer science, philosophy, and sociology, to name a few.