The African Development Bank (AfDB) has partnered with Intel to equip 3 million Africans with artificial intelligence (AI) skills, marking a significant step towards bridging the continent’s AI development gap. This partnership aims to spark a tech-powered industrial revolution in Africa, which has traditionally lagged behind other regions in AI development and has often been reduced to being a mere spectator and consumer of AI technology. The AfDB believes that Africa’s youthful population, projected to hit 830 million by 2050, can be a formidable workforce, innovators, and trendsetters in AI if equipped with the right skills. This move is a welcome development, as Africa has often been exploited for cheap labor to train AI models, with companies like OpenAI paying Kenyan workers less than $2 an hour to train their language models. The partnership is a step towards empowering Africans to take control of their own AI development and ensuring that the continent is not left behind in the AI revolution.
The partnership is also a significant move for Intel, which has struggled to capitalize on the growing demand for AI chips. Despite this, the company remains committed to making AI technology accessible to all and breaking down barriers related to geography, gender, and ethnicity. However, the partnership also highlights the skepticism that many Africans have towards AI, with a study by Lloyds Bank finding that Africa is the region most skeptical of AI. Nevertheless, as AI adoption rises, attitudes towards AI are gradually changing, with countries like Nigeria launching multilingual language models trained in local languages and accented dialects.
