When it comes to transforming the economic potential of Africa, artificial intelligence (AI) is anticipated to contribute up to $1,5-trillion to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the continent.
By Neda Smith, founder and CEO of Agile Advisory Services
A report by the GSMA highlighted more than 90 use cases that could redefine this growth upwards – as high as $2,9-trillion by 2030. However, there needs to be more awareness around what AI can do and how it can be framed to ensure the value it offers is felt across Africa.
The technology itself is often perceived as something of a black box. Companies can see its potential, but they are uncertain as to how it achieves it – and this has been a barrier to adoption. However, Africa needs to gain momentum when it comes to AI. The continent only contributes a tiny percentage to global AI economic value and the gaps are growing. As the World Bank highlights – AI has an incredible opportunity to evolve within the AI revolution, but there is still a lot to be done to make this happen.
The starting point is to demystify AI. At its core, AI enables computers to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. Mundane, manual and tedious tasks can now be performed by an AI with greater accuracy and efficiency.
Before AI, humans would solve the problem and then programme computers to replicate their solutions. Now, with AI, computers are learning how to solve problems leveraging data. These machines are capable of learning, adapting and improving their performance over time without needing explicit human intervention.
The focus for many companies developing AI is how it can be used to solve business problems. AI has a gift for finding connections in the data and extrapolating insights that decision-makers can use to shape strategies, improve product development and optimise operations.
For example, a leading hotel chain across Africa used an AI-powered predictive analytics tool to forecast hotel occupancies which then allowed for the chain to adopt price yielding, better plan stock levels, refine hotel maintenance schedules and streamline staff resourcing. This simple integration had an immediate impact on revenue, cost savings and overall business optimisation.
Today, AI’s capabilities are constantly changing. It can do so much more than just help you extrapolate data or refine stock levels. It has evolved to provide improvements across multiple platforms, levels, systems and user experiences.
However, it comes with a caveat. AI, while extremely fast and engaging, is susceptible to errors and bias. It is not perfect and brings with it a bundle of its own imperfections such as bias, AI hallucinations and false information. Any AI integration needs to keep these limitations in mind and ensure all users within the business are aware of how these limitations could impact reporting, data, analytics and communications.
Fortunately, it comes down to training and expertise. The expertise stems from implementing AI with a trusted partner that understands how AI can integrate within your unique business environment while mitigating the risks. AI can solve your data issues and optimise your business environment, but your data must be clean and reliable, and you need to know exactly what problems your AI integration needs to solve.
Implementations tend to fail or fall short of expectations when their starting point is the technology itself. The real value lies in a deep understanding of your business environment and the challenges you face, and then implementing an AI customised to address these challenges and optimise your environment.
AI has the potential to solve a myriad of problems and already there are use cases in Africa that are setting the gold standard. AI has been used to protect and monitor wildlife, for early cancer detection, and to detect tuberculosis in communities.
These use cases highlight how AI is so much more than just hype. It can be used to provide fledgling organisations with the visibility they need to reimagine products, services and customer interactions.
And it can be used to achieve the mundane but essential tasks that help decision-makers reframe strategies – measuring return on investment, enhancing security, refining data quality, and solving business problems.
AI isn’t magic and it won’t solve every problem instantly, but it has the potential to open doors to new markets and customers, empower employees, and democratise technology. The digital gap between Africa and the global north isn’t uncrossable if companies pay attention to the potential of AI and leverage its intelligence to improve outcomes, reduce costs, and drive growth.