The benefits of electronic brains

SOCIOECONOMIC ISSUES ON CONTINENT Artificial Intelligence is seen as an advanced and dangerous technology, but IBM is showing how it can help solve problems for Africa.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been getting a bad rap lately. It’s been blamed for the way Facebook and Twitter promote fake news on the basis of showing people more of what they are already clicking through to read.

That, in turn, is credited by some with handing Donald Trump the US presidency. It’s also been blamed for introducing bias into anything from home loan approvals to facial recognition systems, which tend to be more accurate with Caucasian faces than those of others.

But a team of scientists at a research facility in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, hopes to change all that. “We are working on beneficial AI,” says Tapiwa Chiwewe, a scientist at IBM Research, which opened its second global research lab in Africa at the Tshimologong Precinct in 2016.

“We want to create AI that benefits people. In Africa, there are all kinds of socioeconomic problems and we’re in a unique position to create AI that improves people’s lives. But we also want to create economic and social value.”

The emphasis is not on AI for its own sake, or operating independently of humans, but on creating symbiotic systems that help humans perform their roles better.

“These range from data-driven healthcare to digital urban ecosystems,” says Craig Holmes, vice-president for industry solutions and business development at IBM Middle East and Africa.

“We’re researching air-quality management in partnership with the City of Joburg and Tshwane, we’re looking at traffic management in cities and even wildfire risk prediction in the Cape Town area.”

Many of these projects will deliver benefits in the medium- to long-term future, but at least one is ready to roll out. It will be launched on Sunday, marking Earth Day.

Appropriately, it is aimed at promoting sustainable energy.

It’s called EmpowerSolar and is a web-based application for designing solar-powered solutions for domestic and business use. ap to alo ba Th th se fie ap As at ed an joi ple ho su du in so sa de a b wh an re as m So for as th pe If t