In 2018, a forumon artificial intelligence in Africa had been organized by UNESCO and Mohamed VI Polytechnic University. The objective was to explore the opportunities that technological innovations could represent on the African continent. This event is one of those that show that the reflection on AI in Africa is progressing. In line with this interest in AI, UNESCO presented two reports entitled “Maghreb – Mapping the Artificial Intelligence Ecosystem” and “Artificial Intelligence Needs Assessment in Africa”.

UNESCO’s points on artificial intelligence in the Maghreb

The first report drafted by UNESCO shows that Tunisia and Morocco are the two countries launching the most successful initiatives in the development of AI strategies in the Maghreb. Several seminars, research programmes, public-private partnerships and forums have been organised by these two countries. There is also a mobilization of higher education around AI. Masters in AI, engineering, mathematics, economic applications and research have been designed in this sense.

On the Algerian side, a workshop to prepare a national plan that should run from 2020 to 2030 has been launched. The objective is to build a roadmap and guidelines for training, basic and applied research, pedagogy and the potential impacts of AI on the economy and society.

Based on the “Government AI Readiness Index” created by Oxford Insights and the Canadian Research Development Centre, UNESCO proposed three main recommendations for Maghreb countries:

• Develop an AI strategy and provide a vision for African countries in this area;
• Put in place a talent development strategy;
• Put in place a well-constructed data strategy.

The objective for all Maghreb countries, according to UNESCO, will be to develop local know-how by supporting start-ups as is done in Tunisia or by supporting and promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in the digital sector, which Morocco has already achieved.

UNESCO’s recommendations for the entire African continent

In its second report, UNESCO proposed a number of recommendations associated with four themes for AI governance on the African continent. Here is a summary of them:

Policy initiatives:

• Design a set of AI policies in a number of areas: science, technology, innovation, education, culture, etc;
• Develop implementation guides and provide examples of the use of models that illustrate the application of AI ethical principles;
• Launch pilot projects to determine how to exploit AI and learning data;
• Develop policy guidelines to address gender equality and AI issues, including bias and discriminatory algorithms.

Judicial Initiatives :

• Adapt and test frameworks to assess the human rights risks of AI applications;
• Design and update legal and regulatory frameworks for personal data protection and data governance.

Capacity Building :

• On the ethics of AI;
• Strengthening standardisation skills for AI products and services;
• Raising awareness of the general public and perception of AI.

Advancing AI Education, Research and Training:

• Creation and development of educational resources on AI;
• Encouraging participation (especially of women and girls) in AI training programs and reducing gender inequalities;
• Strengthen scientific collaborations around AI between African public and private institutions;
• Invest in the launch of new masters and PhD programs for AI research and development
• Supporting access to AI technology and data by, for example, organizing data challenges and hackathons.

Translated from L’UNESCO présente ses recommandations pour le développement de l’écosystème de l’intelligence artificielle africain