AI is fuelling the ‘Digital Colonisation’ of Africa, warns UN Scientist

The United Nations has launched its first global panel on artificial intelligence, as concerns grow that the technology could deepen global inequalities – particularly in Africa, where systems are largely imported after being shaped elsewhere. The panel, bringing together around 40 experts from 37 countries, was approved by the UN General Assembly in February and held its first meeting in March. … Among its members is Senegalese researcher Adji Bousso Dieng, who tells RFI that Africa needs to develop its own AI or risk being left dependent on others. … “Today’s most powerful AI systems are trained mainly on Western data, which does not reflect the diversity of populations. We need local AI systems built with local context, so they can solve local problems. … [C]ompanies go to countries like Kenya to label data, which is needed to train AI systems. The working conditions are often not fair, people are not well paid and they can be exposed to traumatic content. There is no proper legal framework. That is a form of digital colonisation. There is also the issue of data sovereignty. Data can be used without compensation, and large companies benefit without paying Africans for their work.”