The Southern Africa Telecommunications Networks and Applications Conference (Satnac) concluded its 26th edition with a call to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to drive inclusive growth across the continent.
The Southern Africa Telecommunications Networks and Applications Conference (Satnac) concluded its 26th edition with a call to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to drive inclusive growth across the continent.
The conference, Southern Africa's largest telecommunications forum, also discussed the need for AI-powered solutions to improve access to healthcare, education and financial services.
“The adoption of AI applications is already seen across multiple industries including agriculture, healthcare, manufacturing and logistics, but if we need to scale this up in the South;
Africa, industry, academia and governments need to work together to build AI development hubs and build the right AI ecosystem,” said Pushkar Gokhale, Chief Digital and Strategy Officer at Openserve. email and guardian Alongside the conference.
Industry leaders showcased cutting-edge AI applications that are transforming South Africa's telecommunications landscape and highlighted the need for secure networks to protect citizens from privacy and data breaches.
“Regulation is definitely needed to ensure that users are always safe when using generative AI applications. ” said Nitesh Singh of Accenture South Africa. M&G.
He previously gave a presentation on generative AI (algorithms used to create content such as text and images) and stressed that the rapid transformation of the digital space requires regulation.
Mr Gokhale echoed this sentiment, saying South Africa needed to build a strong policy framework.
“As we advance our commitment to radical innovation, all countries, including South Africa, are committed to building strong policy frameworks that foster innovation while remaining cognizant of governance and the ethical use of AI. “There is a need,” he said.
Earlier this year, South Africa announced a National Artificial Intelligence Policy Framework, highlighting the importance of human-centred AI and ensuring applications improve upon human decision-making, rather than replacing it.
“This framework ensures that AI development is consistent with social and ethical considerations by upholding professional responsibility and promoting human values,” the policy document states. Masu.
At a separate conference on e-governance theory and practice held earlier this month, experts warned against blindly adopting AI as a transformative technology and encouraged dialogue about its potential impact on humans. said it was necessary to do so.
This week's forum celebrated the next generation of innovators in the field and announced the winners, chosen from 130 student papers submitted on the topic.
Merchant Fourie, Herman Myburgh and Alan de Freitas from the University of Pretoria won the best paper award for their research on 'Automatic crocodile detection using deep learning and synthetic data'.
Telkom sponsored journalists to attend the conference.