This week, we have had a lot of discussions around artificial intelligence, inspired by the Global AI Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. Many African countries are doing great things to motivate young people to take advantage of AI because it represents the future in problem solving. Unfortunately, Zimbabwe’s ICT Minister... Tatenda Mavetera and her permanent secretary did not attend, showing how these things are not taken seriously by our government. Zimbabwe’s richest man, Strive Masiyiwa, who has not been to Zimbabwe for decades, made it clear at the summit, which he co-chaired, that investment will not go where the environment is not conducive. Our government talks about anything topical without delivering anything meaningful—they are doing the same with AI. The majority of schools have no computers. Zimbabweans receive electricity for only four hours a day. As the Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Claver Gatete, explains, a country needs electricity for AI data centres to work. Yet only 600 million out of 1.5 billion people in Africa have access to electricity, not even energy. Yet energy is an integral part of AI development. Energy is an essential component for the successful development and implementation of AI in a country because AI systems require massive amounts of data to function effectively. This data must be stored and processed in data centres and servers, which depend on electricity to power both the hardware and the cooling systems. You cannot achieve this in a country that delivers only four hours of electricity a day to its citizens like Zimbabwe. AI applications require continuous and uninterrupted access to data and computing resources to deliver accurate and timely results. Electricity is also crucial for powering research institutions, universities, and Research and Development centres that drive AI advancement. Without reliable access to electricity, these institutions will struggle to conduct research, develop new algorithms, or train AI models. The tragedy of Zimbabwe is that the Vice-President of Google responsible for AI, Dr James Manyika, is Zimbabwean; one of the key presenters at the summit, Prof Arthur Mutambara, who has just released a book on AI, is Zimbabwean; Strive Masiyiwa, who has partnered with Nvidia to bring supercomputer technology to the continent by building Africa’s first artificial intelligence factory in South Africa with data centres in Kenya and Egypt, is Zimbabwean. Yet, none of them are working in or with Zimbabwe. Our political leaders have let us down on all these fronts, yet they keep yapping about AI when there is nothing on the ground! Instead of slogans and dancing at rallies, they should see how other countries are doing it. A country that doesn’t focus on technology for development will be a dusty village in 25 years, and its people will not be able to compete at all, rendering it just a dot on the global map. Too much political yada yada without anything delivered, and with people like Tatenda Mavetera, who forge qualifications, in the driving seat, Zimbabwe’s fortunes will continue to dwindle! Add to that the historic looting of public funds meant for building power plants to give us electricity, future generations will curse on our graves!show more

Hopewell Chin’ono

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