Artificial intelligence is projected to create almost US$16-trillion in value by 2030, driven by digital transformation and increased efficiency in the workplace, but Africa trails international counterparts in both adoption of the technology and in the scale of use.
The continent needs to ‘humanise’ this technology to make it more relevant and justify investment.
So claims Dr Mark Nasila, Chief Analytics Officer at FNB Chief Risk Office, who spoke at the 2023 ITWeb Business Intelligence Summit in Johannesburg last week. He delivered the opening keynote adddress on AI's potential to liberate humanity and re-define work.
Nasila said China and the US are practically grabbing 70% of this AI-generated value because they are not only encouraging investment in AI, but reimagining the workplace and building trust in AI.
China and the US are practically grabbing 70% of the AI-generated value.
Dr Mark Nasila, FNB.
“This is a key factor in driving adoption,” he said, adding that AI has a key role to play in the transformation of the workplace as businesses seek to digitalise many functions to keep up with the digital experience demands.
Africa can expect a small percentage of the overall AI value and is likely to emerge as a consumer of AI technology rather than a provider or driver. This is because there is a growing need to provide assurance that AI is good for the future of the organisation and for the workplace.
AI and humans working together
It has been noted at the Summit that AI will actually create jobs rather than threaten them, and it is generally expected that the technology will be used to eliminate repetitive, time-consuming tasks in businesses.
Nasila spoke about an AI system to enhance risk management processes developed in-house by FNB to make it easier to meet regulatory requirements and flag risks. It was rolled out three years ago and is a good examples of machines and humans working well together. The system sources information from hundreds of thousands of data sources, and generates reports that are more comprehensive than anything a human could produce. These reports are then used to guide a human analyst’s review, he explained.
Nasila also shared the predictions of the world-renowned AI researcher and investor Kai-Fu Lee, on how AI will affect jobs.
According to Lee, AI is likely to perform repetitive, routine and optimising jobs as well as or better than humans, and these types of jobs will likely be replaced by AI within five to 15 years.
However, Lee believes that the human edge over AI is creativity and compassion. He predicts that complex tasks focused on strategy or driven by creativity, such as CEO, economist, scientist or artist, will not likely be replaced by AI.
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