Artificial intelligence (AI) is viewed by many experts as the key to unlocking a vaccine for COVID-19 and SA cloud companies have a key role to play in assisting in this drive.
So says S’bu Khoza, founder of cloud and AI technology company Sive Setfu ICT Solutions (Sive.Host). A gargantuan effort is underway among research scientists around the world to understand more about the elusive coronavirus. However, vast amounts of data - far too much for human intelligence to process - are being generated about the virus and the pandemic it has caused.
“This has resulted in scientists globally deploying the deep learning capabilities of AI to collate the data to try to uncover patterns that will lead to successful treatment and, hopefully in the course of the next year, a vaccine,” he says.
He believes AI has the potential to find solutions for many of the world’s challenges. However, according to Khoza, one of the limitations of AI, is that large-scale projects such as the current drive to find a vaccine for COVID-19 come with a hefty price tag. “Existing cloud infrastructure from companies such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon is extremely expensive, particularly for local companies.”
A local opportunity
He says, though, with South Africa’s exchange rate at an all-time low, there is an opportunity for local cloud infrastructure businesses to play their part in contributing to the infrastructure needed for the huge volumes of data emerging from global research. Khoza’s organisation supplies businesses with dedicated servers housing deep learning and other cloud-based software applications, and infrastructure building blocks to manage, secure and scale their offerings to customers around the world
Prof Salim Abdool Karim, chairman of the government’s COVID-19 advisory team, said during a recent Webinar that SA had an urgent need to contribute its own research to fight the illness. South Africa, with millions of immuno-compromised people who are expected to be seriously affected by the disease, has its own challenges to overcome.
Referring to the suggestion that vaccine trials would be conducted in Africa, Karim said: “We need to conduct our own trials. If we wait for the Northern Hemisphere, then we will be at the back of the queue,” implying that South Africa would waste no time in continuing with its own research.
It is Khoza’s view that South African companies can assist in this drive by providing the necessary cloud infrastructure for AI to be deployed in our own backyard, to maximise the combined deep learning potential of overseas and local research.
The need for cheaper infrastructure
However, he believes that relying solely on a weak exchange rate to make AI more accessible to researchers and developers of innovative solutions is not a long-term solution. “We need to find ways to bring down the cost of AI to a sustainable level.”
His business strives to do just that. In 2014, four years after launching Sive.Host, the company was commissioned to design and build, from the ground up, a deep learning server infrastructure for AI and machine learning consultants Isazi Consulting.
The goal from the outset was to develop a robust, fit-for-purpose system at a highly competitive rate, which he said Sive.Host’s did for around five times lower than competitive systems.
“We realised that we had hit upon a successful formula, which led to us repurposing our original model and building more custom applications for the general market.”
One way in which the company has managed to significantly reduce the cost of its custom-built deep learning platforms, is by combining commercially available graphic processing units such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080Ti GPUs, with industrial-grade servers.
The company also offers a choice of fixed monthly rates or a pay-as-you-go option.
This approach has made it affordable for anyone with an interest in AI to access the technology, from large companies and universities doing research in deep learning, to public sector secondary schools and anyone wanting to simply experiment with AI, he says.
Human intervention
In his opinion, effective deep learning also requires the skills of experts, over and above technology. “Despite the brain-drain the country has suffered, I believe SA still has some of the world’s finest scientific minds and medical experts."
“I think that this, combined with the availability of the vast amount of research already done in countries ahead of us in the pandemic, are hopeful indicators that we may be able to reduce the devastation this country could potentially experience over the coming months,” ends Khoza.
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