Frederic Werner, AI for Good Impact Africa - CNBC Africa

Quick Overview

Fred Werner, Co-Founder of AI for Good, discusses leveraging Artificial Intelligence to solve Africa's development challenges through initiatives like the AI for Good Global Summit and a new ITU/UNICEF partnership focused on ethical AI training for youth across 35 African countries, aiming for widespread adoption of AI skills and standardized ethical practices.

Key Points: AI for Good established its initiative in 2017 based on the premise that AI has great potential to solve global challenges like healthcare, education, energy, and food security. The organization hosts the AI for Good Global Summit annually, which recently took place in Geneva, Switzerland. A new initiative, a Google, ITU, and UNICEF project, focuses on connecting African youth to address global challenges using ethical AI practices. This new project involves an AI and Robotics competition, with hundreds of students from African schools competing right now, and a commitment of $1 million from partners to train participating kids. The ITU-led initiative specifically targets AI education in 35 African countries, including South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast, using a bottom-up approach working with schools and a top-down approach working with government authorities. The goal is to equip students with AI/Robotics skills and knowledge to develop local solutions, ultimately bridging Africa's digital divide and closing the AI skills gap. The ITU's established public-private partnership model includes 194 member states and over 1,000 tech companies and institutions as partners.

Context: Fred Werner, Co-Founder of AI for Good, joins a CNBC Africa interview to discuss the organization's mission and recent activities centered on applying Artificial Intelligence solutions to development challenges across Africa. The discussion centers on the potential of AI to address critical sectors and the importance of ethical implementation, particularly through youth education and competition.