AI - The African Mirror

Nov

2023

South African university students use AI to help them understand – not to avoid work

WHEN ChatGPT was released in November 2022, it sparked many conversations and moral panics. These centre on the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on the information environment. People worry that AI chatbots can negatively affect the integrity of creative and academic work, especially since they can produce human-like texts and images. TANJA BOSCH, Professor in Media Studies and Production, University of Cape Town CHIKEZIE E. UZUEGBUNAM, Lecturer & MA Programme Coordinator, Rhodes University ChatGPT is a generative AI model using machine learning. It creates human-like responses, having been trained to recognise patterns in data. While it appears the model…

May

2023

By GABRIELLA OPARA, BIRD STORY AGENCY

An African alternative to ChatGPT takes Nigerian Telegram by storm

NEWS

AFTER enrolling as a distance learning student at the International University of Applied Sciences, Berlin, Justin Irabor quickly realized he needed help merging work and school. It wasn't easy to balance the duties of a professional web developer and a data science student. "My Master's program is online, and the challenge with that is that you need a study partner, otherwise you're never quite sure how much of the study material you've consumed. This was quite challenging because combining daily activities with school meant you have to synchronize with a lot of people. Sometimes I'm at work and my study…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Charity uses mobile phone data to identify aid recipients in Togo

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

SONIA ELKS A U.S.-based nonprofit that is using algorithms to identify people living in extreme poverty by analysing their mobile phone habits has made direct cash payments to 30,000 people as part of a pioneering project in Togo. GiveDirectly worked with the government of the West African nation and experts at the University of California, Berkeley, for the high-tech approach to find some of the country's poorest people. They use satellite data to identify poor areas, and then harness machine learning to comb mobile phone metadata to identify those living in extreme poverty. Potential recipients are contacted by phone and…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 speeds labour shift from humans to robots, WEF survey finds

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

ROBOTS will destroy 85 million jobs at mid-sized to large businesses over the next five years as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerates changes in the workplace likely to exaggerate inequalities, a World Economic Forum (WEF) study has found. Surveys of nearly 300 global companies found four out of five business executives were accelerating plans to digitise work and deploy new technologies, undoing employment gains made since the financial crisis of 2007-8. “COVID-19 has accelerated the arrival of the future of work,” WEF Managing Director Saadia Zahidi said. For workers set to remain in their roles in the next five years, nearly…