Cote d’Ivoire aims to contribute to the emergence of a high-performing artificial intelligence (AI) sector in Africa, Ivorian Prime Minister Robert Beugre Mambe has said.
He made the remarks while addressing the opening of the second edition of the National Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Abidjan, the economic capital of the country.
Mambe noted that the ambition is to “develop the capacity to understand Artificial Intelligence, to master it, to adapt it and to use it in the service of its own priorities.”
“This ambition is part of our goal of contributing to the emergence of a high-performing, responsible and inclusive African AI,” he added.
Mambe expressed his country’s determination to accelerate efforts to achieve the concrete adoption of AI, urging stakeholders to identify the essential conditions for deploying AI on a large scale.
According to him, data, digital infrastructure, computing capacity, cloud services, energy, skills, financing, cybersecurity and governance are the key pillars the country will need to rely on.
The prime minister called for better organization and utilization of public data, stronger digital infrastructure, the gradual development of computing capacity, and greater efforts to train engineers, technicians and public officials.
He also stressed the need to support Ivorian research and start-ups, while establishing governance mechanisms capable of ensuring confidence in and national control over technological choices.
The government also intends to strengthen international partnerships in the field of artificial intelligence, said the prime minister. He highlighted cooperation with higher education institutions and leading schools in France, while announcing that this cooperation would soon be expanded to the United States, China and the Republic of Korea.
The second edition of the National Conference on Artificial Intelligence was held under the theme “From vision to use cases: structuring national artificial intelligence to solve our priority challenges.”
The conference brings together representatives from government, private sector, academia, research institutions, start-ups, civil society, as well as technical and financial partners. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
