Artificial Intelligence data is the new gold rush

Technology and innovation developments continue unabated, and it makes my heart sing. I love anything to do with tech, and what we are seeing right now will be a game changer across the world as well as in Namibia. New technologies are disrupting existing industries – a prime example of one of these technologies is artificial intelligence (AI).

Having recently attended the Southern Africa sub-regional forum that was hosted in Windhoek, it has inspired me to spread the word on this topic. The forum mainly discussed AI within the sub-regional and Namibian contexts.

But what is artificial intelligence? AI is the ability of a computer to think and learn. With AI, computers can perform tasks that are typically done by people, including processing language, problem-solving, and, in turn, learning. Computers become better at the tasks that they do through learning, much like humans. AI allows organisations to make better decisions, improving core business processes by increasing both the speed and accuracy of strategic decision-making processes.

Informed decisions

To simplify it, AI gives a computer certain data that we want it to learn. The computer learns that data so well that in the end, the output given by the computer helps us to make a more informed decision within a given context. This is all very well, but how does this benefit Namibia and Africa? Everything is based on data these days; all you are doing to feed the AI machines is inputting data.

Data has therefore become more valuable than gold; it can honestly be said the new gold rush is the "data rush." To benefit locally and across the continent, we need to educate and develop our expertise in these fields.

We need to start developing the skills to implement AI in our different sectors. Within the health, agriculture, financial, and manufacturing sectors.

If we look at the health sector, the technology can be leveraged to properly diagnose our people based on local factors that are Namibia-specific, instead of purchasing an off-the-shelf system from abroad and trying to integrate it into our Namibian health systems.

AI technology allows us to use our own data to learn and give accurate data as feedback. In simple terms, software developed overseas will be based on their data, environment, culture, and user behaviors. Ignoring each country’s specifics and data.



Changing lives

Owning our own data is essential.

Facebook, Google, and many others have created billion-dollar companies based on owning and exploiting data. It’s essential that we have and own our own data. The mining of data is like the mining for gold, extremely lucrative, and, with data, there are terabytes of the stuff being added and created daily.

We cannot create another local Facebook or Google, but we can develop our own apps and programmes that generate data through their users. AI isn’t a trend, it is a tool that is being used to transform technology, and countries and change lives.

If we wonder if we can create our own apps, we just need to look toward China. They do not use WhatsApp or Amazon. They created their own versions in the form of WeChat and Ali Baba. AI can and will benefit us, we just need to know how to best harness the technology and implement it. I, for one, want to be right in the middle of this AI revolution.