Business Talk – University of Pretoria Professor Vukosi Marivate discusses Africa’s role in the global AI discourse
In this Business Talk with Michael Avery interview, Professor Vukosi Marivate discusses AI and how Africa is shaping the discourse on the technology’s development.
Professor Marivate is a Professor of Computer Science and the ABSA UP Chair of Data Science at the University of Pretoria, and recently joined the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI at the United Nations.
He is also the Founding Director of the African Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AfriDSAI).
As the Director of AfriDSAI, he oversees the organisation’s goal of using data science and AI to shape a better future for the African continent.
This revolves around developing machine learning and AI methods for African contexts, co-designing AI solutions with communities, and helping African researchers become global leaders in the field.
Before this, he helped found Lelapa AI, an African startup focused on AI for Africans, by Africans, and Deep Learning Indaba – the leading grassroots machine learning and AI conference on the African continent.
Marivate holds numerous academic qualifications, including a BSc and an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand.
He secured his PhD in Computer Science from Rutgers University and completed a Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School.
The interview
In this Business Talk interview, Marivate unpacks the significance of a South African researcher joining the UN’s Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and how this reflects the calibre of AI-based work emerging from Africa.
Marivate outlines the importance of rigorous scientific analysis of AI as the technology becomes more commonplace, and why it’s essential that African data, languages and societal realities shape global AI conversations.
He also touches on how universities are preparing students for an AI-centric future, and the human values that must be maintained during this process.
Marivate concludes the interview by sharing his experiences with adapting language-model AI to South African English.
Watch the interview with Professor Vukosi Marivate below.
Loading ...