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Tag: Artificial intelligence

  • Benefits of artificial intelligence and robotics

    We often hear that technology is the foundation of civilisation, but what is technology? Technology is mainly organised practical knowledge. In this modern era, this knowledge is produced and organised based on scientific principles. These scientific principles have so far been the most robust way to discover knowledge and propagate technology.

    Essentially, the scientific method lets us know that the knowledge is right and thus can be relied upon. This feature of reliability of the scientific method thus allows us to build upon the knowledge as solid foundations and aggregate over time very complex concepts that seem like magic to the layman. It is important for us to understand that modern technology can provide consistent, robust solutions that will help tackle society¼s problems. Bringing this to the Nigerian context, it is that the best way to leverage this technology in the medium and long term is to own it and aim to develop internal capabilities to handle it., we understand technology from first principles and we become original authors and not just recipients and buyers of technology.

    Given the achievements of Nigerians outside the country, the task of developing internal capacities is very possible. By developing internal capabilities, I would love to see a Nigeria that defines itself as scientific. I would love to see a Nigeria in which scientific development is just one more of the great things we are known for. I would love to see a Nigeria where the average citizens can clearly see themselves become scientists, engineers, biologists that invent and contribute original content, who dare to lead and challenge more advanced countries in the science field. Right now, science and technology have a reputation in Nigeria that we need to change. On the international stage, we have proven that the African is capable of self-rule and developing technology. We have already proven that Africans are capable of achieving the highest standards of education.

    This will enable us take our rightful place among the respected civilisations. The benefits of unlocking our potential in technology are enormous. Thus, I am proposing a vision for Nigeria to be the first technologically developed black nation. Under this vision, religion, ethnicity, and anything else that separates us do not matter. All that matters is progress, practical justice and allegiance to this collective vision.

    For this vision to come true, we need to develop home-based technology. For Nigeria to become the first developed black nation, we need a scientific revolution. By scientific revolution, I mean we need to become a society guided by reason and evidence. Since we are a deeply religious nation, I have to mention that we do not necessarily need religion in a way that introduces dogma, narrow-mindedness, and a disregard for reason and common sense.

    We use religion in a very illogical way that is guided more by wishful thinking than by reality. While religion can provide solace and comfort, it is sometimes used as a form of euphemism allowing us to make sense of the miracles of the world. At the very least, even though one may disagree with my view on the way we use religion, it should be clear that we need to put aside our religious differences and transit from believing in myths to working with facts and reason. Often, being religious in this clime is guided by fear of damnation, but this world does not belong to timid souls.

    Instead, we need to be guided by a positive force, truth based on evidence. With truth, we see that regardless of whether there is heaven, hell or nirvana, humans have intrinsic dignity which when respected unlocks their full potential for the benefit of all. So, human rights and many other values monopolised by religion are fundamental human values regardless of religion. By realising this, we remove dogma when relating to our fellow man. We need to be courageous enough to see reality as it really is and not as we wish it to be, and the scientific method can help us in establishing truths. If it doesn’t pass, we refine the assumptions we made about reality and learn from the programme¼s outcomes in a consistent and continuous manner until we get it right.

    We must perceive the world and reality clearly, and our foundation should be the truth. Furthermore, we need to choose, choose because it is entirely up to us Nigerians to prioritise the advancement of our civilisation. Our values need to be that we are for truth and science. We need to give ourselves permission to be a great nation. I firmly believe that we Nigerians are not stupid but are simply misdirected in our value system. If we are being truthful, we will realise that it is not only our leaders who are responsible for the current state of affairs.

    We too, who remain silent and docile, are responsible, if not more so. By remaining silent, we give permission to the unjust. If we are living by the truth, we will realise that justice, peace, zero tolerance for tribalism, intolerance of corruption, hard work, humility all pay good dividends. These are not just theoretical concepts, they work. The west is not made up of magical beings; they are simply consistent practitioners and disciples of these values. The phenomenal transformation of Singapore to one of the greatest countries in the world even though they have no natural resource, wasn’t done by magical beings. They chose to believe in and abide by the principles of freedom, rule of law, and evidence-based governance.

    Let our problem be about achieving near zero per cent malaria outbreak. Let our challenge be at a higher level than mere survival. We need to choose not to be satisfied with the status quo, even though we complain a lot. This is because we mostly do nothing about the status quo, especially those with the ability to make a difference. Those who are in the position to affect changes are for the most part not doing so. They are saying, “my core value is my nonguaranteed personal security and comfort over the chance of lifting up civilisation”.

    I specifically mentioned that personal security is non-guaranteed because all the money in the world will not save a rich man who travels by road from an oil tanker that explodes on the high way, simply because due diligence was not taken by the driver of the tanker. Wealth will not save the rich and powerful from a random explosion by suicide bombers. A part of the scientific revolution I am enthusiastic about is AI and Robotics because it is very achievable since it does not rely on too much infrastructure. At the bare minimum, one only needs a computer, internet, and electricity.

    By robotics, I am referring to the software aspect of Robotics, which includes computer vision, natural language processing, and software process automation. I will use AI alone to refer to both AI and software-based robotics. AI has immerse capabilities to transform across sectors. AI can help in scheduling power load distribution optimally across homes. It can revolutionise marketing, logistics, insurance, legal systems, and power fraud detection. Its benefits are monumental and would help make society run more efficiently.

    The first trillion dollar companies in the world became so because of the power of AI. Again as already mentioned, our best approach in leveraging this opportunity is to develop our own internal capabilities. It is of paramount importance for Nigeria to prioritise developing internal capabilities in these technologies if we are to develop. We can not and must not rely on external technology even though these technologies may seem quicker to deploy. The cost of depending on external technologies is higher in the medium and long run and we must discourage the approach.

    AI is an interesting field because  its implementation depends on local knowledge making Nigerians the perfect candidates to develop the country’s own solution. With the scientific approach already highlighted, we Africans can and ought to become leaders in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.

     

    • Dr. Ezeh, a Nigerian, is an expert in artificialintelligence and robotics.

  • Artificial Intelligence and Dumb Societies

    As the civilized world with its ruthless knowledge society races to the frightening frontiers of artificial intelligence, one cannot but shudder at the fate of dumb societies stranded at the level of Industrial Evolution.  Dumb societies are perpetual victims of human civilization; perennial subjects in the dialectic of historical development.

    While the knowledge society is increasingly resorting to robots to perform complicated chores, the denizens of dumb societies are famously looking like robots de-humanized to a point where they can no longer boast of elementary social intelligence. These are the sites of the most horrific crimes against humanities in recent times. And it can get worse. Robotized humanity is no match for human robots.

    This is because robotized people become so de-sensitized that they cannot get the political or social order right. They are ruled by a primitive conclave bypassed by human evolution everywhere else. They must leave in order for the societies held hostage to live. But leaving is often a complicated and messy departure, complicated by human ambition to dominate and the vagaries of colonial cartography.

    Artificial intelligence is the product of human intelligence at its cutting edge. The complicated mathematics is not for the rote learner or note-regurgitating professors. It demands thinking out of the box. In order to access higher civilization, humanity must strive to continually humanize nature by conquering and dominating it with weapons fashioned by human brains.

    But when nature strikes back to dominate humanity all the gains of human evolution are steadily reversed. The result is petrified humanity; dumb societies at the end of their historic tethers, gripped by superstitious idiocies and primitive rituals. Anybody who has seen a tsunami in action will appreciate the futility of sacrifice or sea-worship in the face of climatological adversity. Future archaeologists of human derailment will have a field day assembling evidence of civilizational collapse.

    The disruptive influence of scientific advances and artificial intelligence will soon be here with us. For dumb societies that are unable to find work for their teeming workforce, the labour market will shrink dramatically. Certain mundane chores will be taken over by robots. Robots will perform medical operations and point-device car repairs. Petroleum predation such as beloved by the Nigerian ruling class will cease because there will be no buyers. Keeping stolen money in bank vaults will become a vain and forlorn exercise. The only capital you need is human capital.

    Sometimes the technological advancement works to the benefit of everybody such as when backward and laggard societies are driven to parlay the gains of scientific revolution occurring elsewhere to the advantage of their moribund societies. For example, the GSM revolution which is not indigenous to Nigeria has allowed the nation to leapfrog the Age of landlines to the Age of Mobile technology.

    After decades of stealing money meant for developing telecommunication infrastructure, the Nigerian ruling class was granted a fortuitous reprieve by developments elsewhere. The Age of mobile phones has led to a dramatic expansion of Nigeria’s telecommunication infrastructure in a way and manner that could not have been foretold.

    But it has come at a terrible price. Or let us say it has been a mere displacement of contending national pathologies. Despite the GSM revolution, Nigeria remains one of the few countries with such a volume of communication without a functioning land line. With the help of massive government infrastructure, this remains the only technology that would have made telephone easily available to the teeming masses.

    Since people must communicate anyhow, Nigeria’s lower social masses often resort to all manner of outlandish underhand deals in order to procure the magic mobile set. This ranges from black market shenanigans to outright stealing thus fuelling the national pathology of corruption and sleaze from a totally unanticipated direction.

    When you ask an average workman how he came by his expensive mobile set, he is likely to respond that “Oga, God is in control”, thus echoing the infamous “Se debrouiller”—or we dey manage—slogan of Mobutu’s Zaire. The security personnel guarding you by the daylight is probably an armed robber by the night. You cannot plant cassava and expect to harvest yam.

    Yet it is not as if God designated some races as special people or branded some nations with the stamp of extraordinary genius. If anything, the Brexit debacle and the wayward inanities of the British House of Commons as well as the untoward advent of Donald Trump in America have shown the world that no nation or human society has a monopoly of malignant ineptitude or social turpitude. This time around, the western old boys’ network or what has been famously dismissed as a “chumocracy”, has truly scraped the bottom of the barrel.

    What these “special people” or genius nations had going for them for a long time is militant self-belief and the power of transformative ideas. When the Portuguese arrived at the old African Congo kingdom around the middle of the fifteenth century, they met a society that was far more socially and politically advanced and ethically sophisticated than the one they left behind at home.

    They loitered around a bit hoping to make contact with the mysterious military force that undergirded such a mighty empire. Alas, there was no such thing and within the next hundred years or so, most of the inhabitants were captured and transported as slaves to the new colony of Brazil through the new slave port of Luanda. The rest is history.

    It has been noted that the Brits behaved very much like ill-informed thugs and low-grade hustlers in their Indian and African colonial possessions. But this does not tell the whole story. They were thugs and hustlers with militant self-belief and a sense of modernizing mission. At a point during the famous revolt by the native Indians that lasted for one year from 1857, the rebels had the entire British Raj with their back to the wall.

    But the Indians lacked the power of militant self-belief and a transformative ideology to push their rebellion to its logical conclusion. They could not have returned to the splendid decay of their superannuated feudal regimen or their monkey deities. They proclaimed an eighty one year old doddering Urdu prince as the new Raj of “Hindustan” and that was all.

    This failure of mission allowed the British to rally and to slaughter the rebels with appalling cruelty and callousness reminiscent of the Spanish destruction of the Inca civilization. Men are hanged not because horses are stolen, but so that horses may not be stolen.

    What made the difference between medieval Europe and their later overseas possessions was the Age of Enlightenment with its power of radically transforming ideas about the destiny of humanity and the place of humankind in the universe. The splendid irony of the Age of Enlightenment was the fact that it was the sacking of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks which led to the influx of philosophers, astrologers, astronomers, scientists and engineers to Europe. Their enlightening ideas allowed Europe to overcome the Dark Age of medieval tyranny and institutional cruelties.

    The Age of Enlightenment had its twists and turns. In one of its most amusing turns, it was said that Empress Catherine of Russia, immediately after the death of her husband, sought the help of European philosophers and thinkers to bring feudal Russia at par with European countries in terms of freedom and liberation, particularly as far as the vexed Serf Question was concerned.

    The relic of Peter the Great was torn between severe repression as was prevalent in Russia which could trigger a revolution or graduated freedom which could bring chaos and anarchy. The lot of Enlightenment mentor duly fell on Denis Diderot, the great French thinker and philosopher. Diderot arrived in Moscow in freezing winter with his bones creaking. The impish and gamey Catherine duly noted to confidantes that she had to put a chair between herself and the Frenchman to prevent his wild gesticulations from reaching the most delicate part of her anatomy.

    In the event, it was the subsequent French Revolution that provided practical answer to the Serf Question as hordes of absconding French noblemen and priests sought refuge in the Russian capital. The Russian bear recoiled in terror at the prospects of human liberation. It would take another century and a few decades for a group of indigenous Russian intellectuals who had internalized the lessons of European Enlightenment and had given it a peculiarly brutal local stamp to kick-start the Russian Revolution.

    In all this, the only thing that separates dumb societies from successful societies is militant self-belief and the power of transformative ideas. This has been the case from time immemorial depending on the stage of human evolution. The battle of batons among European countries in almost a thousand years reflects this balance of intellectual forces with Portugal and Spain taking early lead as Holland, Britain, France, Germany and the Nordic countries gradually overhauled them.

    In the past six hundred years of relentless global decline, Africa as a continent has experienced this surge of militant self-belief and transformative ideas only once and it was during the decades of independence struggle which lasted from the forties till the nineties of the last century.

    This was the epoch of the decolonizing project which induced self-belief in Africans and produced a crop of transformative African leaders such as Zik, Awolowo, Nkrumah, Senghor, Nyerere, Lumumba, Cabral, Neto, Samora Michel, Nasser and Nelson Mandela. Their sense of mission and vision provided the ideological leitmotif for the transformation of a much-abused continent.

    Unfortunately as postcolonial stasis settled in on most African countries, the militant self-belief disappeared and the power of transformative idea waned. Africa became the Dark Continent once again. Nigeria, which by virtue of its population and prodigious human capital was supposed to serve as the hub of Black renaissance, disappeared into a long night of military despotism and feudal tyranny from which it is yet to recover. Africa itself is yet to wake from the historical nightmare of global irrelevance. A lost continent is waiting for its lost country.

  • Ericsson, UNESCO launch AI programme

    Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) has partnered the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to develop a new digital skill learning programme that would expose young people to Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    The initiative was launched at Mobile Learning Week 2019, UNESCO’s flagship education conference held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris earlier this month.

    The advancement of technologies such as mobile broadband, cloud, IoT (Internet of Things), automation and AI, has increased demand for a new set of skills in the job market.

    Ericsson and UNESCO are combining their strengths to create opportunities to scale up skill development in AI and other key digital skills for young people under the AI for youth initiative.

    The partners will develop and manage a repository of AI and other key digital skill training courses that will be available globally as well as build capacities of master trainers from selected countries with advanced knowledge of AI skill development.  These master trainers will also get support to mobilise AI hub centers and hackathons to train young people on developing AI applications.

    Read also: MTN, Ericsson launch first 5G customer trial

    Heather Johnson, Vice President Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility, Ericsson, said the firm’s partnership with UNESCO would enhance the project.

    “This public private partnership focusing on skill development for Artificial Intelligence is an excellent example of what can be achieved when leaders work together to promote knowledge sharing and cooperation. “

    Borhene Chakroun, Director of Policies and Lifelong Learning Division, UNESCO, added: “At UNESCO we think that artificial intelligence is to be put at the service of sustainable development, a whole set of new education and training programmes has to emerge to equip youth with skills required to live and work in artificial intelligence era. Our partnership with Ericsson is critical to advance this agenda”.

  • Yobe varsity becomes Centre of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence

    Yobe State University (YSU)  is to become the Centre of Robotics & Artificial Intelligence.

    It has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the ICT University, Louisiana, United States.

    The ceremony was held at the university’s Senate Chambers in Damaturu.

    YSU Vice Chancellor Prof Yakubu Mukhtar and the President, Board of Trustees of the ICT University, Prof. Victor Mbarika, signed the MoU.

    “We will be having a lot of lecturers and students exchanges in this institution. Our number one goal is research and scholarship and we will ensure that good researches come out of both institutions, so that Yobe State will be one of the premier destinations of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence and modern areas of IT research,” Mbarika said.

    Mukhtar assured that YSU would continue to establish linkages with other institutions, home and abroad, to fast track its growth and development.

    Mukhtar is optimistic that the MoU would open doors for YSU in future collaboration to various opportunities and institutions across the world.

    “No organisation can exist as an island in itself. As an institution of higher learning, we need to collaborate both within and outside the country. That is why I am so pleased with this collaboration. I am sure, Yobe State University is going to benefit immensely from it. We are very keen to give every support to see this MoU to the next level,” Mukhtar added.

    Mbarika disclosed that the institution is keen on the implementation of the project, adding that all equipment would be flown from New York to Lagos for collection between six and eight weeks.

    His words: “We are very seriously keen on our partnership because we are answerable to ICT University Foundation and its funding agencies. So to be fair to them and to the institutions in the developing world that we collaborate with, we want to ensure that we don’t just stop at the signing of MoUs and MoAs but to actually see to their implementations.

    “We have equipment for the e-learning and the e-Library and a multi-media equipment to help with the implementation of the Health Information Technology Diploma Programme with this YSU’s School of Medicine. Our goal is to ensure that there is a strong presence of information technology or we continue to enhance the presence of IT that this institution already has through the great leadership of Prof Mukhtar,” Mbarika said.

  • ‘Artificial Intelligence critical to wealth mgt’

    Wealth managers are now seeking artificial intelligence (AI) tools to make sense of vast amounts of new and alternative data according to new report by Thomson Reuters and Celent.

    According to a new report commissioned by Thomson Reuters’ Financial and Risk Business to Celent,  AI enabled data has become the lifeblood of the modern wealth management industry. The report revealed that big data mining, pattern recognition and new technologies that come with AI, help to flag and highlight areas that humans, in the form of wealth managers, would not otherwise pick up on their own.

    The report titled: Putting the AI in Data revealsed that this growing AI trend in the wealth management industry is due to technological applications such as robo-advice technology and next-generation financial planning platforms often too narrow in scope and data accessibility amongst other constraints.

    Senior Analyst at Celent, Will Trout, said: “Our latest research shows that the wealth management industry continues to be transformed by AI.

    “One of the keys to unlocking the potential of AI in wealth management is through advisor empowerment, which requires data to be made more accessible to non-technical enterprise consumers, both in terms of tools and the digestibility of the data itself.

  • ‘How artificial intelligence can help lawyers’

    Ope Olugasa is the Managing Director of LawPavilion Business Solutions, a legal technologies company that has introduced innovations in the legal technologies industry. He tells reporters, including JOSEPH JIBUEZE, how artificial intelligence can make lawyers more productive.

    SHOULD lawyers expect anything new from your firm at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference next week?

    Absolutely! In fact, our LawPavilion Prime with Case Analytics is the first of such not only in Nigeria, but the whole of Africa. This year, we are integrating Artificial Intelligence, simply known as AI, into our Legal Software Solutions. In recent times, there has been a rave about AI and this is because it is affecting every industry, shaking the very core of norms and redefining roles. This is primarily because with AI, machines can now do the things that were considered to be exclusively within the purview of human intelligence. AI is having broad and significant impacts across a variety of industries. Lawyers (and the legal profession) should not be left out in this new wave that bears many benefits. Today, in developed countries of the world, AI is beginning to transform the legal profession in many ways as lawyers are already using AI to do things like reviewing documents, ensuring compliance (which is a very front burner issue for multinationals and transnationals), analysing contracts to determine whether they meet pre-determined criteria, performing legal research, and predicting case outcomes.

    Does that mean AI is replacing lawyers?

    Of course not! AI is not here to replace lawyers. Rather, it is here to augment what lawyers do and free them up to take on higher-level tasks such as advising clients, negotiating deals and appearing in court, thereby being productive doing much more in less time.  At JPMorgan, for instance, an AI-powered programme called COIN has been used since June 2017 to interpret commercial loan agreements. This meant that work that previously took about 360,000 lawyer-hours is being done in seconds.

    Do you think Nigeria’s Legal industry is ready for AI?

    We cannot wait for AI to come to us in the legal services industry in Nigeria. Rather, having observed the speed of adoption of AI around the world in several industries, I have no doubt that the Nigerian legal services has so much more to gain than lose by quickly adopting and adapting AI to our industry. Thankfully, the Supreme Court has paved the way for even a faster adoption of AI through the very succinct directive issued by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen on February 2, mandating all legal practitioners to make use of the legal email system through which processes and correspondence with the Supreme Court are to be served and issued. To my mind, that is such an important directive and I am almost certain that the Honourable CJN will still issue further directives about better adoption of technology to the court system. There can be no better stamp of approval than what emanates from the highest Court in the land

    So, what is this AI that LawPavilion has for the legal industry?

    Our AI is called TIMI, a ChatBot, with more complex implementations coming shortly. It works like a consultant that lawyers can chat with. It converses with you and helps you get things done faster. It has been programmed to walk the user through the Civil Procedure Rules of Nigeria Courts.

    Why Civil Procedure Rules?

    We are starting with the Civil Procedure Rules because from our research, as a foremost Law Reporting Company in Nigeria, we have come to realise that 48 per cent of the cases in the Appellate Courts are not based on the substantive suit; but on procedural issues. This means that a lot of lawyers are erring on the side of procedures in court which is chiefly governed by the Civil Procedure Rules of the various courts. TIMI has been developed to ensure that its users never again err on the side of procedure!

    Can you briefly tell us how TIMI works?

    In a conversational manner, TIMI carefully walks its users through the Civil Procedure Rules, bringing to their attention what has to be done, within what time frame, consequence(s) of their failure to do something within the stipulated time and the remedy (if any) where there has been a default in complying with the stipulation of the Civil Procedure Rules. The user interface is very friendly and easy to navigate.

    Does TIMI have all the Civil Procedure Rules in Nigeria?

    For now, we have completed Lagos State Civil Procedure Rules. The Civil Procedure Rules of other states as well as the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules are in the pipeline and will be available to TIMI’s users shortly.

    Who can benefit from TIMI?

    Everybody! From the seasoned lawyers, to the new wigs, to law school students, to anyone that is interested in knowing how our CPR in Nigeria works.

    When will TIMI be available for purchase?

    TIMI will be unveiled at this year’s NBA conference in Abuja at our exhibition stand. We have a package called “Artificial Intelligence Suite” encompassing TIMI – Nigeria’s first AI Legal Assistant, Case Analytics and a Practice/Case Management Software. With this three-in-one feature, you can do so much more than just legal research and practice management! You can cross-reference cases, make use of the case analytics feature of LawPavilion Prime, automate your Case Diaries, keep records of spending in respect of a client’s account, track your matters’ list; endorse your client’s file electronically; automate your calendar and so much more while conversing with TIMI. This is the package we will be offering at the NBA Conference. Our goal is to make the practice of law and administration of justice seamless and highly effective while being absolutely efficient and affordable.

     

     

  • Let me tell you what I think of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    Let me start this week by recounting a joke I once read in the Reader’s Digest, I think it was. There was once a king who was worried about not knowing exactly what his subjects thought of him. So he got up one day, determined to find out, and dressed himself as a wretched pauper, then slipped out of the palace doors.

    He then fetched up at a bar where he met a lone, wizened old drinker. Simulating the manner of a carefree citizen, the king asked breezily, ‘And what do you think of the king?’ ‘Shhh!’, said the other. ‘Not here’. Then they went outside. ‘Now, will you tell me…’ ‘Shhh, not here’. Then the old man took the king some way out of the town. ‘Shhh, not here.’ They finally entered a field. When they got to the middle of it, the old man looked right and left, then asked the king to move closer before he whispered, ‘I like him’.

    The moral of that story is that if you really want to know what I think of AI, you have to wait till we get to the middle of the field before I can whisper it to you. Let me start however by saying that this week, we are not going to concern ourselves with the antics of our politicians, the subterfuge of our government, or the deliberately courted hysteria of the citizenry. We are going into the world of information technology

    I have always believed that western information technology is nothing but a ruse. My ancestors already had the traditional one. I remember that an ancestor of mine had the ability to command his own disappearance by standing on only one leg whenever danger threatened. More, that individual could also spend days on the farm and still manage to communicate to his wife beforehand what he wanted to eat on his return. That to me is information technology. So I ask, how come we’re just speaking of it now?

    Well, from my readings, it seems that the world has flown away with information technology, or is it the other way round now? It seems that since the microchip came into existence, the world has not been able to rest. I told you that someone has given the forecast that the world is probably going to be consumed not by fire but by the computer, the facilitator and host of your information technology structures.

    Take the computer for instance. Now, I hear you can programme your computer to wake you up in the morning, order your coffee, select your day’s wear, part the curtains, answer the door, organise your schedules and remind you that you are still owing your neighbour a rake that you failed to return on the promised date. Of course you and I know that these things make sense in Nigeria because they are already happening here. The facilitators of these actions are called wives.

    Seriously though, the other day, my computer reminded me that my next blood pressure measurement was due just because I once made the mistake of entering the last reading in it and it told me I was a borderline! Me, a borderline! I shook my fists at the thing.

    What I cannot easily shake my fist at is a robot. You know what a robot is, don’t you? It is that thing that is said to be +human, -sense. It is the personification of the information technology, microchip and telecommunication all rolled into one; the AI. I have no idea what that means but I guess you do. Anyway, in more serious climes (that means those countries where life is taken a little more seriously such as America, Japan, North Korea, etc.), robots are taken so seriously it is said they might soon replace soldiers on the battle field. So I ask, what will humans be doing when robots are slugging it out, go back to slinging insults?

    So, you can imagine my consternation when I heard that robots have even now entered the UN! There was this report of one ‘Sophia’ built to be able to not only reproduce what is inputted into her but that she can even simulate thought! By integrating her inputs, she can logically deduce and make structures that are new, thus simulating natural speech. That forced me to upgrade my definition of a robot to +human, +sense, -integrity. Anything that shamelessly steals another person’s ambition lacks integrity. Oh yes, it’s always been my ambition to go through the revolving doors of the UN. Now, a robot with AI has beaten me to it.

    There we are, everywhere you turn, AI is starring at you through its wide open mouth. Your lights now turn themselves on when you step on your porch. That is scary, but thank God for good old NEPA that does not allow that to happen often on account of its darkness restructuring programme. However, when Mr. or is it Miss AI wanted to take my bag after I returned from work the other day, I drew a line. I said a firm ‘no’. Decency is decency. What would I tell the neighbours? Anyway, I think one must look out for oneself. Robots never get tired. They only get disconnected. What would happen to me if I allowed a robot with AI to take over my life? I would become a vegetable, and would find myself needing to be connected sometimes to bring life back to my sinews.

    I am not accusing the builders of ‘Sophia’ and her AI ilk of trying to make me useless. Honestly though, it smells suspiciously so. I never complained that I could not blow on a hot coal pot to cook my meat to a turn. I never complained that I could no longer flip my switch of an evening to turn on the light. No, I did not. So, I regard the AI people as the aggressors. They came to my turf of human abilities and are now threatening to make me useless. I will not have it.

    Now that we are in the middle of the field, let me tell you what I think of AI. I will whisper it in your ears. ‘I think it’s fantastic.’ Shhh! Don’t let anyone hear you. Seriously though, AI just makes life a breeze. When you think that it removes a great deal of stress from much of living, it really makes living, you know, living! It is even more so when you get a robot that cooks and creates exceptional dishes from the little input it is given. I can’t wait to get a robot that can make new dishes from an input of garri, okro and stew. Maybe, it will come up with some new dish like Stokga.

    Even more importantly, I can’t wait for when robots will be sent to war in place of humans. I can think of a few wars for them myself. I have a neighbour who plays his music loudly through the night and I would like to go to war with him. Since I know he can beat me black and blue, I would be too happy to delegate the duty of fighting him to my AI.

    Seriously though, I think it is important for this country to become more serious in taking advantage of the drive for advancement in information technology instead of shying away from everything progress-driven. I won’t give up though. I’m determined to wait for the robot born with the war cry, ‘To the fray…!’ Who knows, even at this crawling pace, it may yet come. Should it not though, we can always go back to the traditional technology with its various abilities.

  • Technology cannot take teachers’ place

    With technological advancements in Artificial intelligence, mixed reality, quantum computing, 3D printing and others disrupting what is work and learning globally, Microsoft Vice President, Worldwide Education, Anthony Salcito, has called for changes in mindsets that would allow educators prepare learners for jobs of the future.

    Speaking at the opening of the two-day BETT Middle East and Africa Leadership conference and exhibition held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre ( ADNEC ), Abu Dhabi Monday, Salcito said kindergartners who would graduate by 2030 needed a different kind of education from what is presently on offer.

    Based on a research by Microsoft and McKinsey on “Preparing the Class of 2030”, the technology expert said their education needed to be more personalised and teach more soft and emotional skills.

    In doing this, Salcito said technology becomes an enabler that would, rather than take teachers’ place, strengthen them to learn more about their students and as a result give them education tailored to their needs.

    He said teachers needed to realise that technology could not take their place but could make them more productive in preparing their learners to excel in a world where the skill sets needed were presently unknown.

    He said such education should infuse passion in the learners.

    “The reality of why Artificial Intelligence is often feared is because of the displacement of jobs. In many ways it is going to create potential to improve existing jobs – potential to help students get better by providing teachers with tools to assist their jobs,” he said.

    In his speech, the Minister of Education at the United Arab Emirates, H.E. Hussain Ibrahim So, said his country was preparing hard to equip its citizens with the right kind of skills by evolving policies and establishing schools where innovative learning takes place.

    “UAE is the first to have a specialist for the fourth industrial revolution to create policies and laws. We need high quality education to enable our children for the future.

    “We were very proactive in the UAE and launched smart learning in 125 schools. We are planning to launch in 700 schools,” he said.

    In an interview with The Nation, the Story Adviser to Gov Abiola Ajimobi, on education, Dr BC Akin-Alabi said the Oyo State was ready to embrace the transformation technology brings.

    She said the government was partnering with Microsoft to make basic and advanced digital literacy curriculum available in all schools, public or private, at all levels.

  • Babcock Varsity holds seminar on artificial intelligence

    The role of artificial intelligence in transforming business and process design was the focus of a seminar organised by the Babcock University Computer Club (BUCC) at Ilishan-Remo in Ogun State.

    The seminar, with the them: Artificial Intelligence: The Automation Revolution, was coordinated by BUCC’s executive members.

    Keynote speaker and a senior lecturer in the department, Dr Omotunde, defined artificial intelligence (AI) as the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings.

    He said: “Machines think faster than humans and can be employed to carry out dangerous tasks. Their parameters, unlike humans, can be adjusted. We can consider gaming to be the most common use of the benefits of artificial intelligence. It becomes important part of our daily life. Our life is changed by AI because this technology is used in a wide area of day to day services.

    “Researchers and developers are using the theories to create applications in image recognition, speech recognition, medication diagnosis, financial predictions, statistical analysis and more. So, it’s no wonder that AI and machine-learning are also coming to the world of web design.”

    Olumiyiwa Folorunsho of ICT Section of Stanbic IBTC said the AI revolution had become a common thread running through the mobile tech world.

    Afolayan Fisayo, a software developer at hotels.ng, said AI and machine-learning were being used in all industries.

     

  • ‘Africa should invest in Artificial Intelligence’

    A professor of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at the Babcock University, Prof Oludele Awodele said the future of African continent lay in continuous research and investment in Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    Delivering his paper, “Sensing the future: From Common Sense to Intelligent Systems” at the university’s inaugural lecture last Thursday, Awodele said governments in Africa should invest in AI to make the continent better for all.

    “Sensing the Future,” meant that African universities and governments need to have a technological roadmap to bring about well-designed custom-made technological-driven smart campuses and cities.

    “As a matter of fact, some of the activities that require humans can be achieved with smart systems and sensors and integrated to get desired results,” he said.

    He also called on universities to promote and fund inter-disciplinary research because AI as a multi-disciplinary field has demonstrated the immense promise across disciplines such as Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering, Philosophy, Psychology and Linguistics.

    Highlighting the benefits of AI, Awodele said AI could be deployed in security, electricity, detection of crime and corruption among others.

    In terms of security, he said there were lots of data through which the concept of AI could be used to bring about informed decision.

    “When our data is intelligent, governments and institutions would be able to make an informed decision which would lead to good decision that would better the lives of the citizens,” he said.

    Awodele said the deployment of AI could lead to loss of jobs if people folded their arms and did not advance technologically.

    He said anyone who did not want machine to replace him or at work must be ready to grow technologically or become redundant.

    To prevent unethical efforts by desperate scientists from crossing redlines of regulatory bodies he said both national and international regulatory insights on AI activities would not be out of place.