The current trajectory and predicted global energy consumption related to AI is expected to jump from 100 TWh in 2025 to close to a 1000 TWh in 2030. The AI market size in Africa is looking to grow from 9 to 18 billion USD in the same period. And the continent is set to double in population in the next generation. These numbers are enormously complex to assimilate and make sense of for politicians, citizens, entrepreneurs and anyone who wants to help transform this massive transformation into what it deserves to become: Powerhouse Africa with a peloton of contenders to deserve comparisons with the marvel mythical country of Wakanda.
In our view the critical need is to think about these issues together and avoid the siloing of them that current governance structures lead to and lenses of analysis confer. For one, it seems that we must connect the dots between green energy infrastructure and AI compute and connectivity. That has started and still we should also look at this in relationship to urbanisation and climate change. For example, is there an opportunity to think about how to use smart low-fi and small language model based AI, by connecting villages in rural areas to depend less on urban centralisation and create clusters of excellence that are self sufficient.
In this panel we want to present Pax Technologica’s African Chapter and introduce some of our thoughts about the types of projects and programs we want to entertain, to reimagine, and challenge some of the existing assumptions about the development of AI and its role in becoming a balancing factor in the socio-economic foundations of the continent.
Join us to discuss how we can really bring about the boom we want to see by acting on the levers of policy, enterprise and public education – while authentically calling for an awareness of this revolution needing to be understood with greater alignment between energy, compute and social infrastructures.