As we enter the age of exponential technologies and AI in particular, the continent is rife with opportunity and also a range of risks. The goal of Pax Technologica is to support the emergence of positive technology adoptions that are contextually relevant, culturally appropriate, and focused on solving some of the most important social and environmental challenges that the myriad African realities exhibit.
Many of us hope to see the leapfrogging of infrastructures that liberate the creative energies of the youth and exemplify how AI can massively contribute to the empowerment of communities through healthcare, education, food and environmental innovations. Even if today the continent is a marginal AI player relative to the US, China and in some respects Europe, the plethora or homegrown solutions addressing local issues can become a boon for the economy and the definition of new identities. While this is our dream that has started to happen, the dynamics on the ground are somewhat complex and often limit the manifestation of this ambition.
Our panel staging leading policy makers, politicians, technology innovators and futurists will attempt to frame the opportunities as well as express truthfully what the obstacles are and suggest how to overcome them. This is time when an immense transformation and acceleration can happen. It is also the moment when not acting on some of the levers will thwart the continent. Join us to discuss how AI can be a game changer in the up and coming golden age of Africa.
In 2022, Togo managed to become the landing point of the Google Equiano cable making it a strategic digital infrastructure player in west Africa. As a consequence of ambitious governmental leadership and Digital inclusion strategies Togo stands out regionally and has started to showcase how to bring innovation across the board and into the hands of otherwise marginalised populations.
The speed with which transformations occur and most importantly their relevance and quality is directly correlated to the way the political machinery and bureaucracies are able to adopt technology. This is no secret and still this is an art where the compromise is often to chose between leaving many behind or not going fast enough.
In this panel we will present positive adoption scenarios of AI, innovative policy frameworks, and what it takes to transform entire nations step by step through creative leadership and policymaking. This is also about singing the praises of African exceptionalism especially with regards to the impressive uplift of local economies and personal freedoms best practices bring.
We want more of these to become the norm and give a chance to millions through homegrown strategies that appreciate the values, cultures and problem sets from within.
Join this Pax Technologica highlight at Africa House to discover extraordinary champions currently in the continent that break the mould and genuinely make a difference.
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.
The current investment in AI in Africa is an exciting space especially if you believe AI could contribute up to 1.5B dollars to the continents aggregated GDP, or almost one third of it at a projected 4.6B dollars in 2030. Those willing to commit today to the development of the African AI landscape stand to reap significant rewards which could be the most dramatic economic shift in most of the African nations history to date.
However promising, there are a number of aspects to consider that may have perverse consequences: are these Western-style unicorns driving innovation in ways that prioritize the creation of non-essential goods, potentially exploiting technology-curious but less technologically mature African communities? It is of paramount importance that African AI is increasingly made in, made for, and made by Africans or people who share these values, cultural legacies, and understand the needs and aspirations of a very young and meaning seeking population.
In this panel we will contemplate how Pax Technologica and partner organisations, entrepreneurs, and finance pioneers can affect the balance and ratio of African to foreign technology, and design filters or protocols to spawn or accelerate startup ecosystems and companies mature to grow across borders in Africa that model behaviour and use cases that bring the value home.
As we dive into a future where technology will be everywhere, including inside of us perhaps and sooner than we think or want, a question is bubbling in the conscience of the every man and experts alike: what will remain of our humanity if we keep steaming forward? The second question that comes to mind for the caring world citizen is: how will this benefit those currently sidelined?
Beyond the notions of automation, exclusion, robots taking over, and empathetic machines, lies a horizon filled with anxiety fuelled by science fiction movies and dystopian narratives. Of course there is reason to fear a totalitarian tomorrow ruled by humans with powerful humanoid computers behind them. Is this realistic or should we also be careful about what we fear and start to behave and code AI in ways that lead us closer to our humanity rather than away from it?
Pax Technologica is a non profit initiative founded by Thomas Ermacora and Paul Hughes, both futurists, designers and storytellers, who want to provocatively ask if we can frame our collective imagination differently. For example the incredible range of applications and scenarios for AI in Africa could be the most important learning ground and resource in making AI work for humanity as well as the most important thing to succeed in and greatest business opportunity of our time.
