The appearance of cheap or free tools is being adopted by those with smartphones and the ability to connect. As governments and legislators struggle to understand the implications of this powerful technology and determine how to bring regulations for safe use, millions of people enjoy their ability to save time, helping them transform data without processing into essays, exam responses or, with a little more work, even videos and podcasts.
Even in developing countries where electricity and Internet access are limited (it is estimated that more than 570 million people in Africa lack electricity), there is enthusiasm for the potential of AI. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC), for example, a nation divided by internal conflict, poverty and vast inequality, educators are seeing the impact of AI.
“It is obvious that our country is delayed in terms of new technologies for one reason or another,” says Benjamin Sivanzire, teacher in Beni, North Kivu province. “Many parts of the RDC do not even have traditional communication methods, or even radio or television.”
Benjamin Sivanzire, a teacher in the east of the RDC.
However, despite the fact that Mr. Sivanzire and his students still cannot use AI in their classes, they are seeing that it is used in the wider culture, often negatively, to manipulate public opinion.
The teacher underlines the importance of educating people to distinguish between verifiable information and lies. “There are videos created by artificial intelligence that show images that are not real and have been created for propaganda purposes,” he explains.
Coating the Bubble of the Silicon Valley
A concern that is often raised is the extent to which the development of AI tools is concentrated in the hands of a relatively small group of people.
Farida Shahid, the Independent Special Rapporteur about the right to education, shares these concerns.
“The algorithms of AIs are being carried out by people who often feel in a particular place, such as Silicon Valley, where people who do and try them have their own prejudices,” she says. “Often, algorithms are not doing well to recognize people with dark skin. They also have big problems with autistic people and do not like to look for cameras.
“Another example is the United Kingdom where, recently, an AI program was used to qualify exam examinations. This led to biased decisions against people, from certain ethnic origins. We really need to see this issue more closely, starting with the perspective of human rights, and I think it is where the UN role is a UN role: if it is increasingly in the AI. Verification, it must have problems with which a privilege frame is using the privilege, and does not refer to White White White, and does not refer to White White White, and is not reflected in White White, and is not reflected in White White.
The UN has identified the urgent need to expand the developer’s talent base as a central one to ensure that a wide variety of voices are heard in the “Edtech (educational technology).
Shafika Isaacs, head of technology and AI of the UN Agency for Science, Technology and Education (UNESCO), says that the number of new African companies Edtech has been in fungi in recent years, with entrepreneurs who experience with digital tools enabled for AI that could support learning and teaching in many different contexts, even in African languages and local dialects.
“Personally, I have committed to a startup that coincides with high school students with professional careers, including the choice of the appropriate university, the community university or even the entrepreneurship program. They have seen solid results due to their focus on children in disadvantaged contexts and technological startups have also analyzed the development of mobile applications with INAI, including chat boots, which can support teachers in Teaching literature or the teaching of mathematicians.
“The challenge is that there is often a disconnection between the public education system and new technology companies. We need educators to be proactive to participate with these developing tools, and we encourage students and teachers to learn how to create and design technologies that are relevant to their linguistic and cultural contexts.”
Many African governments are interested in adopting national strategies of AI and integrating AI in their national education technologies. In Côte d’IVorire, where AI is already being widely used in the private sector. Mariatou Koné, the Minister of Education, says that the country’s education system is experiencing a transformation, after a 2022 review that recommended a digitalization strategy.
“We have established initiatives to ensure that everyone is aware of the AI problem. You can provide individual learning programs and help students fight to improve,” said Mrs. Koné. “However, we are concerned about possible abuses. We have to be able to protect personal data and make sure students are aware of potential hazards.”
The minister agrees that, to protect against bias, the group of engineers who build AI tools must be expanded. “We need the appropriate tools, adapted to the African context, to the context of ivory. We have our own history, our own inheritance. If we create our own industry, it must adapt to the realities of Ivory Coast.”