According to a 2021 report assessing Africa’s needs in terms of artificial intelligence (AI), only 6 out of the 32 participating countries claim to have the necessary means to analyze and address the ethical implications of artificial intelligence.
This figure, unfortunately, illustrates the ethical vulnerability of Africa. As I often emphasize, a coveted market without ethical safeguards is often an arena of instability, typically to the detriment of the consuming population/society.
With the concern to contribute to the construction of an ethical culture of artificial intelligence in Africa, I founded the Euro-African Observatory of Artificial Intelligence in February 2020.
Its objectives are threefold:
- Raise awareness among the general public (various components of civil society) about the ethical issues of AI in Africa and Europe.
- Develop training programs to integrate the teaching of AI ethics both in school and university curricula and among other stakeholders in the sector (developers, as well as legislative, executive, and judicial powers, etc.).
- Promote the exchange of ethical knowledge from a Euro-African perspective.
