Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Time: 5am New York | 9am Dakar | 10am Yaoundé | 11am South Africa| 12pm Nairobi | 5pm Macau
Meeting duration: 2 hours
Venue: Zoom
This event is organized in support of the UN Secretary General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation to enhance multi-stakeholder efforts on global AI cooperation. The outcomes of the consultation will be reported to the UN Secretary-General's Global Advisory Body on AI and shared among international experts on the platform. Ultimately, we hope to establish an AI African Expert Network in the region. Our first expert consultation meeting will be moderated by UNU Macau’s Head of Research, Dr Serge Stinckwich and Young ICTD Fellow, Dr Attlee Gamundani, both experts on AI. This is a great opportunity to connect with fellow academics and researchers specializing in AI and Machine Learning in Africa.
In today’s digital age, Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds enormous potential in solving complex global challenges and helping accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in developing countries. This poses a great opportunity for Africa as the region still lags behind in their human, social and environmental development progress. Although there are existing discussions warning against the ethical implications of AI, it is also important to dive deeper into the issue of AI implementation in the region, particularly ahead of the post-COVID19 era. This expert consultation meeting will bring together interdisciplinary researchers and ICT entrepreneurs specialized in AI in the context of Africa to discuss the practical opportunities and challenges to AI implementation in the region and foster AI cooperation that is inclusive of the Global South.
Meeting Agenda (Dakar time zone GMT)
9.00 – 9.15 am
Opening Remarks and Introduction
by Dr Jingbo Huang, UNU Macau
9.15 – 9.30am
Framing and Setting the Tone for the AI Expert Consultation
by Dr Serge Stinckwich and Dr Attlee Gamundani, UNU Macau
9.30 – 9.50 am
AI: Opportunities and Risks for Africa
9.50 – 10.10am
What kind of research or capacity building activities should be conducted?
10.10 – 10.30 am
From research to implementation
10.30 – 10.40 am
Closing remarks
by Danit Gal, Technology Advisor to the UN Secretary-General Roadmap for Digital Cooperation
10.40 – 10.50am
Q&A and Wrapping Up
