I recently facilitated a convening on AI research, policy, governance and innovation in Nigeria. It was refreshing to hear cross-convo from academia, civil society, policy actors, AI safety thinkers, technologists, startup ecosystem builders, funders, and folks thinking about language preservation, and public-interest tech.
Conversations were RICH and enlightening!
It was especially interesting to learn about what already exists within the AI ecosystem in Nigeria. From research that could inform policy, to what developers are building and the policy conversations happening. People are thinking deeply about how AI shows up in real life, how it plugs existing gaps, and how it might help preserve languages, strengthen health systems, improve agriculture, etc.
But a lot of work and smaller conversations are still happening in silos.
We speak about collectives, coordination and collaboration, but perhaps intentional-interconnected-conversations is how we need to approach these.
I left the session wondering how we might best support different AI actors to find each other, learn from each other, and see the interconnectedness of their work as an opportunity?
What we need to surface and support was evident from the conversations:
🗯️ 🖇️ 🗯️ Language preservation actors need to be in conversation with health, agriculture and education actors because localization is not only about translating tools into the usual major languages. It is about whether a farmer, patient, trader, teacher or community health worker can actually use a tool in the language (tone) and context.
🗯️ 🖇️ 🗯️ Researchers working on compute and infrastructure need to understand what businesses, startups and public-interest innovators are actually struggling with: affordability, hosting, model testing, data storage, reliability and access.
🗯️ 🖇️ 🗯️ Policy advocates need researchers close enough to help identify what evidence must be generated early, before regulation is already late.
I also kept thinking about the difference between AI use and AI capability.
Some people can already see clearly how AI and emerging technologies can enhance business systems, strengthen processes, improve decision-making and grow profits. Others are using AI personally, to be faster or more productive, but may not yet see how it might better operationalize their enterprise and how that would translate to increased revenue.
In the coming months and years, it will be interesting to see whether or how Nigeria’s AI conversations can move from smart things happening in different silos to a more connected ecosystem with enough of a shared voice to influence national policy and contribute to continental conversations on AI governance, cybersecurity, ethics, safety and protections.
There is an opportunity to extend the potential of the work already being done by helping the actors see each other, connect the dots and grow together.
Still Listening. Still Learning. Now Asking.
Yop Rwang Pam
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