As promised, here’s my thoughts on the Global AI Summit on Africa which occurred earlier this month.

By the numbers (as provided by the organizers) —

— 2,000+ Delegates
— 1,000+ International Delegates
— 400+ Students and and Young Innovators 
— 97 Nationalities represented
— Transformative announcements, engaging conversations, inspiring startup pitches

The delegates included several heads of state and a significant presence at the Ministerial level.

Declaration.

The Africa Delegation on Artificial Intelligence is the key official, government level  outcome of the Summit.  

Many have commented on the Summit, some wildly enthusiastic and others more critical. On the enthusiastic side, I heard excitement about the scope of local entrepreneurs and practitioners, the explicit calls for the Africa region to take care of itself and not wait for others to “assist” to a sense of the Summit as a foundation for important future action. On the critical side I heard concerns that the amount of Western funding influencing direction, and concerns that building infrastructure like data centers gets attention relative to building other parts of the AI “stack.” I’m going to leave a evaluation of the full Summit to those with far better context and understanding of the region. For my part, I’ll focus on on the side events.  

I was very heartened to see the diversity of side events that occurred during and around the Summit. I’ve found these side events can make or break an event, quite separate from the official content. The scope and diversity of side events gives a picture of how many groups feel the event touches on important topics and brings together interesting people. I attended a couple of side events myself, and learned of multiple other side events as I talked to people during the Summit. One such event was all day, bringing together policy professionals and ministerial staff. Another brought together AI practitioners from around the Continent who rarely if ever get together for in person community building. This struck me as very powerful, perhaps because I have such vivid memories of the first time the Firefox community got together. This was after we shipped Firefox 1.0, so after we had worked remotely for years to build a browser. That era was before video calls, and so we often knew each other through written materials only.   Getting together physically made a dramatic mental difference and made us much more productive for a good long while. The organizer of this gathering at the Summit was practically buzzing with excitement at the chance to finally bring this community together.  

I did participate in  an evening panel for a research colloquium where the working energy was so loud it almost overpowered the microphones of the panelists. I also participated in a quiet breakfast side event that brought together practitioners and policy wonks for a reasonably frank discussion on what’s working and what challenges need attention. On the official side, I was part of a panel on Innovating for a Healthier Future. My main comments were focused on the themes of “open must win” and the “ethos of open.”   (These are in minutes 33 to 38.)

I see the inclusion of side events as a big success. In particular, having AI practitioners, entrepreneurs, professors mixing with each other as well as policy makers and government officials.   Building new things is what drives change. Policy can help or harm this effort dramatically.    

I’m very eager to see the results over time.