Should we regulate AI in Africa?
Hi Listers, I hope you are well. There has been a push to regulate AI in Kenya and Africa. But is this a good move, will it stifle innovation in Africa. Read the paper and let's have a chat about it. Typed by Thumb👍 -- http://www.mtotonews.com <http://www.mtotonews.com> We are an integrated information and media company that is leveraging on technology to improve the lives of children by making them visible. The core of our business is an approach that puts the best interests of the child first, while our DNA is child participation. DISCLAIMER: This message (and any files attached) contain confidential information and is intended only for the individual(s) named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete it from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors, omissions, or damage caused by virus, in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission
This is a great article by Tevin and the team, thanks for sharing. We need to democratize AI innovation if we want to reach that level where the technology addresses our specific African realities, like Mpesa. My starting point would be policies that facilitate the creation data ecosystem that supports data access and use by the smaller players. Some of the oligopolies we have in the market are holding data that they have no interest in and maybe also lack the capacity to use. How can we incentivise them to open up this data? On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 7:33 AM Jennifer Kaberi via KICTANet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Hi Listers, I hope you are well. There has been a push to regulate AI in Kenya and Africa. But is this a good move, will it stifle innovation in Africa. Read the paper and let's have a chat about it. Typed by Thumbđź‘Ť
We are an integrated information and media company that is leveraging on technology to improve the lives of children by making them visible. The core of our business is an approach that puts the best interests of the child first, while our DNA is child participation.
DISCLAIMER: This message (and any files attached) contain confidential information and is intended only for the individual(s) named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete it from your system.
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Dear Listers, AI is going to be regulated one way or another. However, regulations are meant to stifle but rather should promote innovation in a safe and scalable way. The challenge I see with a lot of regulations especially the infamous Kenya Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Society Bill 2023 is they lack the spirit of innovation and democratization of AI. A lot of them are meant to gatekeep, and introduce rigidity and financial benefit to a few individuals. The question here is how do we go about regulating AI? 1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-safety-summit-2023-the-bletchl... 2. https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/advanced-persistent-manipulators-part-on... 3. https://openai.com/blog/disrupting-malicious-uses-of-ai-by-state-affiliated-... 4. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2024/02/14/staying-ahead-of-th... 5. https://openai.com/sora On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 8:06 AM Liz Orembo via KICTANet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
This is a great article by Tevin and the team, thanks for sharing.
We need to democratize AI innovation if we want to reach that level where the technology addresses our specific African realities, like Mpesa. My starting point would be policies that facilitate the creation data ecosystem that supports data access and use by the smaller players. Some of the oligopolies we have in the market are holding data that they have no interest in and maybe also lack the capacity to use. How can we incentivise them to open up this data?
On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 7:33 AM Jennifer Kaberi via KICTANet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Hi Listers, I hope you are well. There has been a push to regulate AI in Kenya and Africa. But is this a good move, will it stifle innovation in Africa. Read the paper and let's have a chat about it. Typed by Thumbđź‘Ť
We are an integrated information and media company that is leveraging on technology to improve the lives of children by making them visible. The core of our business is an approach that puts the best interests of the child first, while our DNA is child participation.
DISCLAIMER: This message (and any files attached) contain confidential information and is intended only for the individual(s) named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete it from your system.
E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses.
The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors, omissions, or damage caused by virus, in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission _______________________________________________ KICTANet mailing list -- kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke To unsubscribe send an email to kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke Unsubscribe or change your options at: https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/
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KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
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--
Best regards. Liz.
PGP ID: 0x1F3488BF _______________________________________________ KICTANet mailing list -- kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke To unsubscribe send an email to kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke Unsubscribe or change your options at: https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/
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KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
PRIVACY POLICY: See https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/
KICTANet - The Power of Communities, is Kenya's premier ICT policy engagement platform.
-- with kind regards Muchilwa Lawrence https://overwatch.or.ke www.testmyids.ke
Lawrence Do we need to regulate AI now? What would be the basis? And would regulating not stifle innovation? We need to have an honest conversation before jumping into the regulation debate. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grace Githaiga Twitter: @ggithaiga Skype: gracegithaiga Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracegithaiga ...the most important office in a democracy is the citizen. So, you see, that’s what our democracy demands. It needs you!----Barrack Obama. ________________________________ From: Lawrence Muchilwa via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: 16 February 2024 10:10 AM To: Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga@hotmail.com> Cc: Lawrence Muchilwa <muchilwal@gmail.com> Subject: [kictanet] Re: Should we regulate AI in Africa? Dear Listers, AI is going to be regulated one way or another. However, regulations are meant to stifle but rather should promote innovation in a safe and scalable way. The challenge I see with a lot of regulations especially the infamous Kenya Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Society Bill 2023 is they lack the spirit of innovation and democratization of AI. A lot of them are meant to gatekeep, and introduce rigidity and financial benefit to a few individuals. The question here is how do we go about regulating AI? 1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-safety-summit-2023-the-bletchl... 2. https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/advanced-persistent-manipulators-part-on... 3. https://openai.com/blog/disrupting-malicious-uses-of-ai-by-state-affiliated-... 4. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2024/02/14/staying-ahead-of-th... 5. https://openai.com/sora On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 8:06 AM Liz Orembo via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote: This is a great article by Tevin and the team, thanks for sharing. We need to democratize AI innovation if we want to reach that level where the technology addresses our specific African realities, like Mpesa. My starting point would be policies that facilitate the creation data ecosystem that supports data access and use by the smaller players. Some of the oligopolies we have in the market are holding data that they have no interest in and maybe also lack the capacity to use. How can we incentivise them to open up this data? On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 7:33 AM Jennifer Kaberi via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote: Hi Listers, I hope you are well. There has been a push to regulate AI in Kenya and Africa. But is this a good move, will it stifle innovation in Africa. Read the paper and let's have a chat about it. Typed by Thumb👍 http://www.mtotonews.com<http://www.mtotonews.com/> We are an integrated information and media company that is leveraging on technology to improve the lives of children by making them visible. The core of our business is an approach that puts the best interests of the child first, while our DNA is child participation. DISCLAIMER: This message (and any files attached) contain confidential information and is intended only for the individual(s) named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete it from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors, omissions, or damage caused by virus, in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission _______________________________________________ KICTANet mailing list -- kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> To unsubscribe send an email to kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Unsubscribe or change your options at: https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/ Mailing List Posts Online: https://posts.kictanet.or.ke/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KICTANet/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/KICTANet/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kictanet/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbcLVjnPtTGBEeYLGUb2Yow/ KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications. PRIVACY POLICY: See https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/ KICTANet - The Power of Communities, is Kenya's premier ICT policy engagement platform. -- Best regards. Liz. PGP ID: 0x1F3488BF _______________________________________________ KICTANet mailing list -- kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> To unsubscribe send an email to kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Unsubscribe or change your options at: https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/ Mailing List Posts Online: https://posts.kictanet.or.ke/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KICTANet/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/KICTANet/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kictanet/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbcLVjnPtTGBEeYLGUb2Yow/ KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications. PRIVACY POLICY: See https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/ KICTANet - The Power of Communities, is Kenya's premier ICT policy engagement platform. -- with kind regards Muchilwa Lawrence https://overwatch.or.ke<https://overwatch.or.ke/> www.testmyids.ke<http://www.testmyids.ke/>
Great question GG. Do we need to regulate AI NOW ? I have no strong opinion at the moment. It's claimed that Chinas law around IP helped leaf frog it's manufacturing industry to a point where we have some quality product. Jobs were created and revenue sources increased. However, that also led to a surge in affordable, counterfeit and substandard products that have ended up on Kenya and other African countries. It can be argued that regulations might have reduced the counterfeit increments and streamlined the industry. The same regulations could have also increased the RD timelines that have resulted in incremental increase in quality and standard. I admit it's a gamble. Do we want to take that gamble with AI given the impact they have in our digital world ? I think of this regulations from a point of creating the right foundation to ensure we don't play catch up later on when we have rogue AIs and LLMs. On Fri, Feb 16, 2024, 11:39 AM Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga@hotmail.com> wrote:
Lawrence Do we need to regulate AI now? What would be the basis? And would regulating not stifle innovation? We need to have an honest conversation before jumping into the regulation debate.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Grace Githaiga*
Twitter: @ggithaiga
Skype: gracegithaiga
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracegithaiga
.*.**.the most important office in a democracy is the citizen. So, you see, that’s what our democracy demands. It needs you!----Barrack Obama.* ------------------------------ *From:* Lawrence Muchilwa via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> *Sent:* 16 February 2024 10:10 AM *To:* Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga@hotmail.com> *Cc:* Lawrence Muchilwa <muchilwal@gmail.com> *Subject:* [kictanet] Re: Should we regulate AI in Africa?
Dear Listers,
AI is going to be regulated one way or another. However, regulations are meant to stifle but rather should promote innovation in a safe and scalable way.
The challenge I see with a lot of regulations especially the infamous Kenya Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Society Bill 2023 is they lack the spirit of innovation and democratization of AI. A lot of them are meant to gatekeep, and introduce rigidity and financial benefit to a few individuals.
The question here is how do we go about regulating AI?
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-safety-summit-2023-the-bletchl... 2. https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/advanced-persistent-manipulators-part-on... 3. https://openai.com/blog/disrupting-malicious-uses-of-ai-by-state-affiliated-... 4. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2024/02/14/staying-ahead-of-th... 5. https://openai.com/sora
On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 8:06 AM Liz Orembo via KICTANet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
This is a great article by Tevin and the team, thanks for sharing.
We need to democratize AI innovation if we want to reach that level where the technology addresses our specific African realities, like Mpesa. My starting point would be policies that facilitate the creation data ecosystem that supports data access and use by the smaller players. Some of the oligopolies we have in the market are holding data that they have no interest in and maybe also lack the capacity to use. How can we incentivise them to open up this data?
On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 7:33 AM Jennifer Kaberi via KICTANet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Hi Listers, I hope you are well. There has been a push to regulate AI in Kenya and Africa. But is this a good move, will it stifle innovation in Africa. Read the paper and let's have a chat about it. Typed by Thumbđź‘Ť
We are an integrated information and media company that is leveraging on technology to improve the lives of children by making them visible. The core of our business is an approach that puts the best interests of the child first, while our DNA is child participation.
DISCLAIMER: This message (and any files attached) contain confidential information and is intended only for the individual(s) named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete it from your system.
E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses.
The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors, omissions, or damage caused by virus, in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission _______________________________________________ KICTANet mailing list -- kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke To unsubscribe send an email to kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke Unsubscribe or change your options at: https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/
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KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
PRIVACY POLICY: See https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/
KICTANet - The Power of Communities, is Kenya's premier ICT policy engagement platform.
--
Best regards. Liz.
PGP ID: 0x1F3488BF _______________________________________________ KICTANet mailing list -- kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke To unsubscribe send an email to kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke Unsubscribe or change your options at: https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/
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KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
PRIVACY POLICY: See https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/
KICTANet - The Power of Communities, is Kenya's premier ICT policy engagement platform.
-- with kind regards Muchilwa Lawrence https://overwatch.or.ke www.testmyids.ke
One of the key questions is what are the gaps in the laws? For example, if AI is used to make fake images/audio/video and that causes some harm (to an individual’s reputation or something more serious like causing a riot or violence against someone), do we need new laws, or are existing laws able to be used? AI can have very wide impacts – both positive and negative; ultimately one of the key questions is who is “behind” the AI and thus liable for any harm that AI might do. Is it even possible to know who is behind it, or are too many people behind it? The same goes for the sources of data used in AI’s decision makings and liability/ownership etc of that. My point is that in some cases we may need new laws, in other cases existing laws may be sufficient. From: Lawrence Muchilwa via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Friday, 16 February 2024 12:15 To: Adam Lane <adam.lane@huawei.com> Cc: Kenya's premier ICT Policy engagement platform <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>; Lawrence Muchilwa <muchilwal@gmail.com> Subject: [kictanet] Re: Should we regulate AI in Africa? Great question GG. Do we need to regulate AI NOW ? I have no strong opinion at the moment. It's claimed that Chinas law around IP helped leaf frog it's manufacturing industry to a point where we have some quality product. Jobs were created and revenue sources increased. However, that also led to a surge in affordable, counterfeit and substandard products that have ended up on Kenya and other African countries. It can be argued that regulations might have reduced the counterfeit increments and streamlined the industry. The same regulations could have also increased the RD timelines that have resulted in incremental increase in quality and standard. I admit it's a gamble. Do we want to take that gamble with AI given the impact they have in our digital world ? I think of this regulations from a point of creating the right foundation to ensure we don't play catch up later on when we have rogue AIs and LLMs. On Fri, Feb 16, 2024, 11:39 AM Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga@hotmail.com<mailto:ggithaiga@hotmail.com>> wrote: Lawrence Do we need to regulate AI now? What would be the basis? And would regulating not stifle innovation? We need to have an honest conversation before jumping into the regulation debate. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grace Githaiga Twitter: @ggithaiga Skype: gracegithaiga Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracegithaiga ...the most important office in a democracy is the citizen. So, you see, that’s what our democracy demands. It needs you!----Barrack Obama. ________________________________ From: Lawrence Muchilwa via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> Sent: 16 February 2024 10:10 AM To: Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga@hotmail.com<mailto:ggithaiga@hotmail.com>> Cc: Lawrence Muchilwa <muchilwal@gmail.com<mailto:muchilwal@gmail.com>> Subject: [kictanet] Re: Should we regulate AI in Africa? Dear Listers, AI is going to be regulated one way or another. However, regulations are meant to stifle but rather should promote innovation in a safe and scalable way. The challenge I see with a lot of regulations especially the infamous Kenya Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Society Bill 2023 is they lack the spirit of innovation and democratization of AI. A lot of them are meant to gatekeep, and introduce rigidity and financial benefit to a few individuals. The question here is how do we go about regulating AI? 1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-safety-summit-2023-the-bletchl... 2. https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/advanced-persistent-manipulators-part-on... 3. https://openai.com/blog/disrupting-malicious-uses-of-ai-by-state-affiliated-... 4. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2024/02/14/staying-ahead-of-th... 5. https://openai.com/sora On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 8:06 AM Liz Orembo via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote: This is a great article by Tevin and the team, thanks for sharing. We need to democratize AI innovation if we want to reach that level where the technology addresses our specific African realities, like Mpesa. My starting point would be policies that facilitate the creation data ecosystem that supports data access and use by the smaller players. Some of the oligopolies we have in the market are holding data that they have no interest in and maybe also lack the capacity to use. How can we incentivise them to open up this data? On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 7:33 AM Jennifer Kaberi via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote: Hi Listers, I hope you are well. There has been a push to regulate AI in Kenya and Africa. But is this a good move, will it stifle innovation in Africa. Read the paper and let's have a chat about it. Typed by Thumb👍 http://www.mtotonews.com<http://www.mtotonews.com/> We are an integrated information and media company that is leveraging on technology to improve the lives of children by making them visible. The core of our business is an approach that puts the best interests of the child first, while our DNA is child participation. DISCLAIMER: This message (and any files attached) contain confidential information and is intended only for the individual(s) named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete it from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors, omissions, or damage caused by virus, in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission _______________________________________________ KICTANet mailing list -- kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> To unsubscribe send an email to kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Unsubscribe or change your options at: https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/ Mailing List Posts Online: https://posts.kictanet.or.ke/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KICTANet/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/KICTANet/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kictanet/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbcLVjnPtTGBEeYLGUb2Yow/ KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications. PRIVACY POLICY: See https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/ KICTANet - The Power of Communities, is Kenya's premier ICT policy engagement platform. -- Best regards. Liz. PGP ID: 0x1F3488BF _______________________________________________ KICTANet mailing list -- kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> To unsubscribe send an email to kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Unsubscribe or change your options at: https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/ Mailing List Posts Online: https://posts.kictanet.or.ke/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KICTANet/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/KICTANet/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kictanet/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbcLVjnPtTGBEeYLGUb2Yow/ KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications. PRIVACY POLICY: See https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/ KICTANet - The Power of Communities, is Kenya's premier ICT policy engagement platform. -- with kind regards Muchilwa Lawrence https://overwatch.or.ke<https://overwatch.or.ke/> www.testmyids.ke<http://www.testmyids.ke/>
Hi All, Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing the paper I contributed to. Here is a link for people who just want to click on a link and read https://qbit.africa/research/made-in-africa/. Just my two cents on this. I think the real danger Africa is in is being left behind when it comes to the AI ecosystem in all fronts Data Sets and Data Systems, Digital infrastructure and chips, talent and AI Markets. I think some of the dangers we perceive when it comes to AI in Africa, according to me, is the lack of our own ecosystem. For example as Adam inferred, the source of data directly plays a big role on AI biasness. Perhaps my challenge to all of us is instead of us fixating so much on regulations why not fixate on building kind of like what we did with the mobile money ecosystem. I must admit I was very young when MPESA came up but from what I hear and see is that the industry decided let’s build and see where this goes. It was not let’s regulate and see where this goes. Perhaps AI can take the same trajectory as financial services did just a thought. Because the resultant effect was Kenya and Africa became digital financial services powerhouses. If we must regulate, I argue; let’s at least start with a strategy that guides us on what we want. Also let us first take advantage of our existing laws and regulations to look at what needs to be modified to grow the AI industry and protect from some of the dangers which we get after we grow the industry. For example we really need tax breaks on AI startups, incentives to enable growth of computing power, chip manufacturing etc. Lasty, if we are being honest with each other in most cases when African countries go the regulation way where it's a nascent industry we tend to copy and paste global north countries regulations or come up with regulations that end up killing the industry because of vested interest like the proposed AI robotic bill. Kind Regards Tevin Mwenda Gitonga On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 12:20 PM Adam Lane via KICTANet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
One of the key questions is what are the gaps in the laws?
For example, if AI is used to make fake images/audio/video and that causes some harm (to an individual’s reputation or something more serious like causing a riot or violence against someone), do we need new laws, or are existing laws able to be used?
AI can have very wide impacts – both positive and negative; ultimately one of the key questions is who is “behind” the AI and thus liable for any harm that AI might do. Is it even possible to know who is behind it, or are too many people behind it? The same goes for the sources of data used in AI’s decision makings and liability/ownership etc of that.
My point is that in some cases we may need new laws, in other cases existing laws may be sufficient.
*From:* Lawrence Muchilwa via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> *Sent:* Friday, 16 February 2024 12:15 *To:* Adam Lane <adam.lane@huawei.com> *Cc:* Kenya's premier ICT Policy engagement platform < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>; Lawrence Muchilwa <muchilwal@gmail.com> *Subject:* [kictanet] Re: Should we regulate AI in Africa?
Great question GG.
Do we need to regulate AI NOW ?
I have no strong opinion at the moment.
It's claimed that Chinas law around IP helped leaf frog it's manufacturing industry to a point where we have some quality product. Jobs were created and revenue sources increased. However, that also led to a surge in affordable, counterfeit and substandard products that have ended up on Kenya and other African countries. It can be argued that regulations might have reduced the counterfeit increments and streamlined the industry. The same regulations could have also increased the RD timelines that have resulted in incremental increase in quality and standard.
I admit it's a gamble. Do we want to take that gamble with AI given the impact they have in our digital world ?
I think of this regulations from a point of creating the right foundation to ensure we don't play catch up later on when we have rogue AIs and LLMs.
On Fri, Feb 16, 2024, 11:39 AM Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga@hotmail.com> wrote:
Lawrence
Do we need to regulate AI now? What would be the basis? And would regulating not stifle innovation? We need to have an honest conversation before jumping into the regulation debate.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Grace Githaiga*
Twitter: @ggithaiga
Skype: gracegithaiga
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracegithaiga
.*.**.the most important office in a democracy is the citizen. So, you see, that’s what our democracy demands. It needs you!----Barrack Obama.* ------------------------------
*From:* Lawrence Muchilwa via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> *Sent:* 16 February 2024 10:10 AM *To:* Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga@hotmail.com> *Cc:* Lawrence Muchilwa <muchilwal@gmail.com> *Subject:* [kictanet] Re: Should we regulate AI in Africa?
Dear Listers,
AI is going to be regulated one way or another. However, regulations are meant to stifle but rather should promote innovation in a safe and scalable way.
The challenge I see with a lot of regulations especially the infamous Kenya Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Society Bill 2023 is they lack the spirit of innovation and democratization of AI. A lot of them are meant to gatekeep, and introduce rigidity and financial benefit to a few individuals.
The question here is how do we go about regulating AI?
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-safety-summit-2023-the-bletchl... 2. https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/advanced-persistent-manipulators-part-on... 3. https://openai.com/blog/disrupting-malicious-uses-of-ai-by-state-affiliated-... 4. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2024/02/14/staying-ahead-of-th... 5. https://openai.com/sora
On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 8:06 AM Liz Orembo via KICTANet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
This is a great article by Tevin and the team, thanks for sharing.
We need to democratize AI innovation if we want to reach that level where the technology addresses our specific African realities, like Mpesa. My starting point would be policies that facilitate the creation data ecosystem that supports data access and use by the smaller players. Some of the oligopolies we have in the market are holding data that they have no interest in and maybe also lack the capacity to use. How can we incentivise them to open up this data?
On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 7:33 AM Jennifer Kaberi via KICTANet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Hi Listers,
I hope you are well. There has been a push to regulate AI in Kenya and Africa. But is this a good move, will it stifle innovation in Africa. Read the paper and let's have a chat about it.
Typed by Thumbđź‘Ť
We are an integrated information and media company that is leveraging on technology to improve the lives of children by making them visible. The core of our business is an approach that puts the best interests of the child first, while our DNA is child participation.
DISCLAIMER: This message (and any files attached) contain confidential information and is intended only for the individual(s) named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete it from your system.
E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses.
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KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement.
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Best regards.
Liz.
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KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
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KICTANet - The Power of Communities, is Kenya's premier ICT policy engagement platform.
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with kind regards
Muchilwa Lawrence
https://overwatch.or.ke www.testmyids.ke
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KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
PRIVACY POLICY: See https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/
KICTANet - The Power of Communities, is Kenya's premier ICT policy engagement platform.
Hi Tevin It is a good paper. I would argue that AI’s transformative impacts are in the B2B space, not B2C on a global level; of course local developers’ talent and local data for local companies to build models and services on are key factors, but ultimately the limiting factor in B2B space is the few number of businesses (or government) here who would pay to buy/use AI tools compared to much larger economic markets around the World. That also means it is difficult to compete directly, but does indicate the need to focus on niche areas and niche markets, with the important focus of comparative advantage. It can be totally fine to use hardware and AI cloud platforms from other countries if here there is some unique (or niche) data set or a unique (or niche) customer for that solution, as that is where the need and potential is realistically. So I don’t think we need to try to compete on compute really. I also think local talent is good – and to be honest, good enough, is likely to be good enough, since the ICT talent requirements are to be able to use the cloud platforms (other aspects of skills are commercial skills etc). Again, trying to compete directly with other countries may be tough. So playing devil’s advocate, I’d argue we should focus on the data aspects – trying to get unique/niche data (that already exists, or generating it through collecting it), and then the market for the solution based on that data. With a lack of large businesses to buy (aside from the potential of selling into the global market), then here we will have to focus on SME markets and Consumer markets; not as much potential as larger corporate markets, but still something. Anyway, I believe there will be a lot of discussion and debate in this space as I fully agree that we should seek to develop a strategy specific to the situation here, that is also very realistic and practical. p.s. this is just looking at the positive potential from AI, rather than the negative, but that is of course another whole discussion as I alluded to previously. Cheers Adam From: tevin mwenda <tevinmwenda@gmail.com> Sent: Friday, 16 February 2024 16:34 To: Kenya's premier ICT Policy engagement platform <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Cc: Adam Lane <adam.lane@huawei.com> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Re: Should we regulate AI in Africa? Hi All, Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing the paper I contributed to. Here is a link for people who just want to click on a link and read https://qbit.africa/research/made-in-africa/. Just my two cents on this. I think the real danger Africa is in is being left behind when it comes to the AI ecosystem in all fronts Data Sets and Data Systems, Digital infrastructure and chips, talent and AI Markets. I think some of the dangers we perceive when it comes to AI in Africa, according to me, is the lack of our own ecosystem. For example as Adam inferred, the source of data directly plays a big role on AI biasness. Perhaps my challenge to all of us is instead of us fixating so much on regulations why not fixate on building kind of like what we did with the mobile money ecosystem. I must admit I was very young when MPESA came up but from what I hear and see is that the industry decided let’s build and see where this goes. It was not let’s regulate and see where this goes. Perhaps AI can take the same trajectory as financial services did just a thought. Because the resultant effect was Kenya and Africa became digital financial services powerhouses. If we must regulate, I argue; let’s at least start with a strategy that guides us on what we want. Also let us first take advantage of our existing laws and regulations to look at what needs to be modified to grow the AI industry and protect from some of the dangers which we get after we grow the industry. For example we really need tax breaks on AI startups, incentives to enable growth of computing power, chip manufacturing etc. Lasty, if we are being honest with each other in most cases when African countries go the regulation way where it's a nascent industry we tend to copy and paste global north countries regulations or come up with regulations that end up killing the industry because of vested interest like the proposed AI robotic bill. Kind Regards Tevin Mwenda Gitonga On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 12:20 PM Adam Lane via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote: One of the key questions is what are the gaps in the laws? For example, if AI is used to make fake images/audio/video and that causes some harm (to an individual’s reputation or something more serious like causing a riot or violence against someone), do we need new laws, or are existing laws able to be used? AI can have very wide impacts – both positive and negative; ultimately one of the key questions is who is “behind” the AI and thus liable for any harm that AI might do. Is it even possible to know who is behind it, or are too many people behind it? The same goes for the sources of data used in AI’s decision makings and liability/ownership etc of that. My point is that in some cases we may need new laws, in other cases existing laws may be sufficient. From: Lawrence Muchilwa via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> Sent: Friday, 16 February 2024 12:15 To: Adam Lane <adam.lane@huawei.com<mailto:adam.lane@huawei.com>> Cc: Kenya's premier ICT Policy engagement platform <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>>; Lawrence Muchilwa <muchilwal@gmail.com<mailto:muchilwal@gmail.com>> Subject: [kictanet] Re: Should we regulate AI in Africa? Great question GG. Do we need to regulate AI NOW ? I have no strong opinion at the moment. It's claimed that Chinas law around IP helped leaf frog it's manufacturing industry to a point where we have some quality product. Jobs were created and revenue sources increased. However, that also led to a surge in affordable, counterfeit and substandard products that have ended up on Kenya and other African countries. It can be argued that regulations might have reduced the counterfeit increments and streamlined the industry. The same regulations could have also increased the RD timelines that have resulted in incremental increase in quality and standard. I admit it's a gamble. Do we want to take that gamble with AI given the impact they have in our digital world ? I think of this regulations from a point of creating the right foundation to ensure we don't play catch up later on when we have rogue AIs and LLMs. On Fri, Feb 16, 2024, 11:39 AM Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga@hotmail.com<mailto:ggithaiga@hotmail.com>> wrote: Lawrence Do we need to regulate AI now? What would be the basis? And would regulating not stifle innovation? We need to have an honest conversation before jumping into the regulation debate. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grace Githaiga Twitter: @ggithaiga Skype: gracegithaiga Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracegithaiga ...the most important office in a democracy is the citizen. So, you see, that’s what our democracy demands. It needs you!----Barrack Obama. ________________________________ From: Lawrence Muchilwa via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> Sent: 16 February 2024 10:10 AM To: Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga@hotmail.com<mailto:ggithaiga@hotmail.com>> Cc: Lawrence Muchilwa <muchilwal@gmail.com<mailto:muchilwal@gmail.com>> Subject: [kictanet] Re: Should we regulate AI in Africa? Dear Listers, AI is going to be regulated one way or another. However, regulations are meant to stifle but rather should promote innovation in a safe and scalable way. The challenge I see with a lot of regulations especially the infamous Kenya Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Society Bill 2023 is they lack the spirit of innovation and democratization of AI. A lot of them are meant to gatekeep, and introduce rigidity and financial benefit to a few individuals. The question here is how do we go about regulating AI? 1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-safety-summit-2023-the-bletchl... 2. https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/advanced-persistent-manipulators-part-on... 3. https://openai.com/blog/disrupting-malicious-uses-of-ai-by-state-affiliated-... 4. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2024/02/14/staying-ahead-of-th... 5. https://openai.com/sora On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 8:06 AM Liz Orembo via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote: This is a great article by Tevin and the team, thanks for sharing. We need to democratize AI innovation if we want to reach that level where the technology addresses our specific African realities, like Mpesa. My starting point would be policies that facilitate the creation data ecosystem that supports data access and use by the smaller players. Some of the oligopolies we have in the market are holding data that they have no interest in and maybe also lack the capacity to use. How can we incentivise them to open up this data? On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 7:33 AM Jennifer Kaberi via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote: Hi Listers, I hope you are well. There has been a push to regulate AI in Kenya and Africa. But is this a good move, will it stifle innovation in Africa. Read the paper and let's have a chat about it. Typed by Thumb👍 http://www.mtotonews.com<http://www.mtotonews.com/> We are an integrated information and media company that is leveraging on technology to improve the lives of children by making them visible. The core of our business is an approach that puts the best interests of the child first, while our DNA is child participation. DISCLAIMER: This message (and any files attached) contain confidential information and is intended only for the individual(s) named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete it from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors, omissions, or damage caused by virus, in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission _______________________________________________ KICTANet mailing list -- kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> To unsubscribe send an email to kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Unsubscribe or change your options at: https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/ Mailing List Posts Online: https://posts.kictanet.or.ke/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KICTANet/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/KICTANet/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kictanet/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbcLVjnPtTGBEeYLGUb2Yow/ KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications. PRIVACY POLICY: See https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/ KICTANet - The Power of Communities, is Kenya's premier ICT policy engagement platform. -- Best regards. Liz. PGP ID: 0x1F3488BF _______________________________________________ KICTANet mailing list -- kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> To unsubscribe send an email to kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Unsubscribe or change your options at: https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/ Mailing List Posts Online: https://posts.kictanet.or.ke/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KICTANet/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/KICTANet/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kictanet/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbcLVjnPtTGBEeYLGUb2Yow/ KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications. PRIVACY POLICY: See https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/ KICTANet - The Power of Communities, is Kenya's premier ICT policy engagement platform. -- with kind regards Muchilwa Lawrence https://overwatch.or.ke<https://overwatch.or.ke/> www.testmyids.ke<http://www.testmyids.ke/> _______________________________________________ KICTANet mailing list -- kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> To unsubscribe send an email to kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Unsubscribe or change your options at: https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/ Mailing List Posts Online: https://posts.kictanet.or.ke/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KICTANet/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/KICTANet/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kictanet/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbcLVjnPtTGBEeYLGUb2Yow/ KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications. PRIVACY POLICY: See https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/ KICTANet - The Power of Communities, is Kenya's premier ICT policy engagement platform.
Listers, In many conversations, we never reflect on the quality of data that is churned. As we talk about staff and infrastructure, Africa can stand out by investing in people who create or encourage dissemination and creation of quality data. Indeje On Fri, Feb 16, 2024, 6:00 PM Adam Lane via KICTANet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Hi Tevin
It is a good paper.
I would argue that AI’s transformative impacts are in the B2B space, not B2C on a global level; of course local developers’ talent and local data for local companies to build models and services on are key factors, but ultimately the limiting factor in B2B space is the few number of businesses (or government) here who would pay to buy/use AI tools compared to much larger economic markets around the World. That also means it is difficult to compete directly, but does indicate the need to focus on niche areas and niche markets, with the important focus of comparative advantage. It can be totally fine to use hardware and AI cloud platforms from other countries if here there is some unique (or niche) data set or a unique (or niche) customer for that solution, as that is where the need and potential is realistically. So I don’t think we need to try to compete on compute really. I also think local talent is good – and to be honest, good enough, is likely to be good enough, since the ICT talent requirements are to be able to use the cloud platforms (other aspects of skills are commercial skills etc). Again, trying to compete directly with other countries may be tough.
So playing devil’s advocate, I’d argue we should focus on the data aspects – trying to get unique/niche data (that already exists, or generating it through collecting it), and then the market for the solution based on that data. With a lack of large businesses to buy (aside from the potential of selling into the global market), then here we will have to focus on SME markets and Consumer markets; not as much potential as larger corporate markets, but still something. Anyway, I believe there will be a lot of discussion and debate in this space as I fully agree that we should seek to develop a strategy specific to the situation here, that is also very realistic and practical.
p.s. this is just looking at the positive potential from AI, rather than the negative, but that is of course another whole discussion as I alluded to previously.
Cheers
Adam
*From:* tevin mwenda <tevinmwenda@gmail.com> *Sent:* Friday, 16 February 2024 16:34 *To:* Kenya's premier ICT Policy engagement platform < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> *Cc:* Adam Lane <adam.lane@huawei.com> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Re: Should we regulate AI in Africa?
Hi All,
Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing the paper I contributed to. Here is a link for people who just want to click on a link and read https://qbit.africa/research/made-in-africa/.
Just my two cents on this. I think the real danger Africa is in is being left behind when it comes to the AI ecosystem in all fronts Data Sets and Data Systems, Digital infrastructure and chips, talent and AI Markets. I think some of the dangers we perceive when it comes to AI in Africa, according to me, is the lack of our own ecosystem. For example as Adam inferred, the source of data directly plays a big role on AI biasness.
Perhaps my challenge to all of us is instead of us fixating so much on regulations why not fixate on building kind of like what we did with the mobile money ecosystem. I must admit I was very young when MPESA came up but from what I hear and see is that the industry decided let’s build and see where this goes. It was not let’s regulate and see where this goes. Perhaps AI can take the same trajectory as financial services did just a thought. Because the resultant effect was Kenya and Africa became digital financial services powerhouses.
If we must regulate, I argue; let’s at least start with a strategy that guides us on what we want. Also let us first take advantage of our existing laws and regulations to look at what needs to be modified to grow the AI industry and protect from some of the dangers which we get after we grow the industry. For example we really need tax breaks on AI startups, incentives to enable growth of computing power, chip manufacturing etc.
Lasty, if we are being honest with each other in most cases when African countries go the regulation way where it's a nascent industry we tend to copy and paste global north countries regulations or come up with regulations that end up killing the industry because of vested interest like the proposed AI robotic bill.
Kind Regards
Tevin Mwenda Gitonga
On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 12:20 PM Adam Lane via KICTANet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
One of the key questions is what are the gaps in the laws?
For example, if AI is used to make fake images/audio/video and that causes some harm (to an individual’s reputation or something more serious like causing a riot or violence against someone), do we need new laws, or are existing laws able to be used?
AI can have very wide impacts – both positive and negative; ultimately one of the key questions is who is “behind” the AI and thus liable for any harm that AI might do. Is it even possible to know who is behind it, or are too many people behind it? The same goes for the sources of data used in AI’s decision makings and liability/ownership etc of that.
My point is that in some cases we may need new laws, in other cases existing laws may be sufficient.
*From:* Lawrence Muchilwa via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> *Sent:* Friday, 16 February 2024 12:15 *To:* Adam Lane <adam.lane@huawei.com> *Cc:* Kenya's premier ICT Policy engagement platform < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>; Lawrence Muchilwa <muchilwal@gmail.com> *Subject:* [kictanet] Re: Should we regulate AI in Africa?
Great question GG.
Do we need to regulate AI NOW ?
I have no strong opinion at the moment.
It's claimed that Chinas law around IP helped leaf frog it's manufacturing industry to a point where we have some quality product. Jobs were created and revenue sources increased. However, that also led to a surge in affordable, counterfeit and substandard products that have ended up on Kenya and other African countries. It can be argued that regulations might have reduced the counterfeit increments and streamlined the industry. The same regulations could have also increased the RD timelines that have resulted in incremental increase in quality and standard.
I admit it's a gamble. Do we want to take that gamble with AI given the impact they have in our digital world ?
I think of this regulations from a point of creating the right foundation to ensure we don't play catch up later on when we have rogue AIs and LLMs.
On Fri, Feb 16, 2024, 11:39 AM Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga@hotmail.com> wrote:
Lawrence
Do we need to regulate AI now? What would be the basis? And would regulating not stifle innovation? We need to have an honest conversation before jumping into the regulation debate.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Grace Githaiga*
Twitter: @ggithaiga
Skype: gracegithaiga
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracegithaiga
.*.**.the most important office in a democracy is the citizen. So, you see, that’s what our democracy demands. It needs you!----Barrack Obama.* ------------------------------
*From:* Lawrence Muchilwa via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> *Sent:* 16 February 2024 10:10 AM *To:* Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga@hotmail.com> *Cc:* Lawrence Muchilwa <muchilwal@gmail.com> *Subject:* [kictanet] Re: Should we regulate AI in Africa?
Dear Listers,
AI is going to be regulated one way or another. However, regulations are meant to stifle but rather should promote innovation in a safe and scalable way.
The challenge I see with a lot of regulations especially the infamous Kenya Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Society Bill 2023 is they lack the spirit of innovation and democratization of AI. A lot of them are meant to gatekeep, and introduce rigidity and financial benefit to a few individuals.
The question here is how do we go about regulating AI?
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-safety-summit-2023-the-bletchl... 2. https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/advanced-persistent-manipulators-part-on... 3. https://openai.com/blog/disrupting-malicious-uses-of-ai-by-state-affiliated-... 4. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2024/02/14/staying-ahead-of-th... 5. https://openai.com/sora
On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 8:06 AM Liz Orembo via KICTANet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
This is a great article by Tevin and the team, thanks for sharing.
We need to democratize AI innovation if we want to reach that level where the technology addresses our specific African realities, like Mpesa. My starting point would be policies that facilitate the creation data ecosystem that supports data access and use by the smaller players. Some of the oligopolies we have in the market are holding data that they have no interest in and maybe also lack the capacity to use. How can we incentivise them to open up this data?
On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 7:33 AM Jennifer Kaberi via KICTANet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Hi Listers,
I hope you are well. There has been a push to regulate AI in Kenya and Africa. But is this a good move, will it stifle innovation in Africa. Read the paper and let's have a chat about it.
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Best regards.
Liz.
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KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
PRIVACY POLICY: See https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/
KICTANet - The Power of Communities, is Kenya's premier ICT policy engagement platform.
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with kind regards
Muchilwa Lawrence
https://overwatch.or.ke www.testmyids.ke
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KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
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KICTANet - The Power of Communities, is Kenya's premier ICT policy engagement platform.
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KICTANet is a multi-stakeholder Think Tank for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. KICTANet is a catalyst for reform in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Its work is guided by four pillars of Policy Advocacy, Capacity Building, Research, and Stakeholder Engagement.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
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participants (7)
-
Adam Lane
-
David Indeje
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Grace Githaiga
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Jennifer Kaberi
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Lawrence Muchilwa
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Liz Orembo
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tevin mwenda