Artificial Intelligence Archives

7Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business

Data democracy, much like political democracy, seeks to empower everyone for transformative change

By Upuli de Abrew, Co-Founder and Director at Insight Consulting Democratisation of data enables a new kind of AI: Augmented intelligence In January, a Time Magazine article called 2024 a make-or-break year for democracy, with more than half of the planet’s population heading to the polls. South Africans saw peaceful democracy at play when the ruling party lost its majority for the first time since 1994. Dozens of other countries had elections with varying degrees of peaceful acceptance of the results. The “year of democracy’s” climax is no doubt the US general election. While politics around the world can be described as messy, the goal of democracy, the end – as it were – is equal rights for all. It is the democratisation of choice, voice, opportunity and more. That, despite challenge...

6Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Events, South Africa News, Tech

Johannesburg Welcomes Africa’s Largest AI Event & AI4Good Summit

Africa’s largest Artificial Intelligence & Intelligent Automation event, AI Expo Africa, will be running its highly acclaimed conference & trade show at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa 30-31 October 2024. Now entering its 7th year, the annual AI Expo Africa event unites regional and international thought leaders, suppliers and start-ups to discuss and showcase the latest AI & Smart Tech innovations, from the biggest global brands to the smallest and newest local SMMEs. The core focus of the show are real world applications you can deploy today with an audience comprised of Enterprise and Government buyers, deployment & service providers, start-ups, educators, NGOs, investors and ecosystem builders. Nonnie Kubeka, Executive Director of the Gau...

13Sep

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Main

Why Africa’s Approach to Financial Risk Management Needs to Change

By Reggie Mlangeni, Head of Sales and Structuring at Absa Corporate and Investment Banking When detached from the intricate realities of Africa’s economic environment, financial risk management strategies that may prove successful elsewhere often falter. For nations grappling with rising levels of sovereign debt, unpredictable regulatory uncertainties, and the far-reaching repercussions of political transitions, traditional frameworks, often borrowed from more stable economies, fail to account for the volatility and complexity inherent in many African markets – necessitating a re-evaluation of how financial risks are quantified and managed on the continent. Recent developments in several countries have been particularly illustrative of this. In Ghana, faced with substantial revenue co...

24Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Tech

Security, Ethics and Opportunity – AI in South Africa

Jacques du Bruyn, Managing Director at Flume Digital Marketing Don’t panic – AI isn’t coming for your job. What it is doing is delivering new opportunities, creating new jobs and making work simpler for millions of people. Like the viral quote from Joanna Maciejewska about wanting AI to do the laundry and dishes so she can work on art, rather than having it create art and writing so she can do the housework – which has been interpreted many ways – the opportunity can work both ways. Take the Gap You can work hard to understand how AI operates and get to the front of the Prompt Engineer queue, capitalising on an opportunity to be the person who is able to prompt AI to deliver the specific result – an image, music, video, research or copy – that a client needs. You can also use AI to del...

How Air France is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to optimise its business activities and improve the customer experience

4Jun

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Tech

How Air France is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to optimise its business activities and improve the customer experience

With 100,000 customers carried every day on board more than 1,000 flights, Air France’s activity generates a considerable volume of data. Making optimum use of this resource to constantly improve performance is therefore a strategic challenge for the airline, combined with an absolute priority, which is to protect the company and its customers’ data. This is not a new topic. In 1958, Air France set up an operational research department, in charge of promoting and structuring innovation within the company. The aim was to adapt it to the technological developments of a constantly evolving industry. This stream of information or “data” was rapidly identified as a valuable asset, enabling us to better understand customer behaviour. This groundwork notably led to the expansion of revenue man...

4Jun

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Tech

AI’s double-edged sword requires a human security approach

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has ushered in both promise and peril for organisations needing to combat cyber threat actors. As ESET Southern Africa Chief Technology Officer, Adrian Stanford, notes, “AI is reshaping the battlefield between cyber attackers and defenders, offering new tools to both sides.” The double-edged generative AI (gen AI) sword can be used by malicious actors to craft sophisticated phishing emails, spam, and disinformation campaigns, amplifying the scale and effectiveness of cyberattacks. However, defenders can also harness AI for threat intelligence research, improved threat detection capabilities, and streamlined incident response. It's a battle of wits and algorithms, where innovation is the currency. AI cybersecurity is surging According to the World Economic Fo...

29Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Local businesses must invest in AI infrastructure to secure market share amid arrival of multinationals in SA

Like any tool or technological advancement, AI can be both destructive or transformative; but generally, the success or failure of technological advancements relies on a susceptible user base and an enabling environment in which it is to be deployed. “Planes are great, but they become borderline useless without airports, control towers, and regulatory foresight. With that in mind, can we say that the South African economy is ready for AI? Have we built a foundation for local businesses to leverage or successfully adopt AI technologies? In short, we have not. Upsettingly, as an economy, South Africa is not yet fully ready for AI’s presence,” comments Jacques Jordaan, CEO and Co-Founder at Specno. “Foreign companies and countries have already begun to lay solid foundations for the successf...

3Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business

Bias-free Futures: Strategies for Ethical AI Implementation

As organisations step up efforts to leverage the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI), it is essential for both AI developers and regulators to consistently contemplate, integrate, and advocate for ethical considerations throughout the entire process. That’s according to Hope Lukoto, Chief Human Resource Officer at BCX, who points out that while AI promises a plethora of business benefits, responsible use of the technology is key to unlocking its full potential. AI bias, also referred to as machine learning bias or algorithm bias, refers to AI systems that produce biased results that reflect and perpetuate human biases within a society, including historical and current social inequality. “Artificial intelligence can transform our lives for the better. But AI systems are only a...

Club Med accelerates its digital transformation by focusing on generative artificial intelligence

23Jan

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Africa Travel, Tech

Club Med accelerates its digital transformation by focusing on generative artificial intelligence

Club Med, a pioneer of premium all-inclusive vacations, has launched a new stage in its digital transformation with the integration of artificial intelligence (AI). This forms part of one of its strategic pillars: "Happy Digital", which aims to enhance their customer experience and employees’ working time through the smart use of technology. In 2022, Club Med created its own Data Factory, a platform for data management. Since March 2023, Club Med has implemented a generative AI strategy (AI that uses existing content for learning purpose to generate new content - texts, sounds, images and more) to continue enriching the customer experience and free up the time of its teams to focus on value-driven tasks. "Generative artificial intelligence (AI), powered by a substantial collection of dat...

22Jan

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Tech

Unlocking AI’s potential in 2024

Tarsus on Demand highlights the importance of leveraging AI properly in 2024, and how BI can provide the vital clean data for such solutions to work effectively. 2023 has seen the phenomenal rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), the latest in a long line of AI technologies designed to help organisations to improve their business. And there is little doubt that the promise AI holds is vast - from streamlined operations and personalised customer experiences to groundbreaking innovations. As with any new technology, the hype around it is as large as its potential business benefits. Despite this, an increasing number of organisations are making efforts to implement it into their business processes. The critical challenge with such implementations, explains Othelo Vieira, Technica...