Zain Verjee, an executive fellow at the Digital Data and Design Institute at Harvard University, co-founded an AI and communications consultancy and hosts the podcast series Embedded. She discusses with Omar Ben Yedder the future of AI and technology adoption in Africa, pivotal topics at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos.
You have extensively explored AI and cryptocurrency in the past year. What have you learned? What has caught your attention, both positively and negatively?
This year has been all about learning for me. I’ve actively engaged with AI tools and technologies, as well as with cryptocurrency. My ambition is to absorb at least one percent of something new daily, celebrating small victories and allowing myself to understand the basics before advancing further.
Becoming a complete expert is not my goal; a 30 percent understanding feels adequate. I’ve observed that women often face intimidation regarding technology when it isn’t their primary area. I strive to break down those barriers; if I can comprehend and engage with new technologies, so can other women.
I’ve realized AI is here to stay—those who resist adopting it will be eclipsed by those who embrace it. In communications, AI has already begun to disrupt this field, rapidly influencing writing, creativity, content generation, production, editing, and filmmaking. The landscape is now more equitable.
I am optimistic that innovation will simplify our lives, boost our intelligence, and accelerate our tasks. However, I approach these advancements with a realistic mindset, acknowledging that we face a significant journey ahead in embedding ethics into AI, addressing biases in data sets, and navigating essential legal and regulatory challenges.
What surprised me is that skills such as writing, linguistics, and the human ability for empathy and emotional understanding are more essential than merely learning to code or taking a machine learning course. These human skills will be vital as AI continues to evolve.
Do you see the continent embracing new technologies, or are we at risk of lagging behind, especially given the substantial financial resources needed to thrive in the AI race?
I am extremely optimistic about the continent. We aren’t standing still. Recently, we hosted a Bitcoin Africa crypto conference, with attendees exploring stable coins and various applications of blockchain technology across Africa. I’ve purchased numerous NFTs created by African talent, indicating our active engagement, albeit in varied pockets.
There is a steep learning curve and a need to make cryptocurrency knowledge accessible in Africa. Many are developing AI solutions tailored to specific African needs, led by locals and emphasizing language and data sets. We’re working on creating small language models that cater to our continent’s unique diversity.
Cultural nuances are being incorporated into AI and data sets to ensure accurate and culturally appropriate retrieval. I’ve strongly advocated for ownership of our data. Considering our historical context, we don’t want to have our data—our current resource—sold to the West only to be repackaged, researched, refined, and sold back at a premium. Therefore, it’s crucial to manage our data and embrace data sovereignty.
We must build the necessary infrastructure to support our AI ecosystem, including data centers powered by renewable energy. As we broaden our skill sets as individuals and as a continent, our overall development will improve.
Talent is abundant across the continent. We have coders, creators, product managers, designers, and engineers who require opportunities.
We also must use our resources responsibly. We should encourage collaborations and learn from one another while providing our creators opportunities to develop solutions in transformative sectors like agriculture or health.
Let’s not shy away from profit motives. We want to create a business ecosystem and marketplace where our creators can earn a living and thrive in burgeoning industries. Our leaders need to foster innovation and nurture open ecosystems rather than impose excessive regulations.
You’ve focused on media throughout your career, aiming to reshape the narrative about the continent, yet AI could risk perpetuating existing biases. How can AI function as a force for good, especially with limited Africa coverage?
The resolution lies in generating our own datasets and authentic African data through production, structuring, and labeling. Since leaving CNN, I’ve emphasized the need to control our narratives. We must share captivating stories about the continent that truly reflect its diversity and cultivate a robust media and storytelling market.
While the fundamental principles remain unchanged, the rapid evolution of technology necessitates a shift in perspective—adjusting our focus to align with the direction of the game and anticipating swift advancements in artificial intelligence, with datasets at the heart of this evolution.
We may not possess the capability to compete directly with platforms like Google’s Gemini or Meta’s Llama, but we can innovate through smaller language models and ecosystems tailored to our needs.
Our leaders must enhance their efforts in nurturing learning ecosystems for our youth, creating new job categories. We should encourage innovation before regulating; let’s allow innovation to flourish.
Importantly, I don’t want women or girls to be marginalized or for the gender gap in technology to widen. It’s vital to dismantle these barriers. We must increase female participation in technology and invest in their development.
What are the key elements missing in Africa that hinder progress in AI?
Numerous challenges exist. Initially, our foundational infrastructure is inadequate. We face issues with unreliable electricity—which is a major concern. Limited broadband access and high data costs are additional hurdles, alongside poor logistical infrastructure and essential distribution networks to ensure effective connectivity. We also lack sufficient data centers and skill sets. While these obstacles are significant, they should not be considered insurmountable barriers.
What’s next? Human capital and the educational pipeline present serious difficulties. There is a clear gap between the current learning on the continent and the rapid need for skill development. It’s vital for leaders on the continent to address this proactively, rather than depending on international organizations or tech giants to dictate our course of action.
We should establish technical training programs focused on AI and robotics while advocating for widespread digital literacy at all levels.
Risk-taking is insufficient across the continent; the venture capital ecosystem remains underdeveloped. While we often reference the “Silicon Savannah,” this vision has yet to be realized. To genuinely cultivate our industries, particularly in creative cultural sectors, we need a robust capital ecosystem.
We must nurture systems capable of producing authentic African imagery and videos. While I can utilize tools like Sora and Midjourney, their outputs sometimes misrepresent the diverse facial features among Kenyans, Nigerians, Ethiopians, and Rwandans, as they are influenced by Western datasets and perceptions of blackness.
I’ve also pointed out how regulatory environments can hinder innovation. We see a variety of regulations across countries, and despite opportunities for regional collaboration, we often find ourselves in competition. The region holds immense economic potential.
Furthermore, I believe there is inadequate intellectual property protection for innovators, product managers, and those seeking to develop new solutions on the continent. Imported solutions from the West rarely address our unique challenges, yet these are the solutions commonly adopted, which is a significant dilemma.
We genuinely need to focus on creating products that specifically address African challenges, which requires establishing multidisciplinary product labs.
This year’s theme is ‘Davos Collaboration is the New Intelligent Age.’ Do you anticipate greater collaboration or division between the rich and poor?
Is Davos merely a gathering of private jets, contributing to a significant carbon footprint? The insulated elite discussing the less fortunate is increasingly intolerable—it epitomizes inequality.
AI can function as a great equalizer, offering opportunities to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. It democratizes access to knowledge and tools for those with connectivity.
Open-source models and datasets provide paths for collaborative research and development, which is encouraging. Lambda 3 serves as a positive illustration.
I anticipate that discussions around policy choices, international regulations, ethics, and frameworks will play a central role at Davos. If I were to highlight one critical issue, it would be the urgent need to address the knowledge divide between populations that are AI-enabled and those that are AI-limited—a gap that may widen rapidly. We must strive to alter the balance of power.
