Google AI solutions for Africa from Accra

A rtificial Intelligence (AI) research centers are scarce in Sub-Saharan Africa. But policy makers recognize that this new technology is a potential accelerator of economic development. A 2022 survey by the UNESCO¹ found that 18 out of 32 countries have ongoing initiatives to guide the development of AI at the national level². This survey shows that the development and use of AI is a priority in the national development plans of 21 out of 32 countries. Also, out of 32 respondents, 13 countries have developed and launched AI policies. Six countries enacted legislation, while 12 have established Centers of Excellence on AI. Private companies are taking the lead in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, and South Africa. They offer AI-based solutions for financial inclusion, access to health, education and also solutions to tackle environmental issues.

North America, Europe, and Asia dominate AI innovations, according to UNESCO. Researchers fear that Sub-Saharan Africa will fall behind³. In fact, in 2020 Harvard International Review described Sub-Saharan Africa as a ‟digital desert”⁴. Given these gloomy predictions, the decision by Google Inc. to launch the first Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Africa in 2018 could signal an evolution in the way technology companies perceive Africa.

Google Research Center in Accra (GRC)

The GRC team in Accra is developing AI-based innovations for Africa. In a publication on social network, LinkedIn, Yossi Matias, Vice President, and Engineering & Research explained that the team has developed solutions to tackle socio-economic, and environmental issues in Africa. New Economy Ghana looks at a non-exhaustive list of AI solutions from the GRC Center in Accra.

Mapping and geo-location

The GRC has extended Google's existing mapping capabilities to provide a new geo-location technology that maps Africa’s built environment using satellite imagery and machine learning. This work, Google's VP of Engineering wrote, quadrupled the number of African buildings on Google Maps, bringing it 250 million items. The technology combines AI with satellite imagery to pinpoint the location of buildings. Governments and nonprofit organizations use this technology to plan towns and cities, rural electrification, or emergency disaster intervention. The Accra GRC research team has added 120 million buildings and 228,000 km of roads to maps across Africa in 2020.⁵. In the health sector, Google will use the mapping system to deploy its new modular and mobile-handheld portable ultrasound devices. The system incorporates AI models that read ultrasound images. It then provides important information to healthcare workers, even in remote rural areas.

Climate issues

Google is a pioneer in the application of AI to climate adaptation. At the GRC center in Accra, Google flood forecasting models are harnessing data to predict when and where river floods will occur in 80 countries worldwide. This forecasting system covers 23 African countries. The technology platform displays up to seven days’ forecast with detailed maps of inundation risks. The GRC center also uses forecasting models to predict locust invasion in collaborations with InstaDeep (An African artificial intelligence (AI) solutions compamy) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Education

The GRC has several projects in education. One of the most prominent education projects according to Perry Nelson, Software Engineer⁶ at the GRC, is ‟Project Relate ”. This is an Android application that uses AI to help people with non-standard speech communicate with ease⁷. Another application called ‟Read Along”, AI-based reading tutor complements the ‟Project Relate ” and is downloadable Google. The application is improving child literacy around the world. Since its launch, over 30 million kids around the world have read 120 million stories on ‟Read Along”. Google is using AI to explore the various African languages through AI. The goal is to develop deep learning algorithms for a multilingual Natural Language Processing (NLP) resources through a repository of data on African languages⁸.

Building technology infrastructure: Fiber optic cable

In Ghana, CSquared ⁹has over 1,070 km of metro fiber in Greater Accra, Tema, and Kumasi, with plans to expand into Takoradi. Google started CSquared as a venture in 2011. The goal of the project was to build metropolitan fiber optic networks. Today, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) buy and manage long wholesale leased from this network. CSquared remains a neutral operator of this shared infrastructures. Google ambitions to increase Internet penetration in Sub-Saharan Africa and to reduce Internet access costs by investing into critical infrastructure. Google sees the internet as a lever for development.

In October 2017, CSquared became a joint venture between Google and three companies: Mitsui & Co (Japan), Convergence Partners (South Africa) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC, World Bank Group). The goal of the venture is the extension of the capacity of Csquared. The joint venture subsequently transformed CSquared into an independent company. The new owners invested US$100 million to lead an expansion into new markets. Today, CSquared is present in Uganda, Ghana, Liberia and Kenya. The company is planning to deploy its technology in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Togo.

Nursing local talents

The Google team in Accra is staffed by local IT engineers, led by Moustapha Cisse, who is the head of the Ghana Google AI Center. Cisse, a Senegalese native, is a veteran of AI, who is also a professor of Machine Learning at the Kigali-based African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS). He is the Founder and Director of the African Master’s in Machine Intelligence (AMMI) which is offered to Africans by the AIMS. Cisse holds a Ph.D. in Machine Learning from Pierre et Marie Curie University, France. Before joining Google, he was a Research Scientists at Facebook AI.

On October 6th, 2021 Sundar Pichai. CEO of Google and Alphabet announced US$1 billion investment in Africa’s digital transformation. The five-year funding will cover a range of initiatives, ranging from improved connectivity to investments in startups and development of skills. Google has been investing in developing digital skills in Africa since 2017. According to Pichai, so far, Google has trained six million people, 80,000 developers, and contributed to fund raising for over 80 startups.

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