🗓️ 31st March 2025 - 13:00 - 15:00pm Central Africa Time - Via Zoom
đź’» Register to join the webinar by ***following this link.***
đź“Ą ***Submit your interest to contribute here.***
Registration open: 13 March 2025
Submissions due: 27 March 2025
Registration closes: 28 March 2025
Event: 31 March 2025
The inaugural Global AI Summit on Africa taking place in Kigali, Rwanda carries an important theme for Africa’s role in the global governance of AI: “AI and Africa’s Demographic Dividend: Reimagining Economic Opportunities for Africa’s Workforce." In order to reimagine economic opportunities for the continent's workforce, the Summit recognises that African governments, innovators, civil society and a community of international partners will have to pioneer new approaches to govern AI and its supporting technologies such as data systems. But how might we achieve this? And what existing practices can demonstrate the feasibility of recommended new approaches.
Many scholars and policymakers in AI have begun sounding the drums for more participatory approaches to AI development and governance which incorporate diverse voices and perspectives. For many Africans, traditional approaches often do not result in equitable opportunities or benefits. As discussed extensively during the first iteration of the Participatory AI Research and Practice Symposium in Paris, a shift towards a participatory model challenges traditional, top-down and expert-driven approaches to AI governance. Participatory approaches move away from aggregated projections about the benefits of AI and allow more nuanced questions about trust and accountability, whether job opportunities are dignified and/or about the protections offered in a tech-driven economy where every online activity has commercial value.
Ahead of the Global AI Summit on Africa taking place in Kigali, we invite you to participate in a webinar on 31 March 2025 from 13:00 to 15:00 Central African Time. The aim of the webinar is to advance the practice of participatory AI in Africa by convening researchers and practitioners of participatory methods in AI. During the webinar we aim to define the continent's participatory needs for AI and establish a community of Africans who can formulate a shared vision for policy action.
13:00 - 13:10: Welcome and Opening
13:10 - 13:40: Keynote Presentations
13:40 - 14:20: Breakout Workshops
14:20 - 14:50: Plenary Discussions
14:50 - 15:00: Closing
| AI governance for who? A critique and situating of the African voice in the continental AI envisioning and planning process.
| Bobina Zulfa, Pollicy |
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| Participation is critical for equitable decision making which caters to as many voices and materialities. For African countries, who are in a sense marginal in the global AI governance conversation, whether by their geopolitical standing or by virtue of only recently starting to adopt AI and by extension embedding AI governance conversations in their contexts, it becomes even more important to centre the perspectives of the people. Many of whom are already structurally marginalised in different aspects and for whom AI is more likely to disproportionately negatively impact their lives. |
| This presentation thus takes on a review of the current state of participatory AI governance in Africa as seen through the conceptual and structural development of the Continental AI Strategy. Specifically, this review takes on a critique of the central vision upheld by the Strategy, “harnessing AI for Africa’s development and prosperity” which basically implies imaginaries of a more developed Africa whose growth is largely spurred by automation and smart systems. |
| African gig workers: The invisible hands that power the global tech revolution
| Kauna Ibrahim Malgwi, African Content Moderators **** |
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| There is no justification for the undignifying working conditions African content moderators and data labellers face in their jobs. Not the poor economic conditions in our countries and certainly not projections of the important role Africans can play in the imminent global AI breakthrough. |
| In this presentation Kauna will share her work as an organiser and human rights advocate for dignified working conditions for African content moderators and data labellers in Nigeria and Kenya. She will highlight the challenges faced by gig workers in both countries ranging from psychological harms to gender inequalities. |
While she has many individual stories to share, she also aims to highlight the structural challenges faced by the workers who have come together to collectively demand better working conditions and pay. |
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More presenters to be announced shortly
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Join us for a conversation about how a variety of actors can shape AI development and governance in African countries. You can register to join by **following this link.**
We also welcome submissions from people or organisations who are interested in sharing their research, projects or presentations related to participatory processes and AI during a workshop breakout session.
Submissions should explore the following themes:
Participatory AI development
This theme aims to highlight participatory design methodologies which can identify and explore the points where the public can provide inputs to shape the design of technologies or their societal impacts.
Participatory AI governance
Governance of AI covers broad issues ranging from institutions and sites of engagement, setting out common visions and values for the direction of AI development and use, to developing and applying detailed regulations for specific kinds of AI systems or applications. This theme explores models to bring publics into AI governance conversations, from national level, to the African Union and globally.
Participation, Power and Resistance
There is an evident power imbalance between those who own AI infrastructure and the resources to develop it. At the same time, participatory practices are premised on the idea that every part of the AI life cycle is good and just or if not they can always be made so. This theme invites critical perspectives on the promises of AI - whether jobs, social or cultural improvements.
***Submit your interest here.** W*e are accepting submissions until Thursday, 27 March 2025, 18:00 CAT.
Questions? Contact: [email protected]