Africa is uniquely positioned to leverage the AI benefits because the societal transformations in its benefits could help eliminate corruption, streamline democracy, and improve essential services by designing out human errors and influence. In the last decade, questions on maximising AI benefits and reducing risks, geopolitical relations, and ethics have been raised on the continent. Based on a recently submitted article, this presentation unpacks these questions using qualitative evidence from Rwanda and Ghana relating to the politics, trends, and synergies in AI policymaking. The discussions will fill the knowledge gaps in the literature on interpreting AI policies through both countries’ political, historical, and economic frameworks.
Thompson Gyedu Kwarkye is an anthropologist committed to interdisciplinary research. Since November 2023, he’s been a postdoc at the School of Information and Communication Studies at the University College Dublin (UCD), where he develops micro-credentials modules on AI ethics. Before taking up this position, Thompson worked as a postdoc at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford. He led work packages on AI regulation, governance, and ethics in Africa. Thompson holds a PhD in Anthropology from Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany. His research is linked to public policy, human security, technology politics, AI governance and ethics. Before his PhD in Frankfurt, Thompson studied for a bachelor’s in political science from the University of Ghana and a master’s in human security from Aarhus University, Denmark. Thompson also received several grant awards, including the Andrea von Braun Foundation Research Grant, the GIZ Diaspora Expert Grant and the DAAD Fieldwork Grant.
Chair: Kirsten Rüther
Tuesday, 14th May 2024, 5:15 pm - ONLINE ONLY
Zoom Link: https://univienna.zoom.us/j/63904002477?pwd=UVRFRnp1Y1AvQ0JIL0VBME5URnFsQT09
afrika@univie.ac.at, http://afrika.univie.ac.at
