*Highlights the use of robots in the fight against insecurity
* To launch an artificial intelligence center
As Nigeria launches the first humanoid robot in Africa, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that the federal government will step up efforts to harness the talents of young Nigerians in the area of artificial intelligence (AI) for national development.
The vice president unveiled this at the official launch of Africa’s first humanoid robot, Omeife, by the UNICCON group of companies themed ‘The Future of Artificial Intelligence in the African Tech Ecosystem’, over the weekend in Abuja.
He said that the success of Omeife is a clear indication that the youth in Nigeria are taking the bull by the horns and taking giant steps in the development of AI and other technological advances, therefore the federal government fully supports such development. in the way you are willing to contribute. to the fight against insecurity and national development.
According to him, “the government is working on a national data strategy to make data available for scientific use because artificial intelligence is all about data, if your data is skewed, you will get a skewed result, so we must Make sure you have the correct data. and a fact that fully represents our culture and values.
“We need to encourage our indigenous African technology by encouraging our people to be digitally visible and get the data available for artificial intelligence to use to make decisions that suit us and we also need to connect with the unconnected. To achieve this, the government is expanding its mandate to include initiatives such as the broadband plan to connect the unconnected.
“Most of the robots we have are not African, so we are excited to see Omeife today with African data built and looking African because this will help us push our technology locally and promote our culture and values because if we say we are going to use what is built somewhere, it will be difficult for us to benefit from artificial intelligence.
He also said that the government is developing other regulatory instruments to ensure responsible technology because it is not just about technology becoming super smart, but how to manage it efficiently so that it works and helps Africa improve lives according to the available data. .
Represented by the Minister of Communication and Digital Technology, Isa Ali Pantami, Osinbajo noted that technology could be a double-edged sword if left unchecked, which is why the federal government is taking all necessary measures to protect Nigerians from any use. negative and impact of technology. such as social media through the code of practice for all social media platforms and other measures that will be revealed over time.
Speaking on behalf of Pantami, National Information Technology and Development Agency (NITDA) Director General Kashifu Abdullahi explained some key benefits of AI for national development, including robots being used to farm, teach in classes and build roads. and cities, as well as for intelligence gathering, bomb detection and the fight against insecurity, among others.
The minister said that Nigeria will soon launch an innovation hub where young Nigerians can develop their talents in AI.
UNICCON Group President Chuks Ekwueme explained that Omeife as an AI is applicable to almost all areas of human activity, as it works with data that does so and gives it close human-likeness in terms of language, competence, movement, navigation and behavior using AI. and computer vision capabilities.
He said: “Our motivation for Omeife is that Africa has lagged behind in technology and we keep forcing ourselves to use technology that is not designed for us, therefore we came up with the initiative to close this technology gap in Africa and start making technology to measure”. to meet the needs of Africa and Nigerians.
“Omeife brings a lot of value to increase security based on use, whether it be surveillance, intelligence gathering, Robo-army, profiling and lie detection or even in the area of sending robots on missions that are very lethal but with the humanoid instead. , all this will be taken care of.
“Omeife will launch products ranging from Omeife as a service, Omeife hardware and Omeife humanoid robot, which in total has market revenue of $6.8 billion in the African market and other parts of the world,” he said.
