Africa’s AI researchers are ready for takeoff

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When we talk about the global race for AI dominance, the conversation often focuses on tensions between the US and China, and European efforts at regulating the technology.

But it's high time we talked about another player: Africa.

AsMIT Technology Reviewhas written before, AI is creating anew colonial world order, where the technology is enriching a small minority of people at the expense of the rest of the world.

African AI researchers are determined to change that. They're forging their own path, developing tools that answer the needs of Africans, in their own languages.

However, they face many barriers. AI research is eye-wateringly expensive, and African startups and researchers get a fraction as much funding as their Western or Asian counterparts. They have to innovate and rely on open-source resources to do more with less.

Despite that, the African AI story reflects not only persistence and innovation, but a determination to preserve cultures and shape how AI technologies are used on the continent.Read more herefrom Abdullahi Tsanni, who went to this year's Deep Learning Indaba, a machine-learning conference held annually in Senegal, to learn about the opportunities and barriers the African AI scene faces.

And then some personal news!This edition will be my last newsletter, and from next week you'll be in the extremely capable hands of my colleagueJames O'Donnell. It's been a delight writing this newsletter for the past two or so years, and I'm so grateful you've joined me on this journey covering everything fromsnowballs of bullshittoTaylor Swift's deepfakes. I'm not going anywhere, though. I'll be diving deeper into the AI beat at MIT Technology Review to bring you stories on what's happening in AI and how the technology is changing us and our societies. Stay tuned for more!

Finally, while I have you, this week we're running our biggest sale of the year, with 50% off an annual subscription to MIT Technology Review. New subscribers receive a free digital report on generative AI and the future of work.Subscribe here.

Now read the rest of The AlgorithmDeeper Learning

Why AI could eat quantum computing's lunch

Tech companies have been funneling billions of dollars into quantum computers for years. The hope is that they'll be a game changer for fields as diverse as finance, drug discovery, and logistics. Those expectations have been especially high in physics and chemistry, where the weird effects of quantum mechanics come into play. In theory, this is where quantum computers could have a huge advantage over conventional machines.

Enter AI:But while the field struggles with the realities of tricky quantum hardware, another challenger is making headway in some of these most promising use cases. AI is now being applied to fundamental physics, chemistry, and materials science in a way that suggests quantum computing's purported home turf might not be so safe after all.

Given the pace of recent advances, a growing number of researchers are now asking whether AI could solve a substantial chunk of the most interesting problems in chemistry and materials science before large-scale quantum computers become a reality.Read more from Edd Gent here.

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