The International Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI) released a report in January containing a list of 100 projects solving problems related to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals with the application of Artificial Intelligence, from all five geographical regions.
The aim of the projects is to showcase innovative solutions across the globe that are making a significant contribution to the SDGs by building global sustainable solutions platforms, while also supporting these solutions in making more impact.
These solutions are applicable as they solved real-life challenges. Various innovative solutions around the world have demonstrated that Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the field of sustainability is not just emerging but also thriving to shape the world
One of these innovative solutions was Data Science Nigeria (DSN), led by Dr. Bayo Adekanmbi. In a chat with Adekanmbi, we learnt how DSN is deploying AI in reshaping the future of Africa
Why did you start Data Science Nigeria?
At Data Science Nigeria (DSN), now known as Data Scientists Network, we believe education is fundamental for human capital development and key to lasting economic growth.
DSN is an Artificial Intelligence technology organization committed to building Africa’s AI talent ecosystem and developing governance, education, health, retail, and finance solutions.
I conceived the idea to start DSN sometime in 2015 while on a scholarship and a two-year break from MTN Nigeria to complete a Ph.D. program I enrolled for in 2012 and had to shuttle between Lagos and London.
Before taking a study leave from MTN Nigeria to complete the Ph.D. program in London, I was the general manager of Analytics, Business Intelligence & Data Science at the telco giant, where I led the day-to-day management of the most extensive database in Africa.
During my Ph.D., I traveled worldwide – the UK, China, India, and the US – for data collection, and more than before, I became exposed to the vast economic values of big data and artificial intelligence.
I saw how universities’ AI researchers seamlessly deployed their technologies into the tech ecosystem to drive new market frontiers, particularly in the UK, where I spent a lot of time.
Back home in Nigeria, this was non-existent. Universities and industries lacked collaboration, and there was little or no exchange of growth driving expertise or technologies between them.
This new experience changed my worldview and spurred my interest in training African data scientists and artificial intelligence experts.
“It was a moment of introspection and reflection, a lot of forward-thinking. I saw the opportunity to bring my industry experience of over 20 years, academic experience and hands-on skills to help build the future.
On my return to Nigeria in October 2016, with a new role to drive transformation and innovation as the Chief Transformation Officer at MTN Nigeria, I started DSN a few months later, and launched plans to build what would become the largest data network in Africa: DSN.
DSN was established to help shape the Nigeria of the future and to address the challenges we see in our society,”
DSN was launched as a not-for-profit organization to train one million data and AI scientists in 10 years. Over 500,000 people have passed through our various free training programs five years later, and it has opened three hubs across Lagos, including the new and first AI hub in West Africa, where we nurture AI-enabled start-ups.
Our mandate is to raise one million Artificial Intelligence (AI) talents and lead the development of AI solutions that enhance the quality of life and well-being of over two billion people in emerging markets while accelerating AI start-ups and activating digital transformation for organizations in Africa.
To achieve this mandate of training 1 million AI talent, we have been training local talents to solve practical problems.
These talents have learned through DSN’s vast learning network across cities and campuses in Nigeria. We recently marked our fifth anniversary and restructured to a dual business model to monetize our research work to sustain our non-profit efforts.
Our new extension, DSN AI Innovation Limited, will operate in Nigeria and the United Kingdom and focus on advanced AI solutions development and deployment in the Fintech, EdTech and MedTech industries.
DSN’s consulting and training practice will also be driven through an expanded network of local and international partners and independent consultants, as the business welcomes expert partners to support its delivery in a shared value business construct.
Our company has been quite proactive in applying a world-class best practiser approach in AI to solve local problems, and we have been at the forefront of catalyzing entrepreneurial opportunities in AI to drive job creation, FOREX earning and nation-building.
I passionately believe that only practical solutions to the country and the continent’s most dire challenges spell hope for the future, and with Artificial intelligence, we can develop solutions at an exponential scale towards the greater good of our Economy.
Tell us about the two categories of your product that bagged the awards?
DSN bagged two awards – the promising project award and the early-stage project award – sometime in January
The two products from DSN listed in the IRCAI/UNESCO Global Top 100 lists are DSN’s EdTech AI Adaptive Learning Engine, which was recognized as a Promising Project, and DSN’s AI Health Prescription Platform listed as an Early-Stage project.
The DSN EdTech AI Adaptive Learning Engines delivers AI-powered personalized learning through a mix of audio classes and interactive SMS to bridge educational gaps for learners who have no access to the internet or internet-ready devices.
It uses an adaptive knowledge management engine built on predictive analytics and a recommendation engine to deliver customized learning.
The Mastercard Foundation supported this solution to provide remedial education to over eight million learners during the lockdown of schools in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The AI Health Prescription Platform focuses on simplifying the medical prescription process through its AI-powered Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system that mitigates medication errors through automated digitization of handwritten medical prescriptions in low-resourced health systems.
The platform converts any handwritten prescription images into readable formats to help the last mile drug dispensing process. This solution is expected to improve health delivery outcomes in low-income countries.
Why did you explore artificial intelligence other than other technology solutions?
Artificial intelligence was explored due to its possibilities as they are limitless. AI opens you up to a world of opportunities. It also helps solve complex tasks, automate processes, and solve economic problems.
Solving problems at grassroots and national levels is fundamental for human capital development and growth and key to lasting economic growth.
I ventured into the world of AI to help shape the future of Nigeria which will lead to a more sustainable future.
What has been your milestone in achieving the 1 million talents raise?
DSN’s foundation is built on three principles: learning, impact, and sustainability. And these three principles translate into developing super talents and products that can be seamlessly shipped into the industry, like in the UK, India and the US.
The organization has reached half of its talent projections, and we are now deploying those talents to build solutions for real-life problems.
We have reached over 500,000 online and offline learners and published high-impact research papers that have been showcased at the world’s leading AI conferences.
We have also opened three hubs across Lagos, including the new and first AI hub in West Africa, where we nurture AI-enabled start-ups.
How can machine learning solve societal challenges?
Machine learning can help solve several societal challenges in education, healthcare, technology, and other areas.
In the education sector, specific applications of AI include expert systems, natural language processing, speech recognition, and machine vision.
It drives efficiency, personalization and helps to streamline administrative tasks to allow teachers the time and freedom to provide understanding and adaptability.
It helps automate basic education activities, such as organizing educational material, evaluating assignments, grading exams, managing paperwork, communicating with the parents amongst others.
Tasks like automated grading will help teachers concentrate on other essential aspects of teaching. AI can help teachers detect students with learning disabilities and address them early.
Adaptive learning platforms can create learning profiles for students based on their abilities, preferences, learning styles, and the challenges they face. The curriculum and the teaching methods can be adapted to students’ needs.
Teachers can give personalized counsel and adjust class assignments so that each student can work on areas that require improvement. Educators will be able to face their challenges and meet and exceed the expectations of students.
Under our AI for Good program, the organization has developed an AI system that can detect class participation in school classrooms and an application that curates and helps individuals decipher scam messages from individuals posing as bank representatives. The algorithm won the organization the 2nd best Poster at Deep Learning Indaba held in Kenya.
We created the DSN AI-Enabled teachers community group on Facebook and LinkedIn to support teachers in enhancing student learning experience while fostering engagement and collaboration using Artificial Intelligence.
The community provides free training and access to value-added content that will generally drive knowledge acquisition and encourage professional development. The community also organizes conferences to support 21st-century teachers and prepare them for the future of work.
In the healthcare sector, hospitals can benefit from machine learning when treating patients, and this can ensure fewer cases of hospital-related illnesses like sepsis. AI can track some of the medicines’ intractable problems to help researchers better understand genetic diseases using predictive models.
Big data and deep learning models can be quite beneficial in healthcare by helping to reduce medical errors, modeling the spread of diseases, providing real-time alerts, and personalized patient care.
Any other thing we should know about DSN?
DSN’s works have won academic and social impact awards worldwide in the past five years. It has been recognized as a best practice in delivering scalable learning, research, and social good solution development.
DSN’s projects have reached over 500,000 online and offline learners, coupled with high-impact research papers which have been showcased at the world’s leading AI conferences.
One of DSN’s papers on the use of AI to address financial inclusion was the best poster at the 21st edition of the ACM Conference on Economics and Computation (EC’ 20), the world’s premier conference on the interface of economics and computer science, organised by the Association for Computing Machinery, New York, United States.
We published the first Artificial Intelligence book for kids in Africa, which is currently being distributed for free through the train-the-teachers initiative, a program to support the massive adoption of digital skills across African schools.
Featured Image: Dr. Bayo Adekanmbi, Founder, Data Science Nigeria
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