NAIROBI, Kenya – It’s emerging that Artificial Intelligence (AI) models must be trained on high-quality data to be impartial, accurate, and dependable.
Kenya, along with many other African nations, is adopting decisive measures to deal with the quickly evolving environment brought about by the advancement of AI.
With innovative government initiatives, a booming tech, start-up, and private sector ecosystem, creative partnerships, and a thriving civil society, the nation is already utilising AI technology to address pressing needs in agriculture, healthcare, education, and financial services.
For example, the Kenyan government has started a consultation process to create a National AI Strategy in the Healthcare Sector. The process is led by the Ministry of ICT and Digital Economy and supported by other partners like Qhala and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD).
This demonstrates its dedication to offering strategic direction for the creation, uptake, application, and morally and responsibly responsible use of AI in the nation’s most important industry.
Who attended Kenya’s National AI Strategy Health Sector Town Hall
These partners have already held a Town Hall that brought together key stakeholders from the health sector, including medical practitioners, policymakers, tech professionals, and civil society representatives.
The conversations centred on the application of AI to advance medical innovation, alleviate health disparities, and enhance healthcare outcomes.
For instance, during a session moderated by Eng. Andrew Masila, the participants, explored the capacities and capabilities needed to develop AI within the country’s healthcare sector.
They looked at the gaps, existing risks and the key priority areas.
According to the participants, data infrastructure, stable power connectivity, and equity in digital infrastructure are needed to develop AI in the healthcare sector to support health facilities in far-flung areas and informal settlements, among other places.
How AI systems are trained to operate effectively
However, it became clear that AI systems are trained using specific datasets associated with the topics they cover to get things rolling. The calibre of the training dataset has a direct bearing on the final AI engine’s capabilities.
However, Organisations in Africa often need help supplying the necessary quantity or quality of data to their AI algorithms.
The leading causes of this problem are the inadequate amount of data that has yet to be generated and the restricted access to the required data.
For AI to thrive, the Town Hall heard that human resources are also needed to help run the wave with the rest of the world.
However, Eng. Musila regretted that some people don’t want to give out their data because of privacy and security concerns.
“We can find a way of sharing data without compromising privacy. This can be done through collaborations between different sectors,” said Eng. Musila.
Why Kenyans should adopt a data sharing agreement among patients
For example, Eng. Musila observed that health facilities can engage clients since they are the custodians of the service provider data.
“There is also a need to have a data sharing agreement, and this can only be achieved through the implementation of the laws we have touched on regarding data sharing,” he further explained.
Mary Kirema, the Secretary for E-government and the Digital Economy noted that the government has established solid measures and strategies to enhance digital technologies’ digital governance and economic potential.
“The ruling Kenya Kwanza administration has woken up and is keen on data sharing issues. What Kenyans need to know and understand is that the data being held by the government belongs to citizens. The government is only the custodian,” Kirema explained.
Meanwhile, the results of the one-day event will significantly shape the National AI Strategy that is currently being developed.
The government held this Town Hall as the first of many as it moved to develop the ambitious plan.
