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Sberbank is to share its AI solutions with African countries

Alexander Vedyakhin, First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank, has moderated a panel discussion on Artificial Intelligence: The New Driver for the Development of the African Region.

“Artificial intelligence is a unique technology, which has already become part of our life. It improves the efficiency of everything we do 5 to 7 times. 2022 saw a breakthrough, as large language models emerged. They can raise the Global GDP by 10 percent before 2030, says Alexander Vedyakhin, First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank.

It was noted that artificial intelligence (AI) has been declared a priority in national development plans in 21 African countries out of the 35 states that responded to UNESCO questionnaire. Africa is one of the continents that are most vulnerable to climate change. Therefore, AI can be as effective as possible to forecast climate anomalies there. Furthermore, AI has enormous potential in ensuring food security.

Alexander Vedyakhin has provided some examples of projects involving AI in Africa. Ada Health mobile application analyses its user’s symptoms and produces recommendations. A Kenyan project titled M-Shule relies on AI to develop personal curricula for schoolchildren. Senegalese project Africa Agriculture Watch uses satellite monitoring data to forecast possible conditions for cultivating certain cultures.

Sberbank top manager says that contacts on AI with African countries has become more intense. About 100 African children took part in the last Artificial Intelligence International Junior Contest, and 13 companies from ten African countries joined AI Ethics Code developed by the AI Alliance, during the Russia – Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum on Thursday.

Sberbank is ready to share its AI solutions, including solutions for forecasting climate-related risks, and agricultural and health solutions, with African countries, and hold design thinking sessions on AI-based transformation for their governments, Vedyakhin noted.

During the panel discussion, Sberbank’s neural network Kandinsky 2.2 generated a series of images portraying Africa as it will be in ten-years’ time, after artificial intelligence is introduced in all spheres of life there.

Russia – Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum is a key and largest-scale event in the African-Russian relations. It is aimed at bringing the partnership to a whole new level corresponding to the challenges of the 21 century. The objective of the Forum is to contribute to the strengthening of comprehensive and equal cooperation between Russia and African countries in political, security, economic, science and technology, and cultural and humanitarian spheres.

 

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“We highly value the results of our joint work at the summit. I am sure the achieved results are creating a good foundation for further deepening the Russia-Africa partnership in the interests of our nations’ prosperity and wellbeing.”

President of the Russian Federation
Vladimir Putin

The Russia–Africa Summit, which is taking place in Sochi on 23–24 October 2019, encapsulates the historically friendly relations between the African continent and the Russian Federation. This Summit carries great significance as it is the first of its kind to emerge during a period of major global and international transformations. In response to the aspirations of the people it is representing, the Summit intends to build a comprehensive framework for expanding Russian–African relations into broader horizons of joint cooperation across different fields.

The African nations and Russia share a common understanding of international relations, based on the principles of respect for the rule of international law, equality, non-interference in the internal affairs of states, and the peaceful resolution of disputes. Both sides affirm their commitment to support multilateral actions to oppose new international threats, be they terrorism and extremism in all their forms, or declining growth rates. The two sides share a firm conviction regarding the importance of developing trade flows and supporting mutual investment in such a way as to ensure security, peace and development for the African and Russian people.

African countries have huge potential and opportunities that will allow them, once efforts to streamline their economies have been achieved, to emerge as real global players. In recent years, the nations of this continent have achieved major successes spanning the political, economic, social and administrative spheres. Africa has flourished in terms of growth over the past decade, reaching a continent-wide growth rate of 3.55% in 2018.

The African Union Summit, which was held in Niger in July 2019, continued the efforts of the African countries and saw the African Continental Free Trade Agreement come into force, along with its operational instruments. The agreement is one of the key objectives of Agenda 2063, an African development strategy that has been created to address the African people’s desire for prosperity and decent living standards.

These successes are opening up wide-ranging prospects for cooperation between African countries and the Russian Federation, and confirm the determination of African governments and their people to cooperate with multiple partners in order to establish mutually beneficial relations.

With this in mind, we express our hopes that the Russia–Africa Summit will help in the establishment of constructive strategic relations, based on partnership between two sides across various fields, and in the service of fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of the African people and their friends in Russia.

President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Abdelfattah ALSISI