The Chief Executive of Ghana Code Club, Ernestina Appiah, has urged the next generation to develop Artificial Intelligence (AI) related skills as a measure to safeguard jobs, against the growing anxiety that the deployment of emerging technologies will render people jobless.
The increasing adoption of AI technologies across the various fields and endeavours of work, it is feared, could significantly reduce human involvement in work. But in response to these bothersome concerns, Ernestina Appiah said the upcoming generation must upskill to face AI.
“It will take some time for AI to completely overtake (human capacity), and for that I think the next generation should engage in the skills of AI so they also become part when AI is fully deployed,” she said.
Contributing further to this during the panel discussion at the Republic Bank & Business and Financial Times Digital Conference, some members of the audience called for a collective hands-on approach to position the private sector – particularly small and medium scale businesses – toward the emergence of AI technologies.
It is believed that this will among other advantages also empower local businesses to be able to meet competition with the start of the continental trade initiative. It will give them a digital presence in order to be able to meet competition, without necessarily being physically present in all member-countries.
However, Chief Executive of Intelipro Limited, Leonida Mutuku, reckoned that: “It is difficult to reach micro-SMEs with advanced technologies unless we understand what their motivations are; understand how they are willing to engage with technology”.
At the design stage of technologies targetted at micro-SMEs, she said, it is important to involve them in order to conclude how such a tool can help transform their businesses.
Also, she noted that the import of AI technologies is not necessarily to replace humans; because at the end of the day you will need people who are able to interpret the work done by AI – but geared toward ensuring efficiency of work and to maximise results.
Meanwhile, other speakers noted that AI is a by-product of human intelligence, and to demystify the fear around it they suggested that new ideas of doing business be created to complement the digitisation space.
The maiden edition of the ‘Republic Bank & B&FT Digital Conference’ was organised under the theme ‘Digitisation, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Things: The Impact and Immense Opportunities for Ghanaian Businesses’.
