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State of artificial intelligence eco-system in Ethiopia

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to assess the state of the artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem in Ethiopia and provide endorsements for Ethiopian AI policymakers, national strategy developers, and stakeholders. This is done by surveying robotic, data, and computing infrastructure, policies, and strategies toward AI adoption within government organizations, AI workforce, and AI startups in Ethiopia. Studies conducted employing semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, a physical review of research and data infrastructures, organizational-based document reviews, web visits, and literature studies. The data collection involves 32 organizations including ministries, universities, research institutions, and private companies, and 61 AI startups in Ethiopia. The survey data compared with selected top African nations in AI adoption potentials. The study revealed that Ethiopia lags compared to some African nations in publishing AI policies and strategies, implementing legal frameworks, assessing the ethical risks of AI solutions on societies, and creating schemes for supporting AI startups. The survey also discloses that the lack of AI policy and strategy in the country affects AI stakeholders to design and create short- and long-term action-oriented strategies. This study implies that focus needs to be given to AI skills and infrastructure development, access to data, investment in AI R&D, and cooperation while creating AI policies and strategies. This paper has made a unique attempt to assess the company-level state of AI to provide inputs to the policymakers for framing a comprehensive and meaningful policy on AI for Ethiopia.

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Notes

  1. https://www.article19.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Privacy-and-Freedom-of-Expression-In-the-Age-of-Artificial-Intelligence-1.pdf.

  2. https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/2023-08/USAID%20AI%20ETHICS%20GUIDE.pdf.

  3. https://gdpr-info.eu/.

  4. https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa.

  5. https://thecpra.org/.

  6. https://www.pdpc.gov.sg/Overview-of-PDPA/The-Legislation/Personal-Data-Protection-Act#:~:text=What%20is%20the%20PDPA%3F,Banking%20Act%20and%20Insurance%20Act.

  7. https://fpf.org/blog/ai-verify-singapores-ai-governance-testing-initiative-explained/.

  8. https://telecloud.ethiotelecom.et/.

  9. https://www.wingu.africa/our-locations/addis-ababa-ethiopia/.

  10. http://redfoxsolutionsgroup.com/.

  11. https://www.raxiogroup.com/services/.

  12. https://www.mint.gov.et.

  13. https://ethernet.edu.et/.

  14. https://icog-labs.com/.

  15. https://excellerentsolutions.com/.

  16. https://ethioroborobotics.com/.

  17. https://www.vexrobotics.com/.

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All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ethiopian Artificial Intelligence Institute, 40782, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Wegene Demisie Jima, Tesfaye Adisu Tarekegn & Taye Girma Debelee

Authors
  1. Wegene Demisie Jima
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  2. Tesfaye Adisu Tarekegn
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  3. Taye Girma Debelee
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Correspondence to Wegene Demisie Jima.

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Interview-guided questionnaires

  1. 1.

    Name of organization:

  2. 2.

    Name of respondent: Position: Email: Telephone:

 

Question

Guideline

Response

1.

Is there Data, AI, and robotics research infrastructure in your organization

Examples: data centers, virtual laboratories

Yes/No

(+ description)

 

2.

Are there any types of projects financed by your organization or co-funding for Data, AI, and robotics research infrastructure in your organization in the past 3 years?

Yes/No (+ description)

If yes list down the name of the project and financing organization and the amount

 

3.

Does your organization provide training or courses related to AI, Robotics, and the use of AI research infrastructure?

‘Description’ list short term training courses

 

4.

Do you offer an AI-related Ph.D. program?

Yes/No

(+ description)

 

5.

Do you have a center of excellence?

Yes/No

(+ description)

 

6.

Does your organization have data and AI policy and strategy?

Yes/No

(+ description)

 

7.

What is your research priority area in AI and robotics?

Yes/No

(+ description)

 

8.

Does your organization have ethical guidelines and privacy?

Yes/No

(+ description)

 

9.

What is your current data center percentage of utilization?

Description

 

10.

If applicable, provide the name of the company you are leasing space from

Yes/No

(+ description)

 

11.

Do you use Tape backups? How are backups operated and how does your company ensure against data loss in the advent of a data center fire?

Describe the type of backup used in your data center example: Network-related storage or tape backup

 

12.

Describe the cooling system for the data center.

Describe the kind of cooling system your data center uses. Example: air cooling and conventional dual HVAC system

 

Appendix 2: Data center service provider interview-guided questions

  1. 1.

    Name of organization:

  2. 2.

    Name of respondent: Position: Email: Telephone:

List

Questions

Guideline

Response

1.

Which year did the data center enter into the service?

Year and service initially launched

 

2.

Where is your firm data center located?

Location of data center

 

3.

Describe the type of data center and TIER rating.

Enterprise data centers, colocation data centers, hyperscale data centers, edge data centers, and modular data centers

 

4.

Is there an expansion plan for data center construction outside Addis Ababa

Plan with the next five years

 

5.

How much was invested on the data center infrastructure?

Initial investment

 

6.

Product/service provided by the data center

Write the name of the proposed product/service provided such as colocation service, types of cloud service

 

7.

Which one of your organization's services subscribed more?

List subscriber of your service from more subscribed to list subscribed

 

8.

For whom do you provide a service? And why?

If any restrictions are applied organization that enters into a service agreement

 

9.

Number of parties subscribing to the service

Write the number of parties subscribing to the service in the currently offered service plan

 

10.

Service start date

Write the service start date of the currently offered plan (e.g., May 2023)

 

11.

Datacenter percentage of utilization?

Percentage utilization of data center space

 

12.

Has your organization obtained third-party certification

For Example, TIER rating, SOC1, ISO 140001

 

13.

Is it possible for a subscriber to receive training at the time of service adoption?

Training program at the time of adoption and support service

 

Appendix 3: AI startup-assessing questionnaires

  • 1. Name of startup firm:

  • 2. Name of respondent: Position: Email: Telephone:

 

Question

Guideline

Response

1.

Which year was your firm established?

Provide the year your firm started operating

 

2.

How many employees do you have? Permanent/per time

Describe the background of your employees if possible

 

3.

Which business sector does your firm provide service to?

IT and software development, Agriculture, Health, Education, Services including fintech, Manufacturing

 

4.

What is the startup capital of your firm? And what is the source of the found?

Initial capital

 

5.

Can you describe your firm business information?

AI consulting, AI contest hosting, AI model development, AI product development, software development, or commercialization of AI products

 

6.

Where is your firm position at the AI adoption level?

Initiating level: No AI application is considered within the organization

Planning level: AI potential use is started to be evaluated, may have some AI technologies in place

Piloting level: Trail software and no real adoption

Formalizing level: Implementing AI in the product and or in the process

Releasing level: AI being released throughout the organization

 

7.

Where is the source of data to train your AI model?

Have internal databases (collect data themselves), get data from third parties (purchase or partnership agreement, or content in the public domain

 

8.

Where is the source of your AI technologies?

Internally developed, open source, or get by purchasing or partnership agreements

 

9.

Please list the three AI solutions you provide to your customers.

Commercialized AI solutions

 

10.

Please list the top three industries in your service that made an impact

Financial service, IT, Public sector, hospitality, transportation, agriculture, education, retail etc

 

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Jima, W.D., Tarekegn, T.A. & Debelee, T.G. State of artificial intelligence eco-system in Ethiopia. AI Ethics (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-024-00436-3

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