In 2018, Google introduced its first African artificial intelligence (AI) research center in Ghana with the aim of fostering and
deliver innovative solutions that will benefit both Africa and the world. Since then, the centre has moved to map Africa’s built environment using satellite imagery and machine learning, built Open Buildings Datasets, advance support of Sub-Saharan African languages, reduce the harms of locusts, adapt the existing flood forecasting systems to respond to the special challenges of the continent and even tackle maternal mortality using tech. Chiemelie Ezeobi reports that a recent immersive onsite and virtual visit of African journos to the centre demonstrated AI solutions to challenges of flooding, food security, identity management and natural disasters
When Google introduced its first African synthetic intelligence (AI) think tank in Ghana in 2018, the purpose, according to the
Yossi Matias, VP of Engineering & Search, Google
The aim is to build the continent’s development capacity in this area, to find cutting-edge answers that will gain advantages for Africa and the world, through cooperation with local universities and think tanks, as well as with policymakers on the potential uses of AI. in Africa.
Google AI Research Center
The Google Research Centre in Accra, Ghana, houses the research labs that explore how AI can be used to solve problems affecting people both locally and globally, like mapping buildings in remote locations to provide better electricity. Essentially, Google boasts that its local researchers collaborate with research teams across the globe to work on AI-based tools to create change for communities worldwide, including in various countries across Africa.
An immersive experience
With communications directed through Dorothy Ooko, Communications & Public Affairs, Kenya Africa; Communications & Public Relations Manager, West Africa, Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade of Nigeria and
Siyavuya Madikane, Communications and Public Affairs Manager, South Africa, African journos drawn from Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa recently visited the Google Research Africa space in Accra, Ghana for an immersive firsthand experience of the ongoing projects by the Google AI research teams in collaborations with partners across the region.
In addition to Ghana’s national journalists, the team explored AI on-site with demonstrations and case studies, as demonstrated by Jason Hickey, who heads the Accra center; Dr Aisha Walcott-Bryant, Senior Research Scientist;
Perry Nelson, Software Engineer, Google Ghana.
The Google team showed off the vital paintings made so far in AI, adding satellite imagery mapping of Africa’s built surroundings and device learning, which has quadrupled the number of African buildings on Google Maps, bringing the number to more than 250 millions.
They also showcased the Open Buildings dataset, which is used through various organizations such as the UN, as well as other paintings in which the team uses device learning and Google-only features to advance the languages of sub-Saharan Africa and decrease locust harm. existing flood prediction systems to address continent-specific challenges.
Why AI for Africa?
In a virtual consultation with Matias, he opined that since cutting-edge responses to disorders are being developed for other climates and sent to Africa, Google’s Africa research team is focused on finding answers to the challenges of the disruption itself. Solutions can be deployed on a global scale.
As for the reasons why Africa, Yossi said the continent has a developing tech hub that Google has contributed immensely to through the education of thousands of tech-savvy young Africans who have discovered their own start-ups.
Also, Hickey believes that AI is a foundational and transformational technology that will provide compelling and helpful benefits to people and society through its capacity to assist, complement, empower, and inspire people in almost every field of human endeavour, especially in Africa.
In the same vein, Walcott said while they are advocating for AI, they are also practicing responsible AI to create a future where technology benefits all users and society while working alongside diverse collaborators, partners and external contributors to make AI more transparent, fair, and useful to diverse communities, as well as constantly improve the reliability and safety of the entire AI ecosystem.
Corroborating, Google’s Perry Nelson, while addressing concerns about responsibility, he said the company is working closely with various governments and even organisations in this regard. To maximise efficiency and impact without endangering the society, he said Google works with World Meteorological Organisation and the Red Cross, renowned for being stickler to standards and ethics.
AI for weather forecasting
At the center, Emmanuel Brempong, project manager for AI for weather forecasting, talked about AI for weather forecasting and how Google’s weather forecasting tool has been built on device learning models that can, as they should, estimate existing precipitation conditions. It has already been used to provide early warnings in Africa, especially before sudden and heavy rains.
Google’s Walcott later confirmed that the possibilities of obtaining such accurate weather forecasts in agriculture, which relies on weather for decision-making, are enormous.
Open Building AI Dataset
With an initial focus on Africa and new updates in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and 12 other countries, this dataset includes 1. 8 billion building detections, in an inference domain of 58 million km2.
To do this, Google created a deep learning style trained for building footprints from high-resolution satellite imagery. With this, they then created a large-scale open body of knowledge containing the contours or footprint of buildings, useful for population estimation and urban planning. and humanitarian response, as well as environmental and meteorological science.
According to Abigail Annkah, a researcher at Google, the team did this in reaction to the challenge of classical maps that are not able to discover the actual footprints of buildings, especially in giant spaces and places with structures that even buildings. Even with satellite imagery, it can be difficult to map buildings in remote locations, and when those buildings are not mapped, it can complicate responsibilities such as developing infrastructure plans.
AI for Flood Forecasting
With weather forecasts up and running, the Google team has extended its tentacle especially to flood forecasting. In fact, in Africa, floods are one of the most common natural errors and, although expected, they never stop causing great damage. in their wake, as the respective governments seem unprepared to address them.
In this sense, Google’s AI for flood prediction combines hydrological and flood models. While the former predicts how much water flows through a river, the latter predicts which spaces will be affected and how high the water point will be.
To make those forecasts more effective, Flood Hub was designed as a platform for those forecasts to be updated daily, free, and publicly available.
Currently, this covers river basins in more than 80 countries around the world, where it provides critical flood forecasts for more than 1,800 sites.
According to Google’s Florence Ofori, this Flood Hub alerts other people in potentially flooded spaces up to seven days before it happens. And to ensure widespread use, those alerts are posted to Google Maps, Google Search, Maps, and even Android notifications.
Google worked with governments at the time, the United Nations, and nongovernmental organizations to disseminate those flood warnings.
Basically, this important Google generation, the Flood Forecasting Initiative, is helping citizens stay and giving governments time to prepare. These AI models expect when and where river flooding will occur in 80 countries around the world, plus 23 in Africa.
Improving Maternal Health Outcomes with Ultrasound
Another score for the Google team is ultrasounds, which can be very important in identifying possible headaches during pregnancy. In recent years, the sensor generation has evolved to make ultrasound devices much more portable and affordable.
Globally, Google said it is working to create AI models that can read ultrasound photographs and provide vital data to medical professionals. “In Kenya, for example, we are partnering with Jacaranda Health to support our ultrasound AI technology, with a focus on employing wearable devices. ultrasound devices that don’t want to be connected to larger machines.
“This can be done by other people who are not trained to use classic ultrasound machines, obtain and interpret ultrasound images, and classify high-risk patients, simply by passing the manual probe over the mother’s belly. “
Link to the project
Project Relate helps others with non-standard speech make their voices heard. The Android app uses an AI search to help other people with non-standard speech more fluently, and after recording 500 sentences, users get a model of traditional speech popularity.
This app can transcribe speech into text; use a synthesised voice to repeat what the speaker has said; and engage Google Assistant to complete tasks, such as asking for directions, playing a song or turning on the lights.
Read the full
Another way the Google team have utilised AI is with Read Along through which they are teaching reading to children worldwide. Created based on the impact of COVID-19 on reading, the Read Along Google’s AI-based reading tutor app and website, is helping to increase child literacy.
On the other hand, Diya, the reading companion on the app, listens to the speaker read aloud, providing help when he struggles and rewarding him when he succeeds.
According to Google, in the last 3 years, more than 30 million young people have read more than 120 million stories on Read Along.
AI for Security
Locust infestations can have a devastating effect on food crops. For example, through collaborations with InstaDeep, a company focused on AI products, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Google team at Google’s AI Center in Ghana is helping to further curb locust outbreaks and enable farmers to implement measures.
The AI Center team is also working to create a style that predicts lobster breeding grounds using long-standing FAO knowledge and environmental variables such as rainfall and temperature.
These are some of the ways Google is using AI to ensure food security especially as the challenge of food security in Africa is a burgeoning one
William Ogallo, a researcher at Google, pointed out that the lack of food security in Africa is due to non-mechanized agriculture and stated that in order to address food security, the Google studies team in Africa has created a forecasting tool based on synthetic intelligence and meteorological data. Provide frequent, accurate and actionable food security forecasts that enable farmers to intelligently plan and redistribute agricultural resources.
With this tool, classic agricultural strategies will be replaced by the frequency and accuracy of forecasts, to mitigate the dangers of food crises before they become serious, thanks to the benefits of AI’s agility and efficiency.
In short, at the end of the immersive experience, it’s clear that Google’s Africa studies team isn’t just focused on finding AI answers that solve African disorders through data, but also those that will have a global reach, as is already the case. This is the case with flood forecasting and weather forecasting.
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