THE Information and Communication Technologies Commission (ICTC) has revealed that the country is ready to deploy Artificial Intelligence (IA) whilst allaying fear among Tanzanians that the technology would not replace human labour but increase productivity.
ICTC Director-General, Dr Nkundwe Mwasaga said this recently at the Tanzania Employers Association (ATE)'s Annual General Meeting held in Dar es Salaam when making his presentation on 'Tanzania's readiness to adopt the IA and the future of jobs'.
"AI has not come to kill jobs, but it will change the way of working and thus increase productivity," Dr Mwasaga asserted.
Furthermore, he said, "AI technology will change the way that people work, so Tanzanians should develop their skills and learn new areas that come with this technology."
According to him, those new areas (professions) include robot coordinators, machine learning trainers, AI ethicist, chatbot designers and AI powered healthcare technician. In showing the readiness of the country, Dr Mwasaga said Tanzania is gearing up to honor Africa's brightest young minds in artificial intelligence and robotics competition for the first time in October this year.
He said the competition, which is supported by the African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (AU-NEPAD) in collaboration with the ElevateAI Institute, has been instrumental in shaping a strategy to promote the responsible use of AI across the continent.
"With a prize pool of 100,000 US dollars (more than 250m/-) the competition aims to cultivate emerging talent and create a platform for young African minds passionate about AI and robotics," he added.
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Emphasizing the significance of AI, Dr Mwasaga applauded public institutions that have embarked on the use of emerging technologies, citing an example of the High Court of Tanzania which has begun using AI to conduct and coordinate proceedings in various courts in the country, a move that will expedite the delivery of justice.
Recently, Chief Court Administrator, Professor Elisante Ole Gabriel reaffirmed the court's commitment to integrating technology into its operations.
According to him by 2025, all of the court's work will be done online.
"We have become the first institution to use the AI technology, thus proceedings that judges used to write 200 pages now they will only talk and once they finish to speak they press a button and it starts translating in different languages, so the work of Magistrates and Judges will be only small in making decisions," he said.
He said the AI technology has commenced in several courts in the country as a pilot project, including the High Court of Tanzania, One stop center for probate and family matters- Temeke among others
