Africa is experiencing rapid growth in digital innovation. An increasing number of tech startups, innovation hubs, and initiatives that aim at leveraging technology to address various challenges and create new opportunities are on the rise.
The use of AI, its research, and its implementation across the continent proves for a promising transition into the 4th industrial revolution. Companies like Google, have used the power of AI for the benefit of
One of the global companies that has made significant investments into AI research is Google and they are making their mark in Africa. Google opened its first AI research center in Accra, Ghana’s bustling capital city in 2018.
The center houses research labs that serve as a hub to explore how the team can more effectively leverage AI to help solve pressing problems locally and globally.
Some of the significant ways in which Google uses AI to contribute towards the betterment of society is by mapping buildings in remote locations to provide better electricity.
Local researchers use the facility to collaborate with research teams across the globe to work on AI-based tools to create change for communities across Africa and abroad.
Here are six AI projects Google is working on from their Accra research center and beyond:
1. Mapping Buildings
Through Google’s Open Buildings dataset project carried out at the Accra research center, a combination of AI and satellite imagery is used to pinpoint the location of buildings. This helps the government and non-profit organizations better understand the needs of residents in order to offer their assistance.
Another example of an African non-profit that uses advanced modern technology to better African communities is Sunbird AI.
The Ugandan non-profit together with the Ministry of Energy in Lamwo district, uses Google’s dataset to study villages’ electrification needs to better plan potential solutions, such as prioritizing electricity in important areas like commercial centers.
2. Forecasting Floods
Google discovered that half of the world’s least-developed countries are in need of early warning systems for natural disasters, including floods. In Central African countries like Chad, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to a report by the UN Humanitarian Coordination Office (OCHA), torrential rainfall affected more than, 340,000 people living in 55,000 households in Chad in 2022 – which surpassed the figures from 2021 where 250,000 were affected.
In 2022, Malawi alone suffered from the impact of three major cyclones Jasmine, Gombe, and Ana. Cyclone Ana is one of the most powerful that devastated swathes of Madagascar and Mozambique. It was recorded that 392,367 people were affected.
Google’s Flood Hub platform can help residents stay safe and give governments time to prepare. The platform uses AI models to predict when and where riverine floods will occur in 23 African countries. The platform displays the forecasts up to seven days in advance, with detailed inundation maps – showing different levels predicted in different areas.
3. Predicting Locusts
Farms in Africa are known for undergoing seasons where pests are a severe problem, affecting food crops. Locusts is one of them.
Together with InstaDeep – an AI-product-focused company and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, Google’s AI Center in Ghana is helping to better detect locust outbreaks and enable farmers to implement control measures.
The research center is in the process of building a model that forecasts locust breeding grounds using historical data from the FAO and environmental variables like rainfall and temperature.
4. Improving Maternal Health Outcomes with Ultrasound
The state of hospitals in African countries can be appalling. Many hospitals do not have the infrastructure or tools to provide the most basic care to their patients which often leads to severe complications and even death.
Maternal care is one of the areas that need the most attention in African Hospitals. According to WHO, approximately 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth in African countries every day.
Google has partnered with Jacaranda Health in Kenya to build AI models that can read ultrasound images and provide important information to healthcare workers. The focus of this project is to use handheld ultrasound devices that don’t need to be attached to larger machines.
This device will benefit people who are not trained to operate traditional ultrasound machines to acquire and interpret ultrasound images and distinguish between high and low-risk patients simply by sweeping the handheld probe across the mother’s belly.
5. Helping People with Non-Standard Speech Make Their Voices Heard
Project Relate, an Android app that uses AI research to help people with non-standard speech communicate with ease, is another one of Google’s latest AI products. There are approximately 250,000,000 worldwide who experience difficulty making their words understood. The app, after recording 500 phrases, provides users with a personalized speech recognition model.
The app that is now available for use in Ghana, transcribes speech into text, uses a synthesized voice to repeat what the speaker has said; and engages with Google Assistant to complete tasks, like asking for directions, playing a song, or turning on the lights.
6. Teaching Reading to Children
According to statistics recorded between 1985-2023, the literacy rate in Sub-Saharan Africa is a mere 67.27%. It is also estimated that two-thirds of 10-year-olds globally are unable to read and understand a simple story.
Google’s AI-based reading tutor app and website – Read Along, is helping to increase child literacy. The in-app reading buddy – Diya, listens to the speaker reading aloud and offers support when they struggle. It also rewards the speaker when they do well.
The app has benefited over 30 million kids that have read more than 120 million stories. In Nigeria, a child who started using the app at 10 years old went from only being able to read for 3 minutes at a time to reading for up to 90 minutes.