Category: ICT

African leaders defy lacklustre global economy to forge ahead with digital transformation collaborations at inaugural GITEX Africa Digital Summit.

African leaders defy lacklustre global economy to forge ahead with digital transformation collaborations at inaugural GITEX Africa Digital Summit.

Generative AI, finance, infrastructure development and investment among core theme explorations at Africa’s most impactful leadership conference programme
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MARRAKECH, Morocco, May 19, 2023/ — African ministers, government and private sector leaders are set to converge in a powerful cross-continental forum in Marrakech this month to press on with digital transformation alliances as the tech world reorganises itself in the wake of the global digital upheaval.

Against the biggest market correction in recent years, Africa continues to march onwards to empower and unify a continent on the cusp of transformative ICT growth, with the GITEX Africa Digital Summit the new focal point steering a pursuit of a unified digital vision.

The influential summit will spearhead an inspiring conference programme at the inaugural GITEX Africa 2023 – the largest tech and start-up show in the African continent, taking place from 31 May-2 June – unifying 500-plus policy makers, government heads, investors and academics to explore how technology and connectivity are redrawing the boundaries of sustainable social-economic development for African government, business and society.

H.E. Lacina Koné, the Director General and CEO of Smart Africa – the pan-African organisation driving the continent’s digital transformation agenda – is a headline speaker. Koné said digital technologies offer new avenues for economic growth in Africa by accelerating job creation and talent development, supporting access to public services and increasing productivity and innovation. However, challenges remain.

“The lack of connectivity in remote and rural regions along with insufficient data protection and high cost of African connectivity have brought new challenges to businesses, governments, and people,” said Koné, who oversees the process of defining Africa’s digital agenda in addition to advancing key continental initiatives. “Intra-governmental cooperation is the key enabler of digital services adoption and acceleration, while mitigating these associated challenges across the African continent.”

Koné will be part of a panel at the GITEX Africa Digital Summit titled: ‘Uniting Towards One African Market’. He will share how Africa’s leaders are building a secure, resilient and sustainable digital future. “Agile enabling regulations are needed to quickly respond to market developments, facilitating entry of new competitors for the benefit of consumers in a united African continent,” he said.

The GITEX Africa Digital Summit will arrive amid a remarkable period of African ICT and broadband growth, with statistics showing the continent has the world’s fastest-growing internet population, up by 20 percent in just one year. Africa’s digital economy has become one of the main drivers of cross-continental progress, coupled with strong talent development and a spike in public private sector investments.

Jérôme Hénique, CEO for the Middle East & Africa at Orange, France; Tonny Bao, Vice President of Huawei, China; and Saad Toma, General Manager of IBM MENA, are among the foremost private sector leaders speaking about the critical pathways advancing the continent’s digital transformation missions, from building a more digital and inclusive Africa to exploring the social and economic impacts of 5G, or how AI can drive business transformation and sustainability.

Other headliners at Africa’s most impactful leadership conference programme include H.E. Syed Amin Ul Haque, Minister of Information Technology and Communications in Pakistan; and Babajide Sanwo-Olu the Governor of Lagos Nigeria, who will deliver a keynote address on what is accelerating Africa to become the next Silicon Valley.

The state of play in Africa’s digital economy will be another key discussion point, addressed by H.E. Belete Molla, the Minister of Innovation and Technology in Ethiopia; and H.E. Cina Lawson Minister of Digital Economy and Transformation in Togo.

“I am honoured to be part of the GITEX Africa hosted by Morocco,” said H.E. Molla. “It creates opportunities to governments, innovators and leading experts from around the world to discover new ideas, build new partnerships, and connect with inspiring mentors and investors. It would help Ethiopia to get connected to the global tech space and leading players.”

Accelerating the epic race for African AI dominance

The next wave of digital transformation accelerated by the power of generative AI along with AI’s impact on African societies will meanwhile stimulate curious discussions at a dedicated AI track on day three of GITEX Africa, where the brightest minds and most innovative thinkers share their insights on AI’s ability to revolutionise industries, from agriculture to finance.

Dr. Adel Alsharji, Chief Operating Officer at UAE-headquartered Presight, the Middle East’s leading international big data analytics company powered by AI, will deliver the keynote address on the Societal Impact of Artificial Intelligence.

“The societal impact of AI is multifaceted and far-reaching globally, and it is already reshaping sectors, such as healthcare, finance, agriculture, education, and manufacturing and therefore the way we live,” said Dr. Alsharji.

“The African continent is showing a speedy AI adoption rate and a readiness to explore and harness the potential of AI for driving economic growth and addressing local challenges, ultimately benefiting the greater good of people.

“As AI advances, we can anticipate further innovation and positive applications. It is crucial, however, to embrace AI responsibly, ensuring ethical considerations are in place as we navigate this transformative landscape.”

Mustapha Zaouini, the Chairman of AI in Africa, will speak on a panel on Responsible Generative AI. He said while Africa has unique challenges such as disparity in internet access, the continent is steadily embracing AI.

“Africa is exploring AI to solve pressing issues like poverty, unemployment, and inequality,” said Zaouini. “However, readiness varies across countries, and there’s a need to invest in infrastructure, education, and policy-making to fully harness this fast-evolving technology.

“Access to AI technologies can level the playing field so it is essential not to be left aside. Ensuring equitable access to technology and bridging the digital divide are crucial steps to prepare for AI’s impact in Africa.”

Digital cities evolution and plotting the path to a net zero future

With the global push towards a net zero economy, technology’s role in advancing sustainability is more important than ever.

A panel at GITEX Africa’s Digital Cities conference track will explore how technology can advance an African-centric Net Zero agenda, addressed by Dr. Shaoshan Liu, Founder and CEO of PerceptIn in the USA; Mohammed Essaidi, MEA Chairman of the Global Cities Alliance, IEEE in Morocco; Laurent Roussel, President of Francophone Africa & Islands at Schneider Electric; and Gilles Babinet, French Government Representative of Digital Champions Group (EU) in France.

Other preeminent speakers at GITEX Africa include Emmanuel Gadret, CEO of Francophone Africa at Deloitte, who will share his insights into charting Africa’s path to prosperity by unlocking economic and data sovereignty; and Dr. Ray Johnson, CEO of the Technology Innovation Institute in the UAE, who will dive into generative AI’s ubiquitous role in fuelling economic growth.

A historic launch in the world’s next biggest digital economy

The inaugural GITEX Africa will make its historic debut from 31 May-2 June 2023, welcoming more than 900 exhibitors, start-ups, and visiting delegations from 80 countries for three days of intensive outcome-focused public-private sector collaborations in the world’s next biggest digital economy.

More than 250 hosted investors from 34 countries with US$200 billion worth of assets under management will also seek breakthrough technologies and potential African tech scale-up co-investment opportunities. As the ultimate start-up incubator and magnet for flourishing VC funds, GITEX Africa will deliver an unmatched scouting platform for these investors, of which 70 percent are coming from outside of Africa.

GITEX Africa is held under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, and hosted by the Digital Development Agency (ADD), the public entity leading the Moroccan government’s digital transformation agenda under the authority of the Moroccan Ministry of Digital Transition and Administration Reform.

KAOUN International will lead the partnership for this much awaited business endeavour, urging the global tech community to go to Africa, leveraging the power of the trusted GITEX Global brand in Dubai, the world’s largest tech event.

With tech-friendly policies in a continent that is now far more accessible, African investment is rocketing. Analysts predict the tech market is on track to scale from $115 billion to $712 billion by 2050, while according to Briter Bridges, African start-ups raised a total of US$5.4 billion across 900+ deals in 2022. Meanwhile, a youthful populace coupled with Africa’s rapid urbanisation is accelerating digital economic growth, with 70 percent of the Sub-Saharan African population under 30 years of age and 45 percent of Africans set to live in cities by 2025.

More information is available at www.GITEXAfrica.com

Apple and Google Lead Initiative For An Industry Specification To Address Unwanted Tracking

 

Location-tracking devices help users find personal items like their keys, purse, luggage, and more through crowdsourced finding networks. However, they can also be misused for unwanted tracking of individuals.

Today Apple and Google jointly submitted a proposed industry specification to help combat the misuse of Bluetooth location-tracking devices for unwanted tracking. The first-of-its-kind specification will allow Bluetooth location-tracking devices to be compatible with unauthorised tracking detection and alerts across iOS and Android platforms. Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, eufy Security, and Pebblebee have expressed support for the draft specification, which offers best practices and instructions for manufacturers, should they choose to build these capabilities into their products.

“Apple launched AirTag to give users the peace of mind knowing where to find their most important items,” said Ron Huang, Apple’s vice president of Sensing and Connectivity. “We built AirTag and the Find My network with a set of proactive features to discourage unwanted tracking — a first in the industry — and we continue to make improvements to help ensure the technology is being used as intended. This new industry specification builds upon the AirTag protections, and through collaboration with Google results in a critical step forward to help combat unwanted tracking across iOS and Android.”

“Bluetooth trackers have created tremendous user benefits, but they also bring the potential of unwanted tracking, which requires industrywide action to solve,” said Dave Burke, Google’s vice president of Engineering for Android. “Android has an unwavering commitment to protecting users, and will continue to develop strong safeguards and collaborate with the industry to help combat the misuse of Bluetooth tracking devices.”

In addition to incorporating feedback from device manufacturers, input from various safety and advocacy groups has been integrated into the development of the specification.

“The National Network to End Domestic Violence has been advocating for universal standards to protect survivors — and all people — from the misuse of Bluetooth tracking devices. This collaboration and the resulting standards are a significant step forward. NNEDV is encouraged by this progress,” said Erica Olsen, the National Network to End Domestic Violence’s senior director of its Safety Net Project. “These new standards will minimise opportunities for abuse of this technology and decrease the burden on survivors in detecting unwanted trackers. We are grateful for these efforts and look forward to continuing to work together to address unwanted tracking and misuse.”

“Today’s release of a draft specification is a welcome step to confront harmful misuses of Bluetooth location trackers,” said Alexandra Reeve Givens, the Center for Democracy & Technology’s president and CEO. “CDT continues to focus on ways to make these devices more detectable and reduce the likelihood that they will be used to track people. A key element to reducing misuse is a universal, OS-level solution that is able to detect trackers made by different companies on the variety of smartphones that people use every day. We commend Apple and Google for their partnership and dedication to developing a uniform solution to improve detectability. We look forward to the specification moving through the standardisation process and to further engagement on ways to reduce the risk of Bluetooth location trackers being misused.”

The specification has been submitted as an Internet-Draft via the Internet Engineering Task Force(IETF), a leading standards development organisation. Interested parties are invited and encouraged to review and comment over the next three months. Following the comment period, Apple and Google will partner to address feedback, and will release a production implementation of the specification for unwanted tracking alerts by the end of 2023 that will then be supported in future versions of iOS and Android.

Curled from Apple newsroom

Elon Musk wants to develop TruthGPT, “a maximum truth-seeking AI”

Elon Musk said in an interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that he wants to develop his own chatbot called TruthGPT, which will be “a maximum truth-seeking AI” — whatever that means.

The Twitter owner said that he wants to create a third option to OpenAI and Google with an aim to “create more good than harm.”

“I’m going to start something which you call TruthGPT or a maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe. And I think this might be the best path to safety in the sense that an AI that cares about understanding the universe is unlikely to annihilate humans because we are an interesting part of the universe,” Musk said during the Fox & Friends show.

Musk was also critical of OpenAI saying that he played a pivotal role in setting up the organization, but it’s not clear if it is doing any good. He also accused OpenAI of training AI models to be politically correct, which he considers “another way being untruthful.”

He previously criticized the company for becoming “closed sourced” and “effectively controlled by Microsoft” in a tweet in February.

In March, Semafor reported that Musk and OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman had a tiff in 2018. When Musk wanted to take control of the company because it had “fallen fatally behind Google,” Altman and other co-founders objected to the move resulting in Tesla CEO walking away.

Musk also showed concerns about AI being too powerful to manipulate public opinion or even cause “civilizational destruction.” This is not the first time the SpaceX CEO has talked about the dangers of AI. Most recently, he signed a letter to pause the training of models more powerful than GPT-4 for at least six months along with people like Steve Wozniak, and Tristan Harris of the Center for Humane Technology.

Earlier this week, the Financial Times reported that Musk has been working on an OpenAI rival — he has recruited former DeepMind employee Igor Babuschkin for this task.

It’s not clear if Musk wants to build a Large Language Model (LLM) that rivals the offerings from OpenAI and Google, or if he wants to push for research in other areas of AI like fairness in training models.

But as TechCrunch’s Devin Coldewey noted in his story earlier this week, Musk doesn’t need to develop a cutting-edge product to make ripples. “One does not have to topple the market leader to influence events and gain a seat at the table — often all it takes is billions of dollars. And that is something Musk reliably seems to have at his disposal,” Devin wrote.

It’s also worth noting that TruthGPT might be a temporary project name as OpenAI has applied for a trademark for the term ‘GPT’.

 

Whatsapp preparing to let users send and receive messages “even if phone battery is dead”

The new Whatsapp feature will let users send and receive messages “even if your phone battery is dead”.

WhatsApp is testing a new feature that will let people message without using their phone for the first time.

At present, WhatsApp is linked to a user’s phone. Its desktop and web apps need that device to be connected and receiving messages..

Up to four other devices – like PCs and tablets – can be used together, WhatsApp said.

To begin with, the new feature will be rolled out as a beta test for a “small group of users”, and the team plans to improve performance and add features before enabling it for everyone.

End-to-end encryption – a key selling point for WhatsApp – will still work under this new system, it said.

Several other messaging apps already have such a feature, including rival encrypted app Signal, which requires a phone for sign-up, but not to exchange messages.

But the feature has long been requested by WhatsApp users – of which there are a reported two billion.

‘A rethink’
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In a blog post announcing the move, Facebook engineers said the change needed a “rethink” of WhatsApp’s software design.

That is because the current version “uses a smartphone app as the primary device, making the phone the source of truth for all user data and the only device capable of end-to-end encrypting messages for another user [or] initiating calls”, the company said.

WhatsApp Web and other non-smartphone apps are essentially a “mirror” of what happens on the phone.

But that system has significant drawbacks familiar to many regular users, as the web app is known to frequently disconnect.

On a technical level, the solution was giving every device its own “identity key”, and WhatsApp keeps a record of which keys belong to the same user account. That means it does not need to store messages on its own server, which could lead to privacy concerns.

But Jake Moore, a security specialist at anti-virus-company Eset, said that no matter how robust the security is, having messages on more devices could still be a concern.

“There will always be a malicious actor looking to create a workaround,” he said.

“Domestic abusers and stalkers could now have the potential of using this new feature to their advantage, by creating additional endpoints in order to capture any synchronised private communications.”

He also said that social engineering is an “ever-increasing” threat, and the responsibility lies with the user to keep an eye out for potential misuse.

“It is therefore vital that people are aware of all the devices that are connected to their account,” he warned.

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mycvcreator.com is a web-based platform that provides easy creation and management of resumes. Registered users are provided with a dashboard where they can generate CVs from scratch or use FREE custom templates provided upon. Registration users can then access premium templates. The templates have beautiful design, to give them the professional outlook. Members can also link their social account e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook to mycvcreator.com profile. Finally users are able to download and print their CVs.

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The United States is ‘looking at’ banning TikTok

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested the possible move during an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, adding that “we’re taking this very seriously.”

Pompeo was asked by Ingraham whether the United States should be considering a ban on Chinese social media apps, “especially TikTok.”

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“With respect to Chinese apps on people’s cell phones, I can assure you the United States will get this one right too, Laura,” he said. “I don’t want to get out in front of the President [Donald Trump], but it’s something we’re looking at.”

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Esther, Her Computer Programs and Africa

The Home Keeper

Esther is a great home keeper.

I do not know who she is, but she lives in Africa.

She represents the millions of hardworking women who live next door in every African country. For her survival and that of hers, has made her make passionate, the duties of making ends meet. This gave birth to a hand – both hands actually – so powerful for Esther.

A lack of the right amount of information has limited her potentials to being just a great home keeper, but she could be more as we can rightly assume from her adventurous innovations.

Esther’s Hands Are A Machine

They pound tubers to make molds for meals, move carved handy stones over flat rock beds to mill fruits and spices used in soups or stews. She produces drinks from grains or a blend of fruits and exchanges them for cash money in the local market. Her industry also continues in the making of seasonings, soaps, perfumes, detergents and beautiful dresses for her family. With her hands, a mountain-heap of dirty clothes can disappear and hang sparkling clean on the lines.

She still wipes the furniture, mow the lawns with crude tools like her hands or a farm hoe, growing garden crops in her backyards to make food for the family as her husband Emmanuel, caters to other aspects of the upkeep of the family.

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Rich Resources On The Internet

Resources on the internet are so rich that they can make her and her children earn more, enough to help grow the young family and make them self-reliant enough to also contribute to other financial responsibilities of their growth.

Apart from some very inspiring women, most women find it rewarding enough to read and pass tests and examinations of their institutions but waste too much time sitting at the television to see incredible stories of moving pictures or entertaining themselves with contents on the internet. Many contents on the internet are not resourceful enough and a history of its consumption has made the powerful women of Africa, less powerful.

The Dominance of Men in ICT

Ninety percent of the time, men dominate the fields of information communication and technology (ICT), and the few women who have chosen this path revel in the praises they get for choosing a male-dominated domain and are comfortable enough – with the insincere applauds – instead of making better their knowledge or skills.

The Income from Better Knowledge

Esther and the women of Africa can learn computer programming, build little programs and earn more relatively, instead of hawking their industries for meagre returns.

Photo by Muhammadtaha Ibrahim Ma’aji from Pexels

Mark Zuckerberg Assures privacy-focused Facebook platform.

Mark Zuckerberg has said he believes secure, private messaging services will become more popular than open platforms. Mr Zuckerberg outlined his vision to transform Facebook into a “privacy-focused platform.” This is because,The social media giant has come under fire for a series of privacy scandals.

The CEO and founder detailed his overarching vision for how to make the service more secure, including encrypting messages. He also teased plans to integrate its various services, including WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, and said there will be a bigger emphasis on ephemeral content. Facebook owns Messenger and WhatsApp, but message encryption limits its ability to make money through targeted adverts.

According to him, “People want to be able to choose which service they use to communicate with people. However, today if you want to message people on Facebook you have to use Messenger, on Instagram you have to use Direct, and on WhatsApp you have to use WhatsApp,” Zuckerberg wrote in the post. “We want to give people a choice so they can reach their friends across these networks from whichever app they prefer.”

Earlier this year, the New York Times reported that Facebook planned to integrate its messaging platforms, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. The three services would remain separate apps, but the infrastructure behind the scenes would be the same.


Following that report, Facebook received some criticism and questions, such as what kind of power that would give the company.
At the time, Senator Brian Schatz from Hawaii, tweeted: “Good for encryption but bad for competition and privacy.”


Additionally, Facebook recently highlighted the move’s privacy and security benefits. Zuckerberg said many people use its Messenger app on Android to send and receive SMS texts and noted those texts can’t be encrypted because the SMS protocol isn’t encrypted. However, if its messaging services are integrated, users would be able to send an encrypted message to someone’s phone number in WhatsApp from Messenger.
“I believe working towards implementing end-to-end encryption for all private communications is the right thing to do,” he said.


Zuckerberg also pointed to the success of private messaging, disappearing content and small group chats, saying these are “by far the fastest growing areas of online communication.” Instagram Stories, which disappear after 24 hours, recently hit 500 million daily active users.
Facebook posts record $6.9 billion profit despite privacy scandals
Facebook posts record $6.9 billion profit despite privacy scandals
Users may feel more comfortable communicating with one or a handful friends, and sharing content that won’t stick around permanently.


He went further to say people should be comfortable being themselves, and should not have to worry about what they share coming back to hurt them later. So we won’t keep messages or stories around for longer than necessary to deliver the service or longer than people want it,”

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He added that, Facebook for instance could give users an option to have messages automatically delete after a year, month or even seconds after they’re sent. It could also stop storing messaging metadata for a long time.
Zuckerberg also acknowledged the company’s past issues with privacy. The company has faced a growing list of privacy issues, including the Cambridge Analytica data scandal and the biggest security breach in its history.
“I understand that many people don’t think Facebook can or would even want to build this kind of privacy-focused platform, because frankly we don’t currently have a strong reputation for building privacy protective services, and we’ve historically focused on tools for more open sharing,” he wrote. “But we’ve repeatedly shown that we can evolve to build the services that people really want, including in private messaging and stories.”

As part of his privacy goals, he said Facebook would not “store sensitive data in countries with weak records on human rights like privacy and freedom of expression.” and added that encrypted messaging will also create scope for new business tools, especially ones around online payments and commerce.

“Upholding this principle may mean that our services will get blocked in some countries, or that we won’t be able to enter others anytime soon. That’s a tradeoff we’re willing to make,” he continued.

“I believe we should be working towards a world where people can speak privately and live freely knowing that their information will only be seen by who they want to see it and won’t all stick around forever. “

“If we can help move the world in this direction, I will be proud of the difference we’ve made,” Mr Zuckerberg wrote. “Frankly we don’t currently have a strong reputation for building privacy protective services”.
What we are seeing is potentially a very new direction for Facebook.

You could argue that it is finally listening to what its users want and responding to their changing habits, rather than introducing its own ideas and then responding to the influx of feedback afterwards – seeking forgiveness rather than permission is not uncommon in the tech sector.

The shift to more intimate communications between smaller groups, making those conversations private even from Facebook itself, and no longer keeping data for a long period of time is no doubt designed to address the tech giant’s poor track record on privacy in recent times.

Nevertheless, though, he did not offer a firm timeline for his vision, but said changes would take place “over the next few years”.

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