Comment on ChatGPT Perspective on The Fourth Industrial Revolution’s (4IR) Impact on Africa
Eng. Tororiro Isaac Chaza
ICT engineer, project management consultant, AI enthusiast
I am fascinated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications like ChatGPT. To those asking, “What is ChatGPT?” I asked ChatGPT, “who are you?” and the answer (edited) was “I am an artificial intelligence language model developed by OpenAI…… As a language model, my primary function is to generate human-like responses to text-based prompts, such as questions or statements. I can understand and generate text in many different languages and can be used for a wide variety of tasks, including language translation, content creation, and customer support, among others.” That definition is similar to any other chatbot. ChatGPT has been on apparently since June 2020. I have only started using it recently.
?I will quote George Floyd’s cry, “I can’t breathe!!!” prompted by the fact that I could not log onto ChatGPT using my Zimbabwean Internet Protocol (IP) address and phone number. The service is not available in the country for some reason. I had to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) and a South African mobile number. When I later asked ChatGPT why I could not access its service in Zimbabwe I was told it was probably a technical glitch. However on further research I ascertained that Zimbabwe was on a list of 45 countries barred from its access, some form of ‘technical sanctions.’ That’s the scourge of the Digital Divide, which I will talk about later.
?So, I tested ChatGPT on a subject matter that I am interested in and researched on, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). I paused the question to ChatGPT, “What is the effect of The Forth Industrial Revolution on Africa?”
?ChatGPT proffered an answer which I will dismantle and analyse in parts below.
?ChatGPT’s introductory answer: The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has the potential to bring significant benefits to Africa, but it also presents some challenges that must be addressed.
On the positive side, the 4IR can help Africa leapfrog over traditional development stages and accelerate economic growth. For example, the widespread adoption of digital technologies such as mobile phones and the internet has already transformed many aspects of life in Africa, including access to information, communication, and financial services. The development and deployment of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) could further enhance productivity, efficiency, and innovation in African economies.
?My comment to the introductory part: I wouldn’t agree more with ChatGPT’s answer. Africa stands to benefit from the advent of 4IR. The 4IR is dominated by the information technology which is the most powerful resource in this day and age. Information technology is the new gold, impacting all the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN). Covid-19 further accelerated the need for connectivity as industries adapted work-from-home (WFH) strategies to keep up productivity and education institutions ramped up e-learning.
?But the question is, does Africa have control of the situation in terms of being an information content producer, promoter, consumer, arbiter, and storer? Does Africa control its own narrative? The answer is even made complex by the fact that Africa is 55 sovereign entities with 46 in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region, therefore 55 different approaches to the 4IR issue. The hope is that they are united under the political and economic tenets of the African Union and therefore can forge a united front to confront the vortex of issues brought about by 4IR.
?At this juncture I will put forward Nelson Mandela’s warning at the advent of 4IR, “Massive poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges of our times — times in which the world boasts breath-taking advances in science, technology, industry, and wealth accumulation — that they have to rank alongside slavery and apartheid as social evils.” ChatGPT agrees to a certain extent with Nelson Mandela as it brings out interesting challenges in the following answer flow in Part 1 onwards.
?ChatGPT continues: However, there are also challenges that must be addressed to ensure that the benefits of the 4IR are realized in Africa. These include:
ChatGPT answer part 1 - Digital Divide: While digital technologies are becoming more widespread in Africa, there are still significant gaps in access to technology and digital skills between urban and rural areas and between countries.
?My comment to part 1: The Digital Divide is one of my pet topics. The Digital Divide speaks of the difference between access to high-tech between developed countries and developing/least developed countries. Most African countries do not qualify in the developed country category economically. There is a high correlation between technological advancement and economic development. A good measure is mobile phone penetration for instance. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) reports that 82.3 per 100 population (popn) of Africans are mobile phone subscribers. Contrast with Americas at 110.9 per 100 popn and Europe at 122.7 per 100 popn.
?Another measure of the Digital Divide is the number of “Individuals using the Internet.” Africa is the lowest at 28.6 per 100 popn, The America’s at 76.7 and Europe at 82.5 per100 popn.
?Further ITU statistics reveals that 88% of the world’s population is covered by the Fourth Generation (4G) mobile technology, and only 3% by older 3G. When looking at Africa alone, 4G coverage reduces to 49%, with 3G at 33% and remnants of 2G at 7%. The developed countries are almost 100% 4G, with 5G at infancy stage but some African countries (apparently 7) are already onto it with pilot installations in countries like South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, etc.
?If the Digital Divide is measured solely by the bandwidth capacity of the technology, then the gap is increasing and not decreasing as 4G (LTE- long Term evolution) speeds (max 100 megabits per second (Mbps)) are much higher than 3G (max 7.2 Mbps). 2G at 64 kbps is too low to talk about as it only supports voice and SMS/USSD (Short Message Service and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) at current demand. But for some countries the question still is, “2G or not 2G?” for maintenance of some form of connectivity in rural and remote areas. EDGE (2.75G) is also available in a few African countries. This is a 2G enhancement, capable of handling 384 Kbps. 5G comes at 10-20 Gigabits per sec (Gbps).
?The Digital Divide may further be exacerbated by access to and pricing of bandwidth. African countries tend to have more expensive access than their counterpart. This due to infrastructure development costs discussed in Part 4.
?Furthermore, barring some countries from accessing services such as ChatGPT fuels the Digital Divide.
?ChatGPT answer part 2 - Employment and Skills: The adoption of advanced technologies may lead to the displacement of some jobs, particularly those that are repetitive or routine. This could exacerbate existing challenges in the labour market, such as high youth unemployment rates, and require significant investments in education and training to ensure that workers are equipped with the skills needed for the jobs of the future.
?My comment to Part 2: Technological innovation is an output factor determined by economic growth and hence investment in education. The Global Innovation Index (GII) is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity to innovate and success in marketing goods and services mainly on the high-tech end. GII is published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The statistics on Africa are telling. Out of 132 countries the first quartile is topped by the likes of Switzerland, the United States, Sweden and the United Kingdom. China comes in at number 11 despite being the largest tech exporter in the world.
?But alas, no Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries feature in the top quartile of the GII. Two SSA countries, Mauritius and South Africa make an appearance in the second quartile. Five SSA countries are in the third quartile, namely Botswana, Kenya, Ghana, Namibia and Senegal. Eighteen SSA countries including Zimbabwe dominate the fourth and last quartile, an indication of Africa’s poor performance on innovation.
?A sore point is that African educated, tech-savvy ICT engineers being recruited by the tech western companies thereby depriving Africa of tech skills. They develop software for these tech companies which in turn sell and license tech services to Africa.
?In the 4IR era Africa continues to be a tech consumer and pays highly for importing infrastructure, software licenses, app and content freemium/premiums. To counter this, Africa must radically change the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum, reward innovation, and increase intra-African trade in technology. Imitative innovation, respecting patent law, is allowed to jumpstart the tech industries.
?ChatGPT answer Part 3 - Cybersecurity and Privacy: The increased use of digital technologies also raises concerns about cybersecurity and privacy, particularly as many African countries lack robust data protection regulations and infrastructure.
?My comment to Part 3: The ITU publishes the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) which measure the following pillars:
? legal measures; laws enacted for cybersecurity and data protection.
? technical measures; putting in place technical capabilities to counter cyber threats at national and sector-specific agencies.
? organizational measures; national and organizational cybersecurity strategies.
? capacity development measures; training, education, and awareness campaigns in cybersecurity.
???cooperation measures; partnerships between agencies, firms, and countries.
Definitely cybersecurity and privacy are major risks in the 4IR. African countries are lagging behind in crafting and enacting Cyber and Data Protection laws and putting in place technical counter measures. The ITU CGI shows only 3 SSA countries in the first quartile of 194 countries measured, namely Mauritius, Tanzania and Ghana.
?The second quartile contains 9 SSA countries, with the likes of Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, etc. The third quartile contains 14 SSA counties, whilst the last quartile has 18 SSA countries. Zimbabwe ranks 98 placing it in the third quartile. The position may improve since Zimbabwe enacted the Data Protection Act recently.
?So, Africa needs to yank up its cybersecurity and data protection measures as it adopts digital technology for service delivery in e-government, e-commerce, e-society, etc.
?ChatGPT answer Part 4 - Infrastructure and Investment: The deployment of advanced technologies requires significant investments in physical infrastructure such as broadband networks and data centres. Many African countries face significant challenges in attracting the necessary investment to build this infrastructure.
?My comment Part 4: Infrastructure and investment topic is the fulcrum of the Digital Divide. I repeat that Africa is the consumer of tech infrastructure, including software licenses and content. There is very little capital inflows from tech manufacture, software development and content production. Africa needs to move from ‘brick and brush’ manufacturing into high tech. In order to do this profitably there needs to be serious collaboration at state levels, commercial organizations level, tertiary education level, and consumer awareness level.
?Be that as it may, the current trajectory indicates that the rapid technological advancement of the world tends to increase the Digital Divide especially in rural Africa where access to technology, and affordability of devices and bandwidth are a challenge. In order to address this dilemma, there is radical need to adapt ubiquitous technology at affordable bandwidth costs to the end user. Such technology includes Satellite technology, TV White Space technology, cheap access devices, and low-to-no software licences. This may have to be subsidised.
?ChatGPT summary: In summary, the Fourth Industrial Revolution presents both opportunities and challenges for Africa. To fully realize the benefits of this technological transformation, policymakers, business leaders, and civil society organizations must work together to address these challenges and create an enabling environment for innovation, investment, and skills development.
My comment to ChatGPT summary: I agree with ChatGPT and recall Nelson Mandela’s warning that the resultant poverty, Digital Divide and ‘technology sanctions’ are tantamount to slavery and apartheid.
It is time for a continent-wide collaboration of entrepreneurs and educational institutions to lead the continental Digital Transformation premised on a vision to shift from an ICT consumer to producer. Strategies must include: