US universities support the opening of Malawi’s first AI centre

The Malawi University of Science and Technology on Friday officially opened Malawi’s first Centre for Artificial Intelligence and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics). The centre, which was founded with assistance from a number of American colleges, intends to address the nation’s requirements for innovation and technology.

The centre will support the promotion of the study and use of artificial intelligence (AI) and STEAM for the socioeconomic development of Malawi and beyond, according to the project’s director Zipangani Vokhiwa, a Fulbright scholar and science professor at Mercer University in the United States.

“Economic development that we know cannot go without the modern scientific knowledge and aspect so the centre will complement vision 2063 for Malawi as a country that needs to be moving together with the country developments in science,” Vokhiwa stated. “Not to be left behind.”

The centre, known by its abbreviation CAIST, will provide educational, technical, policy, and strategy products and services in regards to cutting-edge technologies like AI, according to Vokhiwa.

He said that it will also include humanistic STEAM education and research-based machine learning, deep learning, data science, data analytics, internet of things, and more.

The centre received instructional and technical support from a coalition of different American colleges.

These include the New York University, Mercer University, Colorado University, Georgia Southern University, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Tech University, Morehouse College, and Texas Tech.

However, there are worries that the advent of AI may lead to employment losses across the globe.

According to CBS News, AI killed roughly 4,000 employment in the United States in May.

The benefits and drawbacks of AI, according to Vokhiwa, are still up for debate.

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“As has been said by the experts, AI has both positive elements and negative elements,” he stated. “But knowing fairly well that we cannot run away from digitization of what we do, AI will be needed, and Malawi does not need to lag behind.”

Vokhiwa claimed that because it requires workers to operate the AI equipment, AI has aided in the creation of jobs.

Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima, the minister of education for Malawi, gave the Malawi University of Science and Technology’s AI centre a formal opening.

According to her, the opening of the AI centre has given the nation the green light and established the groundwork for it to investigate the prospects presented by cutting-edge technology.

She added that while AI has the capacity to change the nation, it also has drawbacks that must be addressed.

“For this to happen, the government will be looking to CAIST for knowledge and expertise so that we can together facilitate the development of the necessary policy and regulatory frameworks governing responsible use of AI,” she stated. Since AI is already here and we are all using it, the earlier we take action, the better. Some of us have sufficient knowledge, but many of us undoubtedly lack complete understanding.

Whatever the situation, according to Kambauwa Wirima, Malawi cannot avoid AI; she also noted that the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community is actively addressing the problem.

“We adopted a decision to develop regional guidelines on the ethics of artificial intelligence to be domesticated and implemented by member states,” she stated. “Therefore, Malawi cannot sit on the fence.”

According to Address Malata, vice chancellor of Malawi University of Science and Technology, the institution is planning its operations to be in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, Malawi 2063, and other development agendas. This will ensure that whatever the centre does will be beneficial to all parties.