2023-06-11 22:01:20
In Senegal, the artificial intelligence sector is attracting more and more young people. Many training courses around AI have emerged in recent years. But when it comes time to enter the labor market, young graduates are often tempted to move abroad, for lack of professional opportunities in their country, where AI is still in its infancy.
Ndiaye Dia is an artificial intelligence enthusiast. This young Senegalese has received a multidisciplinary training. First in mathematics and computer science in Dakar, then as an engineer at the École Polytechnique in the Paris region.
Skills that he is currently putting to good use in France, at Descartes & Mauss, a company that relies on AI.
« Personally, I am fundamentally convinced that to respond to the issues around the employability of young people, you really need to launch a lot of projects around AI, around algorithms and data. It is really the future and it is already the present today. It generates a lot of jobs, a lot of opportunities in terms of entrepreneurship… Today, in Senegal, there are a lot of start-ups that are being created, that use artificial intelligence, that develop products using the algorithms. So there are a lot of opportunities in that direction. »
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Companies with little awareness of the use of artificial intelligence
Convinced that Senegal should not miss out on this technological revolution, Ndiaye Dia and his collaborators launched the Senegal Algorithms Institute in 2020. Its mission: to support young people on the continent to develop their skills around Artificial Intelligence.
Young graduates whose companies do not yet measure the potential. “ That is a problem today in Senegal. Companies are not very aware of the use of artificial intelligence, which is why it is important for the public authorities to take the lead in raising awareness in this direction to make companies aware of the fact that it is necessary to launch AI development and deployment projects to harvest the talent that’s there, so it doesn’t go overseas somehow. »
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The role of the state in paving the way for artificial intelligence
Sensitizing companies, supporting their leaders in this transition, this is what Seydina Moussa Ndiaye, director of the Force-N program at the Cheikh Hamidou Kane digital university and president of the Senegalese Association for Artificial Intelligence, does. “ We try to acculturate companies that are at the level of Senegal so that these companies can understand how to create value around artificial intelligence. For example, in the program that I currently manage, it is planned for 2023-2034 to have a series of free training courses for business leaders, for public decision-makers to reinforce acculturation with regard to to that area. »
Seydina Moussa Ndiaye is confident: “ Some companies will take the leap “. But for him, it is up to the state to pave the way. ” There are so many things to do at the level of public administration that AI might help to do. So, if the State of Senegal calls for tenders around that, it would arouse this enthusiasm for the companies that are here to offer services around that. »
Three years ago, Senegal acquired a supercomputer. A technological tool that should contribute to the development of the AI sector, once it is operational.
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