Artificial Intelligence in Egypt: Just how far can it go?

By Omar Abdulla

As the world moves to a more digital environment, technologists are taking advantage of the possibilities offered by technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, and the Internet of Things.

African countries stand to benefit from AI in a number of ways. Many have lauded it as a positive force in Africa, promising to improve living conditions, healthcare, and education sector.

The Egyptian government’s recently launched National Artificial Intelligence Strategy aims to use such technologies to achieve the country’s long-term development goals, facilitate regional cooperation in the African and Arab regions, and establish Egypt as a global player in AI. The project is compatible with Egypt’s ambition to embrace the digital era, since technological breakthroughs continue to grow on a daily basis.

Recent economic research and indicators show that adopting AI into worldwide economies can have a net beneficial effect. Egypt has all it needs to maximise the benefits AI brings while minimising its risks, particularly when it comes to increased unemployment if the correct investment climate and upskilling/reskilling plan for its workforce are in place.

Egypt’s national policy includes the development of the following vision, which it hopes to accomplish with AI:

• Enhance Egypt’s sustainability goals by utilising AI to benefit citizens.
• Egypt’s key role in enabling regional collaboration, as well as becoming a big participant in the artificial intelligence sector on a global scale, should benefit the African and Arab regions.

The rise of AI, and more especially, data-driven approaches like Machine Learning, is reshaping the world’s economic and social structures. Artificial intelligence is expected to produce $15 trillion in global economic development by 2030, with countries that fully integrate AI into their economy expecting it to contribute up to 25 percent of GDP growth.

AI has become too powerful for countries to ignore it, from computer vision to analyse and understand videos and images in realtime, to Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms to create chatbots that can converse like humans, to probabilistic Deep Learning algorithms for complex decision-making.

Consequently, AI has risen to prominence on the policy agendas of governmental entities at both the national and international levels. To date, the majority of government programmes have focused on creating and boosting the economy via the use of AI, promoting research, and enhancing the ecosystem, particularly for AI startups. International and regional organisations have also begun to pay attention to AI, carving out niches for themselves based on their skills and membership structure.

One of the primary reasons to begin on an AI strategy and put it on the national ICT agenda is its immense potential to the whole economy as well as its capacity to accelerate socio-economic growth.

To fully reap the benefits of these new technologies, Egypt must first improve its capabilities and competitiveness in these domains. To do this, several initiatives will improve the effectiveness of education and training at all levels of education, including vocational and professional training. As a result, to adapt to the fast change in the kind of occupations required in an AI-based economy, continual education is required.