PRESS RELEASE – DLI 2024

Deep Learning Indaba 2024: Africa’s biggest AI Community Gathers in Dakar, Senegal

Dakar, Senegal (August, 2024) – The Deep Learning Indaba (DLI), Africa’s premier machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) event, returns for its 6th edition, promising an inspiring and collaborative experience for the continent’s AI community. The event will be held from September 1st to 7th at Amadou Mahtar Mbow University (UAM) in Dakar, Senegal, comprising keynotes, tutorials, workshops, panel discussions, and paper presentations for a community of 600+ participants travelling from across Africa and beyond.

The DLI is a critical platform for addressing the unique challenges and opportunities facing AI development in Africa. Its mission is to empower Africans to become not just consumers of AI, but active contributors and leaders in its advancement.

Highlights of the 2024 Deep Learning Indaba:

• Keynote Speakers: 
  • Samy Bengio, Senior Director of AI and Machine Learning Research at Apple
  • Caglar Gulcehre, Professor and Lead of CLAIRE lab at EPFL
  • Judy Gichoya, associate professor in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine
  • Isabel Valera, Professor on Machine Learning at the Department of Computer Science of Saarland University (Saarbrücken, Germany)
• Key Themes:
  • Responsible AI
  • Robot Learning for Africa
  • Empowering African Voices in AI
  • Climate-Resilient AI Solutions
  • Data Science for Health in Africa
• Workshops: 
  • Focused sessions for in-depth discussions and collaboration on specialised technical topics.
• Diverse Participation:
  • Over 600 attendees, including researchers, students, industry professionals, startups, and policymakers from across Africa and beyond.
• Inclusive Environment: 
  • This edition will continue to prioritise inclusivity and diversity, with efforts to ensure representation from across the African continent and beyond. Through scholarships, mentorship programs, and community engagement initiatives, the organisers aim to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for all participants.

Supporting Africa’s AI Growth

The Deep Learning Indaba began in 2017, organised by a group of friends and collaborators who were able to envision the future potential of AI and the role that the African continent would be able to play in shaping this future. Fast forward to 2024, the Deep Learning Indaba is officially a registered charity with over 60 dedicated organisers helping to bring its vision to reality.

Through participation in the Deep Learning Indaba, individuals are amassed into the DLI community:  a community of passionate researchers and practitioners, aiming to foster learning, collaboration, and innovation in the field of AI across the African continent. This is continuously exemplified through new research collaborations, the birth of new research communities, innovation projects being seed funded through DLI and opportunities for career progress.

The Deep Learning Indaba is more than just a conference; it’s a movement to strengthen Africa’s AI ecosystem. It builds in collaboration with other pan-African communities which are working towards the same and is strengthened through international partnerships which often go above and beyond fiscal sponsorship. The event fosters the exchange of knowledge, the formation of new research collaborations, and the development of local AI talent.

We execute our mission through three principal programmes: 

• the annual Deep Learning Indaba event
• the IndabaX local chapters which are run in a distributed manner across 47 African countries, ensuring wide reach into the continent and continued ambassadorship across Africa.
• Excellence in Research and Community Awards that recognise the efforts of individual contributors

These programmes aim to build a sustainable pan-African community of AI expertise, create local leadership in AI in every country across the continent, and recognise excellence in research and application of AI technologies, respectively.

***

Indaba’s 2024 General Chairs: Emily Muller, Daouda Tandiang Djiba and Elizabeth Benson:

“The Deep Learning Indaba 2024 marks a pivotal moment in our journey. As we mature and refine our focus, we are thrilled to convene in Dakar, a city that embodies the dynamism and potential of Africa’s AI ecosystem. Senegal’s vibrant IndabaX and Galsen AI communities, robust partnerships with AI Hub Senegal, and commitment to a national AI strategy perfectly align with our vision for a more collaborative, inclusive, and impactful Indaba experience. We’re excited to celebrate our collective achievements and further empower African voices in AI, together.” 

Professor Ibrahima Cissé, Rector of Amadou Mahtar Mbow University:

“By hosting the Deep Learning Indaba, Amadou Mahtar Mbow University (UAM) reaffirms its commitment to accelerating research, innovation, and community service for all Africans. This event is a unique opportunity to contribute to the advancement of artificial intelligence on the continent and to promote diversity of talent in scientific fields,” 

Samy Bengio, Senior Director of AI and Machine Learning Research at Apple: 

“I look forward to participating in the upcoming Deep Learning Indaba in Dakar. Machine Learning has a growing impact on society and we should make sure everyone gets to understand and contribute to its latest advances so that it benefits everyone. My presentation will focus on problems involving advanced reasoning capabilities which will remain hard, despite current scaling approaches and hype.”

Christine Fages, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the Republic of Senegal: 

“More than an economic and technological revolution, artificial intelligence carries the potential for a profound paradigm shift in our societies. By strengthening the development of scientific communities and building bridges between research and innovation across the African continent, the Deep learning Indaba is an essential event for imagining a sustainable and inclusive impact of artificial intelligence  France is proud to stand alongside the African artificial intelligence community, with which we share the conviction that artificial intelligence will be a powerful driver of economic development. We have been working in this direction with the vibrant Senegalese artificial intelligence ecosystem, which is full of talented entrepreneurs, and researchers.”

***

About the Deep Learning Indaba:

The Deep Learning Indaba is a grassroots movement. It is a culmination of the collective efforts of people across the continent, all working together towards a goal larger than ourselves: to strengthen and empower the African AI community, to make sure Africans are contributors, shapers and owners of the coming advances in machine learning. The organisation is made up of volunteers of teams who organise events, coordinate activities, cry for a community’s losses and celebrate each other’s successes. 

***

Media contact: comms@deeplearningindaba.com