The drum beats as we count the days until we reunite in Dakar, Senegal for the 6th Deep Learning Indaba. A gathering of minds and spirits that will take us one step further along our journey – a journey of inclusion, of community, and of AI researchers and practitioners galvanising across the African continent.
As the Indaba gathers momentum with each year, we are seeing a growing number in our community meaningfully contributing to the global AI discourse. As this continues, a question we must answer for ourselves is: in what ways are we, as the Indaba, uniquely positioned to shape this discourse? What perspectives can we, and only we, bring to the proverbial table? As the world grapples with the many challenges in realising generative AI, it is becoming increasingly clear that a range of voices will be required to address them. Knowing where our voices will be uniquely impactful can help us focus our efforts and drive meaningful change in the AI landscape.
While we will likely not have just a single impact, I see great potential for the Indaba to bring clarity to what “equitable AI” actually means and how it can practically be achieved. I am struck by how often terms like “equitable AI” and “AI fairness” are cast out by those without any real connection to the “marginalised” people or lands their AI technologies profess to serve. Through being deeply embedded on the continent, the Indaba offers a direct antidote to this. We are engaging with communities where local knowledge resides. We are redefining power dynamics in how data is collected, owned, and shared by these communities. We are setting new standards in how these communities are credited. We are developing and deploying AI technologies that are driven by real local needs. We are a community working for our community in all its beautiful diversity. This positioning opens the opportunity for us to think about equitable AI in new ways, ways not necessarily available to the broader AI community.
But as the drum continues to beat, our work is far from over. As a community, we must first and foremost continue to drive the technical innovation that is needed to ensure generative AI models perform well on low-resourced tasks and data. We must seek out and collaborate across disciplines in ways that deepen our understanding of what it means for technology to be representative and fair. We must secure our place at the tables where our views will be heard and actioned. We must challenge the status quo to demonstrate that alternative, even revolutionary, approaches should be considered. This journey will undoubtedly be difficult at times, but it is the mantle that we, as the Indaba community, must carry.
The drum beats as a rhythmic reminder of how we must continue to work towards our greater common purpose. A drum beat that calls each of us to think about our own roles in building towards an AI future that works for everyone, not only a privileged few.
Until we meet in Dakar.
– Daniela Massiceti, long time organiser of the Deep Learning Indaba: Core organising committee 2018-2020, Applications and Selections Committee (2019), Indaba Awards Committee (2019), Baobab (2023) and the Mentorship Programme (2020 -). August 2024.
