Amazon Web Services has announced the launch of its ‘AI Ready’ initiative in Kenya, a bold step towards democratising artificial intelligence (AI) education across Africa. This program is designed to empower up to 2 million people by 2025 with essential AI skills, free of charge, to help them thrive in an increasingly digital economy. The initiative reflects a broader global race among tech giants to lead in AI development and application, a field considered pivotal in shaping future technologies and industries.
AI, or artificial intelligence, encompasses computer systems designed to mimic human intelligence tasks such as learning, reasoning, and problem-solving. Within AI, machine learning (ML) is a critical subset where algorithms improve automatically through experience and data. Deep learning, another subset of AI, involves networks capable of learning unsupervised from unstructured or unlabeled data. ‘AI Ready’ covers these areas and more, offering courses in natural language processing and computer vision, which are crucial for developing applications ranging from automated customer service to systems that can analyse medical images.
The ‘AI Ready’ initiative offers a comprehensive curriculum that includes eight new generative AI and AI/ML courses, catering to a wide audience from tech enthusiasts to non-technical executives. Generative AI refers to algorithms that can generate content, whether text, images, or music, based on the patterns they learn from data. This aspect of AI is particularly powerful and is one of the most rapidly advancing areas of the technology.
Robin Njiru, Regional Lead, Public Sector-Sub-Saharan Africa of Amazon Web Services, emphasized the transformative potential of AI in tackling some of Africa’s most pressing challenges. By making AI education accessible, AWS aims to unlock this potential and foster innovation across various sectors.
In addition to theoretical knowledge, participants in the ‘AI Ready’ program will gain practical experience through hands-on labs and webinars. These resources are designed to prepare Kenyans not just for the jobs of tomorrow but to play an active role in driving technological innovation and economic prosperity throughout the nation.
Moreover, AWS is also investing in broader digital skills with initiatives like AWS re/Start, which focuses on cloud skills training for those with little technology experience. This program has been inclusive, reaching individuals across various demographics, including youths and displaced persons in refugee camps, demonstrating AWS’s commitment to enhancing employability and technology access across diverse communities.
Through these initiatives, AWS is not only contributing to the AI education landscape but also ensuring that the benefits of AI advancements are widely accessible, supporting a more equitable technological future for all Kenyans.
