Google is set to open its first African artificial intelligence research centre in Ghana later this year. “In recent years, we’ve witnessed an increasing interest in machine learning research across the continent,” senior Google AI fellow Jeff Dean and staff research scientist Moustapha Cisse wrote in a blog post. “Events like Data Science Africa 2017 in Tanzania, the 2017 Deep Learning Indaba event in South Africa, and follow-on IndabaX events in 2018 in multiple countries have shown an exciting and continuing growth of the computer science research community in Africa.”
Google said that employees in the new AI centre, which will open later this year, will work closely with local universities, other research centres, and policymakers on the potential uses of AI in Africa. This is Google’s first centre devoted solely to AI research in Africa and the first from any tech giant.
“We’re excited to combine our research interests in AI and machine learning and our experience in Africa to push the boundaries of AI while solving challenges in areas such as healthcare, agriculture, and education,” Cisse and Dean wrote.
We are thrilled to announce that @GoogleAI is coming to Africa! Our brand new AI centre will be opening in Accra later this year. https://t.co/fjUspzvhEN
— Google in Africa (@googleafrica) June 13, 2018
The Google AI Center in Accra expands on Google’s efforts in the region. The company said 10 million Africans have completed its digital skills training program, and Launchpad Accelerator Africa, its tech startup incubator, is actively supporting 100,000 developers across 60 companies.
AI can bring a lot to the world, especially if the regions of the world where it will be developed are well represented. Google’s new AI centre in Accra joins the already long list of our AI centres, including Paris, Zurich, Tokyo, Tokyo, Beijing, Montreal, Toronto, Seattle, Cambridge / Boston, Tel Aviv / Haifa, New York, and our head office in Mountain View / San Francisco. If you are a machine learning researcher and want to join this new centre, you can apply as a research scientist or software engineer researcher.
