A-day Virtual Colloquium on

AI ETHICS IN AFRICA

September 14, 2024

15:00/3 pm (South Africa Time) and 14:00/2 pm (Nigeria Time)

Description

In recent years, there has been a rapid development in Artificial intelligence (AI). Some of these developments include smartphones, factory arms, autonomous cars, AI wristwatches, ChatGPT4, griefbots, robot surgeons, and robot lawyers. This rapid development raises various concerns, one of which is the ethical concern of how to design AI in such a way that it would not pose a danger to humanity or exacerbate the suffering of nonhuman animals in the context of factory farms.  

Much of the literature written on AI ethics has focused mainly on Western ethical perspectives, thereby making the discourse on the ethics of AI largely one-sided. However, one finds relatively little contributing to the discourse on AI from African ethical perspectives. The aim of this colloquium is not only to interrogate AI ethics but also to emphasize the importance of African moral values in formulating novel principles for developing ethically permissible AI. This colloquium presents a unique and crucial opportunity for scholars to contribute to the discourse on AI ethics from African perspectives.

Zoom Login details:
https://zoom.us/j/95979412550?pwd=O3ECkcROJKj3f9PezoH2zqflj8QbNd.1

Meeting ID: 959 7941 2550
Passcode: 279811

15.00-15.15 (South Africa Time) Welcome/Introduction

15.15-15.30 Diana Ofana (University of Pretoria and Conversational School of Philosophy)
AI Discourse in Africa: Towards a Decolonial Understanding of AI Ethics 1

5.30-15.45 Catherine Botha (Department of Philosophy, University of Johannesburg)
AI Ethics in/for Africa: A Call for an Interrogation of the Indigenous Principle Perspective

15.45-16.00 Discussion

16.00-16.15 Zubairu Lawal Bambale (Department of Philosophy, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria)
Extending Chimakonam’s Conversational Account of Personhood to Accommodate Intelligent Systems as Persons

16.15-16.30 Julia Monig (Centre for Science and Thought, University of Bonn)
What do We mean by Human-centric AI?

16.30-16.45 Discussion

16.45-17.00 Virtual break

17.00-17.15 Okechukwu (Jake) Effoduh (Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University)
A TWAIL Approach to Regulating Artificial Intelligence in Africa: Norms, Tensions, and Resistance

17.15-17.30 Ibifuro Robert Jaja (Centre for Philosophy and AI Research, Friedrich  Alexander University)
The Danger of a Single Story: Implications of AI Development in Africa

17.30-17:45 Discussion

17.45-18.00 Manuel Richard Kasulu (Department of Philosophy, University of Malawi)
Generative AI and the Fragmentation of Community: Challenges to Interdependence and Solidarity

18.00-18.30 Christiana Ngozi Calice Idika (University of Mainz)
AI Ethics in a Dysfunctional System and the Neoliberal Tragedies: Risks and Chances                    

18.30-18.45 Discussion

18.45-19:00 vote of thanks

Organizer: Amara Esther Chimakonam, PhD. Centre for Phenomenology in South Africa, University of Fort Hare. In collaboration with The Conversational School of Philosophy, Calabar, Nigeria