Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) plans to train one million South Africans in artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity and other emerging technologies by 2026.
American Tech Giant’s AI Upskills initiative will convey the basic tools to trainees to leverage technology, according to Lillian Barnard, president of Microsoft Africa.
“Learning the transformational power of AI is no longer a futuristic vision, but a concrete reality for organizations looking to achieve exponential growth and optimization,” she said.
AI has become the world’s most in demand new technology. Experts predict that AI could increase revenues by more than $15 trillion, with the market recording an annual growth rate of 18%, starting from $3900 billion in 2024. It’s there. By the end of the decade, 83% of companies have cited AI integration as their top priority.
However, Africa has lagged behind other regions in AI adoption, and the lack of required skills is one of the hurdles it faces. A survey by the World Economic Forum (WEF) found that 60% of African companies cite skills gaps as an important barrier to adopting emerging technologies. Microsoft is committed to filling this gap, training 30 million young people in Africa with the latest technology.
“The launch of this AI Skills Initiative for South Africa is about not only personal progress but the entire community. We are committed to democratizing access to AI education, which will make it even more for everyone. I believe it creates a fair digital future,” Bernard commented.
The software giant will partner with local academic institutions, government and non-governmental agencies, ICT training companies and other private sector organizations to amplify its reach.
“By 2030, the continent could become a more important player in the global economy, revolutionizing and increasing productivity in the industry based on AI. Together, by providing AI promises , we can create courses to help Africa become the next global economic power,” says Bernard.
AI adoptions are surged in Africa, but crime is also surged
Africa is embracing AI to solve some of the perennial challenges the region faces and create new opportunities for 1.5 billion people.
A recent survey by global data integration company Qlik found that 92% of African organizations consider AI integration to be “absolutely important” or “very important” to their overall success this year. did. Especially in South Africa, 99% of respondents were familiar with AI and its benefits.
Qlik shares knowledge and training as other popular use cases, along with analyzing customer data analysis, efficiency improvements, and operational optimization, as well as the most popular use cases of AI by businesses. I discovered something. However, as WEF discovered, lack of skills was the biggest challenge, with one in five projects being abandoned halfway through.
Recruitment is encouraging, but another report found that AI-related crime is on the rise in Africa. A report from Digital Identity Solutions Firm Smileid found that rapid AI development is driving a new wave of fraud in the region.
Generated AI allows fraudsters to bypass traditional verification systems, allowing fraudsters to “create surreal fake documents, voices, and images.”
The AI-related waves of cybercrime are not endemic to Africa. Even in the most developed countries, fraudsters have scam thousands of casualties through spoofing, deepfakes, voice clones, fake AI chatbots and strengthening phishing tactics last year, last year. In one example, the Hong Kong company lost $25 million to a scammer who used AI Deepfake technology to impersonate CFOs. According to Deloitte, one in four executives were targeted by a con man with a deepfake in 2024.
However, AI fraud is a global threat, but Smileid says African companies are more vulnerable.
“Crashmen are leveraging the weaknesses of Africa’s verification and security systems, targeting vulnerable platforms and agencies to infiltrate critical systems,” the report said.
Bypassing facial recognition checks on images generated by AI was the most popular AI-related fraud attack as Smileid discovered and revealed that these attacks had skyrocketed by seven times . Also, with rising cheaper and more powerful AI platforms like Deepshakes, Smileid expects attacks to continue to surge as entry barriers go down every day.
This makes blockchain integration into AI more important than ever. Blockchain immutability, data origins and transparency make it an essential foundation for AI.
Watch: Tech redefines how things are done – Africa is here for it
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