RAIL KNUST leads the Breakout Session on Responsible AI and Ethics in Response to the 4th Industry at the Ghana Digital Innovation Week Event

The Responsible Artificial Intelligence Lab (RAIL) participated in the Ghana Digital Innovation week event. It led the breakout session on “Responsible AI and Ethics in Response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution” on 26^th October 2022. 

Ida Na-Tei, CEO and co-founder of CTN Technologies and Contracts and Tenders Engineer, Automation Ghana Group, moderated the Responsible AI panel discussion. 

Dr. Henry Nunoo-Mensah, Programmes Coordinator, RAIL, and Lecturer in the Department of Computer Engineering, KNUST, led the discussion on AI in Health. He insinuated that health workers had an initial impression that artificial intelligence was coming to replace them in their jobs. Still, with advocacy and education on the benefits of AI in the health sector, they are gradually accepting the AI concept. He indicated that AI offers numerous benefits in healthcare, such as automating tasks and analysing enormous patient data sets, which helps in better healthcare delivery at a faster rate and lower cost.  

Dr. Dr. Seth Christopher Yaw Appiah, Gender Expert, RAIL, and Lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, KNUST, spoke on Responsible AI and Ethics. He stated that AI must be responsive to the needs of people and not destroy human livelihoods. 

“AI should be fair to the larger population, and transparent AI platforms must be used”, he mentioned. He intimated that AI gathers and processes personal data, so regulations and policies must be implemented to ensure data privacy and protection. 

Mr. Prince Paa Kwesi Essandoh, Senior Lead, IT Governance and Compliance, MTN Ghana, gave some data privacy tips as follows:

• Read and understand privacy settings before agreeing to them 
• Use strong passwords 
• Browse secured websites and log out when leaving  
• Disable location when not in use 

He advised that sharing of personal data online should be minimised if possible. This will help one control and monitor the kind of personal information put out there which may be used by third parties irresponsibly, he concluded. 

Prof. Jerry John Kponyo, PI and Scientific Director, RAIL and Dean of the Quality Assurance and Planning Office (QAPO), KNUST, revealed that RAIL is leading the way in ensuring the AI is responsible. He said RAIL seeks to be a first step in establishing a sustainable approach to nurturing local talent to engage in multidisciplinary, responsible AI for development research and innovation. 

He mentioned that RAIL, and other African AI Research Labs, have introduced the FACETS framework as a measure of responsible AI. “RAIL organises workshops, short courses, and seminars in preparing people for culture-relevant AI systems”, he added. 

The Responsible Artificial Intelligence Lab (RAIL) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology is under the Artificial Intelligence for Development in Africa (AI4D) Multidisciplinary Labs project initiated by International Development Research Centre (IDRC). 

RAIL has the vision to be a Maker Space that would develop talent in Data Science and Machine Learning to help bridge the widening skills gap needed to champion the Digital Economic Transformation agenda of Ghana and the Subregion.