Physical AI is the route to industrialisation lest we forget!

It’s unbelievable how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is getting more publicity than natural intelligence and wisdom. Yet, artificial intelligence is nothing but a combination of natural intelligences.

Simply put, machines - read: computers and software - can compare and contrast data, information or now insights from several sources and give a response or solution to a problem.

That is why an AI model keeps on checking or mining the internet for data. It’s like a take-away exam: you source information from anywhere—the more sources, the better the answers. 

AI mimics natural intelligence: the more you have read and experienced, and the more people you have interacted with, the better the solution to a problem.

Think of proverbs and insights from an elder compared with Gen Z. Our ability to process that information depends on our IQ. For AI, it depends on computer power, which depends on the chips.

That is why Nvidia's stock price and market capitalisation have skyrocketed.

The company makes chips that power AI. Add data centres, where computer systems, servers and related IT infrastructure are kept, with cooling being a big factor.

Its speed of processing data, more than anything else that makes AI powerful and “scare us.”  Why are we not scared of cars because they are faster than our running?

In addition, the bigger the database on which the AI model can refer, the better it works. That is why investment in data centres is growing. 

Something else is making AI models powerful: specialisation, just like us. Compare general practitioners in medicine and consultants. What are Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and other models good at?   I have noted that, just like cars or browsers, we get attached to an AI model.

Based on the fact that AI models are based on natural intelligence, we should not fear them.

However, the fact that AI models can self-improve and go rogue, even hacking other models, is frightening, especially when such models have potential use in wars.  It is no wonder AI model developers are hiring philosophers; we have enough ethical issues.

In academia, my biggest worry is the “hollowing out” of students’ brains by failing to internalise what they learn by using AI. I have noted a difference among the students I taught when there was no internet, no social media and now AI.

Another worry: AI learns or gets information from research and data generated thereof. We do scant research in Africa.  We run the risk of losing the AI race by using information or data not suited to us, just like economic and political models.

AI will make matters worse because it’s at the individual level, starting in kindergarten. AI will make Africa a net importer of ideas, data, insights and sadly, misinformation.

Check citations in our thesis and books. We can add that in such a scenario, Africa will be easier to control and possibly exploit. Why are the USA and China in an AI race?

We have been there before, importing machinery and ideas. AI, more than anything else, demands that we up our game in research and contribute to building AI databases of knowledge.

There is one aspect of AI we have ignored while mesmerised by large language models (LLMs) and their “human-like conversations.  It’s the physical AI.

Think of AI in robots, cars, aircraft, spacecraft, cameras, and other machines. It makes them more accurate and versatile, leading to higher productivity. Think of human-like conversations in machine operations!

With our low industrial base and lack of curiosity, physical AI is not our focus.

We are used to importing the latest technology espoused by cars, phones, microscopes, and machines in our offices and homes. We think all one needs is money.

That is why Nairobi Rivers are polluted; one can buy mineral water or get clean water from dams far away. What of those downstream?

Yet we shall always need physical products in our lives. Physical AI is key in their production.  Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) will not fade with AI; it will simply become STEAM, with A as arts to enrich our lives. Physical AI is the route to industrialisation.

Currently, AI is a curiosity, a fascination. We need to leverage it, not just to keep us busy in human-like conversations but also to make money, create jobs, and make our lives easier and more fulfilling.

That starts from the classroom to the workplace.  Must Africa be perennial losers in every technological revolution? When shall we be originators and not cheerleaders of technology?