Within the framework of the Scientist in Residence programme, GLUON invited researchers Tarek Besold (Chief Behavourial Officer, Alpha Health, Telefonica) and Raoul Frese (Prof. Biophysics, Faculty of Sciences, Physics and Astronomy, VU Amsterdam) for a residency at the studio of renown filmmaker/writer Manthia Diawara. Together they are researching the impact and future use of artificial intelligence for the African continent and vice versa.
Yene is a fishing village where 70% of the population earn their living fishing and in fishing related activities. However, due to climate change and rapid technological developments the local fishing community is experiencing many changes. There is less fish near the coasts and fishermen have to travel further into the ocean to catch medium size and big fish. There they meet international fishermen with big boats and better fishing equipment. Traditional fishermen have had therefore to modernise their fishing technics. Starting from the challenges the local community of Yene is currently confronted with, Manthia asks what’s the use of AI in Africa? There are many AI start-ups emerging in Africa today. Could this new science or the technological tools and machines developed by it help Africans to overcome the challenges of literacy and technological poverty and propel them into a new future of applications and Data? Is this what we might call Afro-futurism? And what role might African arts play in the familiarisation of people with AI in Africa? The first meeting took place at Manthia’s studio in the village of Yene, nearby Dakar (Senegal) in November 2018. During their stay they reflected on the relationship of local residents with technology and the use of artificial intelligence, and they carried on interviews with women working on the market, fishermen and a traditional healer. The encounter resulted in a mini-documentary titled Behind the Robots Eyes directed by Daman Diawara. The team travelled to Yene for a second time in December 2019.
The project will be further developed over the course of 2020 — 2021 and will result in a documentary by Manthia Diawara exploring the use of AI in Africa and the impact of traditional belief systems on this technology.
