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Namibia Sets Roadmap to Develop AI Responsibly and Ethically
In an effort to ensure the responsible and ethical use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Namibia, over 80 professionals from government, academia, civil society, and the private sector convened in Windhoek on 5th September 2023 for a stakeholder engagement on the Implementation of UNESCO鈥檚 Recommendation on the Ethics of AI. The meeting was organized by the Ministry of Higher Education, Training, and Innovation in collaboration with UNESCO.
The UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI emphasizes the need for transparency, accountability, and inclusivity in the development and use of AI. It also calls for the protection of human rights and the promotion of gender equality and diversity in AI development.
Namibia is steadily positioning itself to take full advantage of the technological innovations presented by AI to advance the national development agenda. This engagement therefore served as an opportunity for stakeholders to provide input on the development of a national framework (roadmap) for the ethical development and use of AI in Namibia.
Many technologies are developed outside with a limited knowledge of our cultures, languages and indigenous knowledge and it is therefore imperative that the guiding principles must be in tune with our local governing laws.
During the stakeholder engagement, participants underscored the need for literacy and awareness to accelerate public understanding of AI and its impacts. This they noted will facilitate an understanding of the potential benefits and risks of AI, and how a national framework can guide the use of AI in key sectors such as education, health and labour market. The discussions also addressed the importance of data privacy and security and the need for adequate regulations that will ensure the responsible use of AI.
Coding is the new literacy. Namibia鈥檚 digital future starts with compulsory coding. If we do not equip the youth with skills to develop end-to-end technology, we will have digital services and applications that dictate how we work and communicate without our input
This stakeholder engagement is a follow-up to the Southern Africa Regional Forum on Artificial Intelligence (SARFAI) which was hosted in Windhoek, from the 7th to the 9th of September 2022 under the theme Towards a development-oriented and sustainable use of artificial intelligence. The forum served as a unique opportunity for deliberation among Southern African countries on how to leverage synergies and shape a shared agenda for the development and use of AI for the common good, with strong and clear ethical and human-rights-based foundations in line with the 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on Ethics of AI.
The Recommendation entails the development of a Readiness Assessment Methodology (RAM) to guide Member States and their stakeholders in assessing what frameworks, capacities, and competencies exist at a country level to support the ethical use and development of AI. Namibia is one of the beneficiary countries of the Japan-funded project to pilot RAM in Southern and Eastern Africa. The objectives of the project is to set up a national stakeholder team to assess the infrastructure, policy, and user cases of AI to help the government understand where they stand on the scale of preparedness to implement AI ethically and responsibly for all their citizens, highlighting what institutional and regulatory changes will be needed.
The output of the RAM will help Member States tailor the capacity-building efforts to the needs of different countries. Here, capacity means the ability to assess AI systems in line with the Recommendation, to ensure that the country has in place human capital, policies, and regulations to address the challenges brought about by AI technologies and ensure that people and their interests are always at the centre of AI development.
As part of the final country-level report, a roadmap including concrete policy recommendations will be designed in consultation with the stakeholders, highlighting the conclusions and suggesting a path forward that reflects the priorities of the country in terms of the specific institutions that need to be built or enhanced to implement the Recommendation.
