On Friday 22 April 2022, the Chief of Staff of the Minister of Digital Affairs and Digitalisation, Mr Ahmed Sacca YAROU, chaired the participatory workshop for drawing up the national strategy on artificial intelligence and big data.
Following the review of the state of artificial intelligence development in Benin, the Ministry of Digital Affairs and Digitalisation appointed the consultancy firm ANTAH to define the national strategy for artificial intelligence and the use of big data.
The interim report submitted by the firm sets out a proposed strategy, with objectives, actions and multisectoral activities to address artificial intelligence use cases. Beyond the digital sector, several sectors will be affected by the implementation of this strategy, with health, agriculture and transport as priorities.
At the participatory workshop for drawing up the national strategy on artificial intelligence and big data, chaired on Friday 22 April 2022 by Mr Ahmed Sacca YAROU, Chief of Staff of the Minister of Digital Affairs and Digitalisation, participants from State sector departments, the private sector, associations and universities made proposals that will help build a consensus document. This will facilitate the coordination of the actions to be taken to achieve Benin’s digital ambitions.
Why is Benin adopting a national AI strategy?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is developing at lightning speed today. As a result, it is becoming a major issue for national development policies through its implications for training, research and innovation. To realise the impact of this potential, Benin must know its strengths in this area and set its objectives for harnessing AI for the benefit of taxpayers.
A national strategy for the development of artificial intelligence will support the sector’s efforts to align with the objectives of the sectoral policy, which is to make Benin the digital services platform of West Africa to accelerate growth and social inclusion.
At a time when artificial intelligence has become a field of strategic importance that could be a key driver of economic development and a lever for regional and global strategic positioning, with many sectoral opportunities, Benin’s vision and strong determination to adopt a robust national artificial intelligence strategy are essential. It offers the opportunity to harness AI in targeted development areas in order to position the country as a major AI player in West Africa.
Hence the need for a pragmatic and “actionable” AI strategy that delivers concrete solutions to development problems in several fields (agriculture, health, tourism, education, transport, defence, e-Government, e-Business, etc.)
Drawing up a national strategy will launch a coordinated effort that will gradually put in place, or strengthen, the foundations needed for AI to flourish in Benin.