Ramaphosa urges faster AI adoption as Google expands Africa cloud ambitions
President Cyril Ramaphosa
Speaking at the first Google Cloud Summit to be held in Africa, at the Sandton Convention Centre on Wednesday, Ramaphosa said governments and businesses should scale AI-enabled services more rapidly and avoid being constrained by traditional technology infrastructure.
"All of us must really adapt AI-enabled services at scale, and we should do so much more rapidly and at a lower cost than through legacy IT infrastructure," he said.
He said the government's vision is to deploy AI across the public sector to modernise administration and improve service delivery.
"We envision a South Africa where these technologies are rapidly deployed across the public sector, enabling us in government to modernise public administration, education, transportation, public infrastructure and the delivery of basic services."
Ramaphosa linked the country's digital transformation agenda to lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic, saying the period demonstrated technology's ability to sustain education, business operations and public administration during unprecedented disruption.
"I was one of the most hated persons in our country then, when I said everyone should stay at home," he said.
"We saw how technology even enabled young people who were either at university or high school to continue learning. We also learned how to run our businesses from home and how it's become our usual occurrence where companies now say you can work at home and you can monitor and manage yourself."
The President described AI as a general-purpose technology with economy-wide applications, comparing its significance to earlier technological shifts such as electricity and the internet.
"We envision a country where AI solutions are deployed for disease management and prevention, to manage the national energy grid, by farmers to predict weather patterns and by scientists to guide our national climate response," he said.
He also pointed to AI's potential role in strengthening public health responses across the continent.
"Tomorrow I will be going to the DRC, where there is now Ebola. We are discussing with President Tshisekedi how, through enabling technologies, we can confront Ebola and many other diseases."
Ramaphosa said productivity should remain the central objective of AI deployment.
"If we are going to rely on technology and AI, we need to focus on how that enhances the productivity of all of us as human beings, but more importantly, how it can drive productivity in our companies, government and the economy broadly."
He concluded with a call for inclusive digital development across Africa.
"No person must be left behind in this new digital age. No country on the African continent must be left behind. Let us continue to work together."
Google used the summit to announce further investment in South Africa's digital infrastructure. The company said it is establishing a hub in the Eastern Cape that will connect to Australia through the Umoja subsea cable, expanding regional connectivity and computing capacity.
Google senior vice-president for research, labs, technology and society James Manyika said the company is deepening its investment in infrastructure, AI innovation and digital skills development across the continent.
"Building on our past commitments, we're making new investments in critical areas: infrastructure, African-led innovation, and education and skill building," Manyika said.
"From a new digital exchange port in the Eastern Cape to Africa's first applied AI lab, we're harnessing technical progress and building partnerships to amplify and scale Africa's incredible vibrancy, hustle, and innovation for the world."