Burkina/ Artificial intelligence: Media professionals receive training

The Center of Interdisciplinary Excellence in Artificial Intelligence for Development (CITADEL) presents its activities and achievements to journalists. The aim is to raise its profile and highlight its contributions. Exchanges between CITADEL staff and media representatives will last two days. They began on Monday October 14, 2024, in Koudougou, capital of the Centre-Ouest region.

CITADEL is a center supported by the Virtual University of Burkina Faso. It works to set up databases in various fields to support artificial intelligence (AI) research in Burkina Faso.

In its mission to promote AI for development, and in view of the growing importance of AI and all the questions it raises, the center has decided to meet with information and communication professionals to introduce them to the CITADEL center. It's also an opportunity for the center to present its objectives, activities and results to date. The session will also provide an opportunity for exchanges with other players, in particular the ministry in charge of digital transition, to better acquaint them with AI technology, its impacts, the challenges linked to its integration and adoption, and the state of AI in Burkina.

CITADEL is focusing on six strategic axes to achieve its main objective, which is to promote AI innovation and improve the quality of life in Burkina Faso and French-speaking Africa. In the field of health and well-being, the center conducts research aimed at developing AI models to improve diagnosis and patient management. For energy and climate change, work on AI models for weather forecasting and resource management. In languages and heritage, research is focusing on preserving local languages with translation and speech synthesis models. In agriculture and pastoralism, CITADEL is developing AI models to optimize agricultural yields and monitor soils using satellite imagery. In fintech and security, it creates models for fraud detection and financial security. Finally, the center focuses on privacy and the applicability of AI models to guarantee transparency and protection of personal data.

These strategic thrusts demonstrate the center's commitment to using AI to address local challenges and improve quality of life.

The main motivation is to bridge the gap in AI research in French-speaking Africa and bring local solutions to global problems.

The center trains students in AI. This, to enable the country to have AI skills. "The primary role is to create local AI skills. And these skills must be able to compete at an international level, both in terms of technical skills and research," explains Dr Rodrigue Kafando, a teacher-researcher at the Virtual University of Burkina Faso.

CITADEL's Master's degree is the first accredited Master's degree in Artificial Intelligence in Burkina Faso. It recruits students, grants them scholarships and trains them in various fields of AI. "We have trained one of our AIs to detect fake news. We also do deep Fake. For example, when we attribute a word to someone through AI, we manage to detect that," said Dr Kafando.

Source: lefaso.net/