Seth Onyango, bird story agency

African businesses are signalling a move to integrate OpenAI's ChatGPT tool and other artificial intelligence-related functions into their e-commerce strategies.

This follows OpenAI's announcement that third-party developers can add its advanced chatbot to their apps and services using an application programming interface (API).

"ChatGPT and Whisper models are now available on our API, giving developers access to cutting-edge language (not just chat!) and speech-to-text capabilities," it said on March 1.

"Through a series of system-wide optimisations, we've achieved 90% cost reduction for ChatGPT since December; we're now passing through those savings to API users. Developers can now use our open-source Whisper large-v2 model in the API with much faster and cost-effective results."

Later in March, state-owned Telkom South Africa and communications firm Clickatell unveiled Chat 2 Pay feature for Telkom's customers on WhatsApp, showing the growing appetite for advanced artificial computing.

Telkom, a wireline and wireless telecommunications provider operating in more than 38 countries across the African continent, will deploy the Chat 2 Pay pay-by-link capability in WhatsApp to its customers to make mobile payments convenient and safe for its customers.

Meanwhile, the deployment of advanced chatbots in Africa is already gaining ground with platforms like Nigeria's Kudi AI's chatbot allowing users to send and receive money, pay bills, and purchase airtime without ever leaving the chat interface.

Kudi leverages conversational interfaces and artificial intelligence to facilitate secure financial transactions through various platforms like Facebook, Telegram, Slack, and Skype.

Another impressive example is Jumo, a South African startup which deploys machine learning credit models that can be tailored to enhance and eventually replace "outdated credit thinking that has left 'others' out over the years," according to the company.

Less advanced chatbot models like Safaricom's Zuri and United Bank for Africa's (UBA) Leo also interact with customers to fulfil various tasks instead of humans.

In August 2022, Safaricom announced a cost-cutting move to close one of its branches in Nairobi and urged customers to utilise its Zuri chatbot, launched in 2018.

"Zuri will add to our already existing self-care options, including USSD and my Safaricom app. Using AI, Zuri will be able to constantly evolve and learn from the interactions it has with customers to provide accurate responses", Sylvia Mulinge, Chief Customer Officer, Safaricom, said during the launch.

And as large language model-driven AI chatbots become more ubiquitous worldwide, Africa's deep-pocketed telcos and banks are now expected to adopt the advanced API and Whisper versions.

It is a natural pivot for most firms, with the multinational consulting firm, PwC forecasting that the share of AI in the global economy could surpass US$15.7 trillion or roughly the size of China's economy.

In Africa, it could account for more than US$1.5 trillion or about half its current output, and this is only if the continent can capture 10% of the world's AI market.

Moreover, with the increasing use of mobile devices in Africa, integrating AI and chatbots into financial services will allow customers to access financial services conveniently, even in remote areas where traditional banking services may not be available.

A 2022 State of AI in Africa report shows South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Kenya dominating this sector and AI impacting at least 120+ market segments across the continent.

"Privately owned SMMEs or Micro-businesses make up 75% of this sector, 40% of which were founded in the last 5 years, showing the importance nation states need to place on supporting their local tech ecosystems," it reads in part.

African AI firms are also attracting mega funding, with Tunisian AI startup InstaDeep receiving US$100 million in Series A funding in the first quarter of last year.

Specialising in applying advanced machine learning techniques to enterprise environments, the company has emerged as a leading player in the AI industry.

Global tech giants are taking notice of this exciting development in Africa's AI industries. Google has announced plans to invest US$1 billion in African startups over the next five years, focusing on AI-powered solutions and other contemporary tech.

Such investments into Africa's AI scene will also help with the development of local alternatives to the famed ChatGPT.

This against a background of claims by African users - even those with high-speed internet - that they struggle with ChatGPT availability, with many suffering outages just after a few prompts, leading many African users to demand local alternatives.

A recent article in TIME magazine suggests a growing African IT capacity, pointing out that where ChatGPT is concerned,  "the success story is not one of Silicon Valley genius alone.

"In its quest to make ChatGPT less toxic, OpenAI used outsourced Kenyan labourers earning less than US$2 per hour," its investigations found, leading to a resounding rebuke of Open.AI.

Despite the furore, Open.AI's engagement with Kenyan engineers shows that Africa is an important hunting ground for tech talent.

Meanwhile, as the cost of training machine learning systems decreases and data become widely accessible, investors will be looking to ramp up investments into the continent's nascent AI space.

But for Africa to join the race to build universal, cutting-edge technologies, countries will need to encourage the growth of AI ecosystems that include investments in education and research, incubators, accelerators, and venture capital funding.

This will help create a fertile ground for innovation and entrepreneurship and attract talent and investment worldwide.

That is beginning to happen as a few countries like Mauritius and Egypt develop national AI strategies that align with their economic development goals and leverage their unique strengths and capabilities.

In Kenya, an AI task force of 11 experts drawn from other stakeholders, government agencies, the private sector and academia is expected to provide a roadmap on how the East African nation can apply AI.

The Global AI Index, for instance, places the African countries it analyses among 'waking up' and 'nascent' nations in terms of AI investment, innovation, and implementation.

Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya are nascent, while Morocco, South Africa, and Tunisia are waking up.

As investments flow in to Africa's tech sector, and as solutions to local opportunities and needs increase, the potential of AI in Africa will no longer be a chimera.

bird story agency