iCog Labs Articles page 5

Coding Academies Are Nonsense

By Stephen Nichols

Image courtesy of artrOnix

Image courtesy of artrOnix

Coding as a profession has recently catapulted from the dark rooms of nerdom into the shining light of mainstream appeal, and few people are better off for it. In 20+ years of professional coding, I’ve never seen someone go from novice to full-fledged programmer in a matter of weeks, yet that seems to be what coding academies are promising, alongside instant employment, a salary big enough to afford a Tesla and the ability to change lives.

It’s an ingenious business model. There’s a dearth of skilled coders in the marketplace to fill the five million computing jobs available in this country. For somewhere between free and $36,000, you learn to program computers in less than a year. If you’re one of the lucky few, you will hit your aha moment with programming and develop a personal passion for it, as well land a real job.

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Ethiopia’s Tech Economy On the Rise

Despite setbacks, Ethiopia’s tech economy has been making strides, luring entrepreneurs from throughout Africa and gaining international recognition. 

This is due to a mix of increased government support for ICT development and the establishment of start-up incubators and hubs that are creating an ideal landscape for the tech industry to grow.

By Steven Blum

iceaddis ‏co-working space.  Image Courtesy of eLearning Africa

iceaddis ‏co-working space. Image Courtesy of eLearning Africa

Now home to 1,000 members, incubator iceaddis is the first of its kind in Ethiopia, describing itself as: “Collaborative work spaces where aspiring young entrepreneurs, ICT driven individuals, techies, youth and creative individuals can come together to receive business and life skill training, prototyping, technology transfer and enhance their productivity and, ultimately, form viable and sustainable business plans for the future.”

Easily drawing comparisons to other tech hubs in the region, like Nairobi’s iHub – which now has over 16,000 members – or Uganda’s Hive Colab, iceaddis grew organically, starting with small events and workshops.

According to iceaddis member Markos Lemma, in Ethiopia “there is high potential for techies to develop applications and technical solutions.”

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Artificial Intelligence Catches Fire in Ethiopia

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Young Ethiopian with robot whose AI software was created in his country.

Young Ethiopian with robot whose AI software was created in his country.

Ethiopia has come a long way from its nightmare past of famine and war. It still has splendid 12th century rock churches carved into the ground, the plateaued Simian Mountains, the ancient city of Gondar and of course, the human ancestral fossil Lucy, its oldest hominid ambassador. But now computer science is thriving in its capital, Addis Ababa. And Ethiopian artificial intelligence R&D is on fire.

The driver for this unexpected artificial intelligence (AI) industry sector is the autocratic government’s massive multi-billion dollar, ultra-high tech, industrial plans and its fervent development of higher education to support them. Today, there are over 30 official universities and 130 or so polytechnics, most of them emphasizing technology. Many of them are in the capital and, in 2012, the Ministry of Science and Technology established its own university and a $250 million dollar tech park nearby.

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AIs, Ethiopian Food and iCog Labs

By  Hruy Tsegay

Deputy Minister of Science and Technology (between Lin Kayser and Ben Goertzel): Photo courtesy of Lin Kayser

Deputy Minister of Science and Technology (between Lin Kayser and Ben Goertzel): Photo courtesy of Lin Kayser

On February 2, 2015 Getnet Asefa, the CEO of iCog Labs, standing under the azure sky over the international Airport of Addis Ababa welcomed his guests from Hong Kong, Germany, and England. His exact words were, “Welcome to the era of hi-tech meetings in East Africa”.

Before three years, it wasn’t even plausible to dream about meetings and seminars on Artificial intelligence, Robotics or social movements like transhumanism, in the Horn of Africa— the place widely known for famine, disease and endless civil, nations, tribal and what not  wars.

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An Appeal to Transhumanism on the Question of Technological Inequality in Africa

By Hruy Tsegaye

“We are deceived by the appearance of right.” J.J Rousseau

Part One: Today’s RealityAfrica

The idea of improving humanity is not a new one. Such movements, notions, and groups have marked our past. Some of them achieved their target, and some have concluded with remarkable results; and yet, some have brought more suffering to the human condition.

Transhumanism is a movement that aims to enhance and improve humanity. As it happens with any notion and philosophy of this kind, it faces widespread criticism from many groups. Some criticism is constructive, passed on with the intention to improve on the shortcomings of the movement; then there is also criticism based on dogmatic and irrational grounds and expressed out of the fear that the movement is so radical and groundbreaking to the very idea of life itself.

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A Look Back at the First AGI Seminar in Ethiopia

By Hruy Tsegaye

It has been two years since the seed of the first Artificial Intelligence has been planted in Ethiopia. It all started with Getnet and Ben Goertzel, who accidentally meet during a Skype Session with a common acquaintance called Amara D. Angelica, co-founder and Editor of KurzweilAI.net. The two of them conspired, of course in the positive way, that they should organize a seminar on Artificial General Intelligence. Once, they set their mind on the consequential task, Getnet approached the Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAiT). The rest is history.

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Open Cog signed an agreement with Addis Ababa University (AAU)

Open Cog signed an agreement with Addis Ababa University (AAU). The Major goal of the agreement is to build and maintain a relationship in exposing and cultivating the hidden talent within the Ethiopian developers’ community in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). As part of the agreement, the university (Addis Ababa Institute of Technology/AAiT) announced that, it would establish a fully functional AI Outsourcing Laboratory inside the Amist Killo Main Campus with estimated cost of 1 million US Dollar.

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OpenCog In Ethiopia

By: Hruy Tsegaye

Once again, Ben was in Addis. This time, some of the OpenCog team members from Hong Kong (Ruiting and Scott) and Cosmo (from Seattle, Washington) accompanied him along with the documentary filmmaker, Roy Cohen (from Israel).

Our first visitors came to Ethiopia! It was a long-awaited event and the Pioneers of the Ethiopian Singularity had spent the whole week learning, sharing, theorising and sometimes arguing (of course the tone was that of a friendly one) on the concepts of AGI.

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Technology Leapfrogging

 

 

By Hruy Tsegaye

Automated-industry-inafricaFor over a decade, sub-Saharan Africa has been experiencing a relatively rapid economic growth. According to the latest World Bank report ‘Africa’s Pulse 2013, volume 7’, out of the top ten nations with the fastest growing economy, the top six are African countries followed by China. The Continent, despite the global economic crisis, registered an average of 6% in economic growth during the past eight years. The World Bank estimates that the growth trend will continue uninterrupted until 2015.

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Artificial Intelligence In Addis

By Hruy Tseagye

“An AI what”?

I mumbled when I first heard of a company working on the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Indeed, it is something unexpected in the horn of Africa.

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