A Nigerian-born London-trained Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Software Engineer, Chinemelu Ezeh, has hinted about his ongoing effort to leverage the advantages of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in helping to solve the problems in Nigeria’s financial, health, and security sectors, among others,
Ezeh, with a first class Master of Engineering in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Imperial College, London, and Doctor of Philosophy in Assistive Robotics from the university College, London, said during a media briefing in Abuja that AI could do human activities better.
Ezeh said with the deployment of AI, deficiencies in financial services could be addressed, adding that it could also be deployed in bolstering security and health sectors of the nation’s economy.
He said that the use of drones and other AI components at tracking subjects and objects in securing the nation’s borders and other critical national assets and other areas was a great possibility.
“Nigeria is perfectly suitable for AI. In healthcare, we can have one doctor to 5000 patients. One doctor can serve a lot of people using AI,” Ezeh stated, adding that “AI is going to change the nature of competition around the world.”
He said that AI already existed in Nigeria and was growing at an exponential rate. He explained that it required those who were good in Mathematics.
Ezeh said that “in AI, you do not need a lot of infrastructure…a lot of data gathering” with the potential for creative disruptions.
He said that in addition to drive down costs, AI would force people to justify the values they were bringing to their jobs.
He, however, expressed fears of probable human interference in the deployment of AI especially in the financial accountability, stressing people-centric problem in Nigeria.
He said that Technology was a tool to be used by people, stressing, “We need good leadership and champions for AI to work. We should hold people accountable for what they do. Leadership matters. AI’s workability in the financial sector will depend on leadership commitment.”
Ezeh disclosed that the group he leads was looking for collaborations on the AI initiative, pointing out that “I am in talks with some schools like the Nile University. I have people who already have the blueprint for education. I am going to have discussions with more universities.”
Ezeh, who was until May 2023 Senior Software Engineer and Team Lead, Motion Planning at Oxbotica, Oxford, Uk, was responsibile for a tam of ten people to develop motion planning solutions for autonomous motion of any mobile vehicle with a focus on optimising for low latency and low computing resource use.
He had, among others, contributed to a series C funding of $140m as a result of deploying several features such as overtaking cyclists and emergency braking by setting execution priorities, coaching team, removing rod blocks, and keeping stakeholders
