You must have noticed that very recently, your Netflix and YouTube recommendations felt very specific to you, and you are only getting suggestions around the areas you like or areas you watched only once, these may be annoying at times, because you probably are interested in other things.

Your google search suggestions seem smarter and your typing has reduced. Another thing, your YouTube ads are more specific and you may have ended up watching more minutes of the ad than the video you were meant to watch. It’s your fault anyway, you were offered a premium account, but you like free things.

Whether you knew it or not, artificial intelligence has been a part of your android or apple life. Artificial intelligence is not just Veronica, or Ultron from the marvel series. Artificial intelligence is simply programming a computer to behave like a human would. Many times, the computer does it faster and better. Science fiction has actually over rated the current trends, but at the moment there is so much that has been done. It is also important to note here that artificial intelligence is very diversified, and doesn’t have only one approach.

Artificial intelligence is a big deal, a pivotal part of the future of technology. It will feature in healthcare, education, agriculture, energy, transportation, and other areas. Artificial intelligence will be literally in every facet of life. If Nigeria is going to catch up with the world (at the moment, she is probably just starting the race), voyages in artificial intelligence are highly required.

On the 6^th of June, a panel discussion was held by the IEEE UI student branch with Panelists, Femi Ogunkola, Chairman IEEE UI-SB, Dr Ayoola, Founder, RAIN (Robotic and Artificial Intelligence, Nigeria), Michael Mekuleyi and Toyin Ayanleye. The opportunities for Artificial intelligence were discussed and it was a very enlightening and interesting discussion.

The discourse highlighted mainly that despite pressing issues of poor education, epileptic energy, and alarming unemployment rates, thefuture of artificial intelligence is not entirely bleak and those interested can actually seize the opportunity to learn and create solutions for the advancement of our country.

In the area of agriculture, for example, machine learning has already been used for what is called prediction farming where crop production is done more effectively using artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence can be highly useful in health care. For example, with the current happenings of the COVID-19, it can be used for contact tracing. This was already implemented in China for handling the Corona Virus pandemic.

Currently, only the National Open University of Nigeria has a curriculum for Artificial Intelligence in Nigeria, and it is still in the preliminary stages. This means that there is not yet a widespread formal mode for educating Nigerians.

A good thing about knowledge and innovation; however, is that it is not restricted to the confines of a scheduled program. With the blessing of the internet and online courses, artificial intelligence is actually at our beck and call.

The old saying, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a step” rings true for all those that want to get in on changing the world with artificial intelligence. Simply put, all you have to do is start.

It was emphasized during the discussion that there are networks and clubs that can help with learning artificial intelligence and becoming better. For example in the university of Ibadan, Hive Robotics and the Google Developer Student club are available as communities to help people in their AI journeys. Robotic and Artificial Intelligence Nigeria, is also available, although this comes with a fee. It would be great to join as such fees assure profits in the future.

This is only a teaser to what artificial intelligence holds for us as a country and it is worthy to note that such a novel field can be applied to virtually any other field that there is. Hence, as soon as you can, you should find your niche and start making the computers do the tough work, your space is surely available.

Weeks ago, Microsoft fired a company that created news articles, because they had created an artificial intelligence network, that could do what they did. I would say it is a good thing it is not yet in Nigeria, because what you have just read would have been done by a computer. I doubt it would be this good anyway.

The end of the matter is this, if you love artificial intelligence, don’t worry about the circumstances around it, go for your true love, and you would find it. And if you are just fascinated by what it does and what it might be able to do, get a seat, buy a lot of popcorn and prepare to be blown away.

Yours in natural intelligence,

Elushade Oluwatumininu

Contact : tumsielushade@gmail.com