South Africa's Aerobotics is utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) in helping fruit and nut farmers in over 18 countries. JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's Aerobotics is utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) in helping fruit and nut farmers improve crop yields. Although the Cape Town-based company only started nine years ago, it is already operating in 18 countries, with the U.S. being their largest market, followed by South Africa, Australia, Spain and Portugal. Its customers produce tens of millions of tons of fresh produce every year. California is now ground zero for Aerobotics – where the company has the biggest concentration of customers.

AI is at play on a global stage, and local developers are stealing the show. Grassroot communities are essential to driving AI innovation, according to Kate Kallot, head of emerging areas at NVIDIA. On its opening day, Kallot gave a keynote speech at the largest AI Expo Africa to date, addressing a virtual crowd of 10,000 people. She highlighted how AI can fuel technological and creative revolutions around the world. Kallot also shared how NVIDIA supports developers in emerging markets to build and scale their AI projects, including through the NVIDIA Developer Program, which has more than 2.5 million members; the NVIDIA Inception Program, which offers go-to-market support, expertise and technology for AI, data science and HPC startups; and the NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute, which offers educational resources for anyone who wants to learn about all things AI. "I hope to inspire you on ways to fuel your own applications and help advance the African AI revolution," Kallot said.

In the space of a single year, South African agritech enterprise Aerobotics has won numerous awards and made strategic inroads into the massively competitive US agriculture industry. Propelled by world-leading technology, the South African success story is poised to mushroom into a truly global data and analytics software company serving the entire agriculture value chain. Aerobotics, which as little as a year ago was nominated as one of South Africa's most exciting startups, turns imagery into actionable data so that any issues on the farm, or elsewhere in the value chain, can be identified and resolved before they become problems. In essence, Aerobotics exposes what the naked eye cannot see in order to solve problems and make accurate projections, translating into improved yields and profitability. The company's CEO, James Paterson, says the business is ready to build on its highly successful launch in the US and strategically drop further roots and extend services in numerous regions around the world.