As the world continues to advance technologically, there has been a growing concern about the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on society. This concern is particularly relevant in third-world countries like Zimbabwe, where many people are already struggling to make ends meet. It is important to understand what AI is and how it works. AI refers to the development of computer systems that can perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence, such as learning, problem-solving, and decision-making. These systems use algorithms and data to analyze information and make predictions or recommendations based on that analysis. One of the main concerns about AI is that it could lead to job losses as machines replace human workers.

Image by Commonwealth Secretariat on Flickr, used under a CC BY-NC 2.0 license. Following years of citizen mistrust of election management bodies and perceived lack of transparency, the use of biometric technology such as people's physical and behavioural characteristics in political processes has swept across Africa. As Zimbabwe heads for general elections, constitutionally due in 2023, the campaign season will soon be in full swing. The country held by elections on March 26, 2022, which saw the opposition party Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) bagging 22 out of the 28 National Assembly seats. Although these by elections were a litmus test of the main election set for next year, what role is artificial intelligence expected to play in shaping political outcomes?

Zimbabwe's commonest crimes include robbery, petty theft, vehicle burglary, home invasion, and smash-and-grab vehicle break-ins. The Zimbabwe security services have made a lot of efforts to make society as safe as possible but the nation's crime remains prevalent. Zimbabwe's answer to these kinds of crimes is technology; our hidden weapon. Universities in Zimbabwe have students who are getting educated in Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) with the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) leading the way. These kinds of developments in AI and ML mean that technology has a growing role to play in upholding the law.

In early 2018, one of Malaysia's key security forces made a startling announcement. The Auxiliary Force, a branch of the Royal Malaysia Police Cooperative, had entered into a partnership with the Chinese company Yitu Technology to equip the Force's officers with facial-recognition capabilities. Security officials will be able to rapidly compare images caught by live body cameras with images from a central database. The head of the Auxiliary Force explained that this use of artificial intelligence (AI) was a "significant step forward" in efforts to improve public security. He also noted that his agency planned eventually to enhance the body-camera system so as to enable "real-time facial recognition and instant alerts to the presence of persons of interest from criminal watch lists."1

Today on PowerChat, your leading converged telecommunications operator will focus on demystifying what is known as artificial intelligence. The company has found it imperative to share this knowledge with customers, readers and the entirety of the telecommunications fraternity against the background that the world is moving in the realm of interacting and experiencing the power of artificial intelligence (AI). Artificial Intelligence is real – whether in the home, car, business, when travelling around the globe and also on individuals' smartphones, tablets, computer and other smart devices that are digital and/or can connect onto the internet. Defined simply, artificial intelligence (AI) is the development of computers or technology capable of performing tasks that typically would require human intelligence. Global technology companies such as Google, Amazon, Apple and Samsung to name but a few, are making huge investments in AI that are already changing lives and gadgets, and laying the groundwork for a more AI-centric future.

Today is World Malaria Day, a moment dedicated to raising awareness and improving access to tools to prevent malaria. The World Health Organization says nearly half of the world's population is at risk for malaria, and estimates that in 2015 there were 212 million malaria cases resulting in 429,000 deaths. DiSARM (Disease Surveillance and Risk Monitoring), a project led by the Malaria Elimination Initiative and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Clinton Health Access Initiative, is fighting the spread of malaria by mapping the places where malaria could occur. With the help of Google Earth Engine, DiSARM creates high resolution "risk maps" that help malaria control programs identify the areas where they should direct resources for prevention and treatment. We sat down with Hugh Sturrock, who leads the DiSARM project and is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the University of California, San Francisco's Global Health Group, to learn more about DiSARM's fight against malaria, and how Google fits in.

Information Technology is a very dynamic discipline which has over the years contributed so much to the way we live. Gone are the days when we used to solely rely on the noisy landlines for communication. Nowadays, we can send text, voice, audio and video data seamlessly using smart phones which most people never ever dreamt of. We are now in the Machine Learning era, which I believe presents lots of opportunities for Zimbabwe. Our society is quickly changing from an industry based society to an information based society.

Our social media guy David Dhannoo remains in Africa, following on from his article last week about the rise of FinTech on the continent. Dave's technology in Africa series now looks at how a startup in Southern Africa is using artificial intelligence to source news articles. Controvert Media from Zimbabwe has implemented the use of artificial intelligence to automatically write and post news articles. They caught my attention from when they trialled their AI idea at the recent African Cup of Nations which took place Gabon. The startup used an AI bot that puts together basic reports on final match reports, taking into account the match scores, player performance data, and so on.

Instead of using guns to kill elephants and rhinoceroses, some poachers in Zimbabwe have begun poisoning the animals' water with cyanide? a practice some activists believe could be curbed by flying drones over parks in the African country. Although drone usage hasn't been proven to stop the killing of elephants, anti-poaching program Air Shepherd is prepared to use monitoring to help stop people from poisoning animals. The organization already flies drones over parks in three southern Africa countries at night to patrol for gun-toting poachers. The suspected cause of death, according to news reports, is cyanide, which has been used to kill hundreds of elephants in recent years. "The biggest problem that we have is that ivory is a business," said Otto Werdmuller Von Elgg, the CEO of UAV and Drone Solutions, a business partnering with the Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation to run the Air Shepherd program. "The poaching of the animals is the last thing that people want to solve.

This is the last part of our special series on Artificial Intelligence (AI). If you are catching it for the first time you can check out our early posts here, here and here where we build on the bigger idea behind AI. In this series, I have seized moments to highlight just how quickly AI is unfolding. The interesting bit is that the developments silently running in the background, like computer processes, for the most part, are away from everyday headlines but it's still a big deal. From my point of view, judging by the number of AI startups that have come up and are being acquired, we are in the middle of an AI gold rush right now which some have characterized as the AI spring . This hurry is also the reason behind key backers and AI enthusiasts such as Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, have been a sounding alarm.