Three teenage girls from Johannesburg have competed against thousands of others in a global artificial intelligence (AI) programming festival, and have won the event’s country recognition category, each earning
Makoma Motloutsi, Unathi Morake and Nomazulu Shwabane, all learners at Waverley Girls’ High School, won the country recognition award in the Intel AI Global Impact Festival, which drew more than 1000 entries from around the world. Their AI project, City Surveillance System, made the shortlist alongside projects from Germany, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Moldova, China, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the USA.
“It’s very exciting that this team of very talented young programmers has been recognised and rewarded in this way,” commented Nitesh Doolabh, South Africa country lead at Intel. “The South African Intel AI for Youth programme is not yet a year old and the fact that students are competing with others whose programs are well established is a remarkable achievement and speaks volumes about the ability, quality and competence of the South African learners and their instructors. They are flying the South African flag high in programming, innovation and digital intelligence.”
The three girls address community safety in their award-winning AI project. Their City Surveillance System has the potential to increase rates of arrest and give the justice system the evidence it needs to secure convictions. The system uses object, body and face recognition software, and an alert system that notifies police of crimes while they are being committed. Its recording mechanism gives security personnel and prosecutors the evidence to convict criminals. The system could create safer South African communities, and safer communities elsewhere in the world, too.
The Intel AI Global Impact Festival convenes established and emerging programmers from around the world to create technology with the potential to improve the lives of all people, everywhere. “Artificial intelligence is a technology superpower that emerging technologists can use to build solutions that enrich our lives,” Doolabh said.
The Sci-Bono Discovery Centre refuses to let South African learners be excluded from the dynamic and exciting world of artificial intelligence development, stated Zelda Fynn, ICT manager at Sci-Bono. The Intel AI for Youth programme is putting young Gautengers ahead of the AI learning curve and is delivering exceptional results, such as this win at the Intel AI Global Impact Festival.
The Intel AI for Youth programme at Sci-Bono is delivered in partnership with the Gauteng Department of Education as a feasibility pilot project at three sites (Waverley Girls’ High School, Emdeni Secondary School in Soweto and the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre Clubhouse), with the potential for a national rollout.
The programme gets 13- to 19-year-olds intimately familiar with the technology that’s both impacting life right now and defining the future of the world and the global economy. Learners are not only introduced to and trained in the world of AI, but they are also given free rein to program, trial and introduce applications and programs of their own innovation.
“It’s a matter now of seeking national investment to roll the project out across South Africa to benefit more young people, and to swell the ranks of South Africa’s skilled, experienced and enthusiastic young AI professionals,” Fynn says.
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