Uganda: Be aware of the dangers of Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Tayebwa tells students

The Deputy Speaker,Thomas Tayebwa has urged students using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in inventing projects and programmes to focus its usage on academics saying its dangers are imminent.

Tayebwa made this call while opening the 15th Higher Education Institutions Exhibition on AI at Mbarara District headquarters in Kamukuzi Division.

He said there are already glaring cases of AI misuse that should guide students while developing projects and programmes as witnessed during the Mbarara exhibition.

“In the 2020 elections of USA, there is a company which was accused of determining the outcomes of the elections. The company used data from Facebook to determined 5,000 character traits of people using Facebook and started using customised adverts to undermine the then government in power,” said Tayebwa.

He cited a story of a one Singh Jaswant who was spurred on by intimate conversations with an avatar named Sarai to kill the then Queen of England in 2023.

Singh who is now serving a nine year sentence had exchanged more than 5000 messages with his online companion believed to be angelic, Tayebwa said.

“What you consume in your life is important. I advocate that you only use AI for educational purposes so that it transforms your lives; if you ask it a wrong question it will lead you on a wrong journey,” said Tayebwa.

Tayebwa however, appreciated the exhibition organsied by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) for the level of innovation which he said can significantly transform the education sector.

“I have seen innovations here that are aimed at transforming how we learn, how we teach and how we search. This is the kind of AI we need that is going to help us in diagnosing diseases which would otherwise be complicated and in early diagnosis, to detect non-communicable diseases like cancer,” Tayebwa said.

Ndejje University showcased an AI assisted irrigation system which monitors soil moisture to schedule irrigation and the quantity of water. The farmer in this case is not required to physically carryout irrigation reducing on labour costs and dealing with over and under irrigation.

At the Uganda Martyrs University’s booth, the Deputy Speaker was taken through an AI enrolment programme which analyses enrolment trends per academic discipline to be able to deal with critical issues such as gender inequality.

The NCHE Executive Director, Prof. Mary Okwakol said the annual exhibition is the council’s top calendar event, where they get to disseminate information on higher education as well as interacting with students, education leaders and policy makers.

“We have been here since Monday in a conference where we got to engage with stakeholders,” Okwakol said.

Okwakol said learners  require skills in the use of AI to match the skills needed to get into the job market.

She asked government to consider a policy to guide AI implementation and the costs involved for its integration in the education system.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.