Artificial Intelligence and the future of education

Kenya, which is renowned for having a strong tech sector and a spirit of innovation, has realized the revolutionary potential of AI in promoting economic growth, improving public services, and addressing societal issues.

In Kenya, AI is being leveraged across multiple sectors to improve efficiency, productivity, and decision-making.

In the health sector, AI is playing a significant role in Kenya. With limited resources and a shortage of medical professionals, AI-powered tools are being employed to improve healthcare access and delivery. Machine learning algorithms are being used to analyze medical data, assist in diagnostics, and predict disease outbreaks.

Kenya Healthcare Federation CEO Dr. Tim Theuri notes that AI is aiding in the interpretation of medical images, enabling faster and more accurate diagnosis.

"AI uses in medicine are humongous, all the way from research where we  are able to feed the information to the  large language models and it possibly  picks  out a sequence one in 15 million, something that would take us a long time to do," explained Dr. Theuri

Dr Theuri believes that AI technology will come in handy in training doctors since with a click of a button one is able to get a procedure and how long it will take.

‘’AI in medicine is an enabler and as a tool I don’t think we are nearly there when it comes to replacing an actual person if we are ever to, in the 60s those guys thought that they were 10 years away from machines doing things,’’ said Theuri.

The CEO noted that with the help of AI heath supply will be managed easily, one can look at the data that is there and analyse what are the required medicine to be stocked.

The education sector in Kenya is leveraging AI to enhance learning experiences and currently Education ministry is taking several steps to ensure what students are learning under the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) aligns with the 21st Century technology.

According to Deputy Regional Education Director Martha Odundo, out of the seven core competencies identified in the new curriculum, digital literacy is one of the key competencies that has been made pronounced.  

"The teacher education curriculum in teacher training colleges TTCs and students taking education in universities ICT is a must-do subject, they have to be taught using ICT and they have to apply everything using ICT,’’ said Odundo.

Odundo adds that at the university level, there are programs that detect plagiarism on the student’s thesis paper and if it is past a certain level it is rejected.

Executive Director Global Peace Foundation Daniel Juma said AI is here to stay and that it will be a game changer in the education sector.

AI according to Juma is here to replace the routine jobs we do since it is able to replicate what is fed with through a computer. 

‘’A teacher can use AI to develop lesson plan and this saves a lot of time and enhance human intelligence; we don’t need to fear AI but work with it. AI should help us, education needs to be transformed,’’ said Juma.

However, AI in Kenya confronts difficulties, much like any newly developed technology. These include the requirement for knowledgeable AI specialists, worries about data security and privacy, ethical issues, and assuring inclusivity and justice in AI applications.

Chalo Mbuti UNICAF IT manager insists on bringing all stakeholders on the table to discuss how AI will be regulated.

According to Chalo, it is not easy to accept change if you have not been part of it therefore bringing in the Communication Authority (CA) , education ministry, employers federation and other stakeholders to ensure collaboration is key.