Sophia, the famous humanoid robot featured in the opening session of the 5th Transform Africa Summit underway at Kigali Convention Centre. The robot made remarks during the opening ceremony alongside President Paul Kagame and International Telecommunication Union Secretary-General Houlin Zhao, among others. Designed by Hong Kong firm Hanson Robotics, Sophia was during the summit programmed to speak English, French, Swahili and Kinyarwanda, exciting participants. In her brief remarks, Sophia, who is a Saudi citizen, said that technological advancements had brought realities such as artificial intelligence and machine learning closer to realization. She said that through technology, Africa has an opportunity to get past challenges in sectors such as healthcare, agriculture and education provision. “Right here in Rwanda, you have cashless payments for public transport, ride hailing apps for safety and online services to access government services,” she said. She encouraged innovators and actors in the tech space to keep working to bring forth solutions that enable the solution of long persistent challenges. The President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta and his Malian counterpart Boubakar Keita are attending the summit, alongside their host, Paul Kagame and the three heads of state grace the opening of the high level summit. Over 4,000 delegates from across the world who include top business leaders, seasoned entrepreneurs, industry captains, start-ups, political leaders, representatives of international organisations and civil society, among others. The two-day gathering, which was preceded by the Economic Forum on Tuesday, is running under the theme; “Boosting Africa’s Digital Economy.”. Most deliberations will revolve around job creation and emergence of enterprises. Digital economy is based on digital computing technologies with provisions to conduct business on the internet and related platforms. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
