AI unlocks new opportunities for group collaboration

For example, when Dipuo Mazibuko first visited China outside Africa in September of last year, she learnt about the experiences which the country has had in developing artificial intelligence and appreciated the need for cooperating with China and BRICS countries at large on this area. Mazibuko is a deputy director of evaluation and impact within South Africa’s Department of Communications and Digital Technologies. She was one of the participants of the BRICS Excellence Training Program on AI Technology and Governance. The three-day programme was organized by the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution Innovation Centre and took place in three Chinese cities in advance of the BRICS Summit scheduled in Kazan, Russia.

Mazibuko and 29 other participants from 16 countries attended lectures, seminars, and company visits over the 20 days. She said topics discussed during such events ranged from advancements in AI, governance, and applications to various areas of the industry. Mazibuko said China’s comprehensive use of AI in cybersecurity inspires a notion that such applications help improve public security. She said collaborations with China will help South Africa develop analogous policies and standards on AI.

The purpose of the training program was to encourage international cooperation in AI innovation and to help participants cross the digital divide. According to Chen Zezhao, deputy director of the BRICS PartNIR Innovation Center, sharing policies and best practices among BRICS countries is absolutely important for enhancing AI technology and governance.

Participants, like Juliano Danilo Spuldaro, the business research coordinator from Brazil, appreciated the knowledge brought by AI applications at governmental and business levels. He was totally fascinated by the potential of AI in disaster prevention, such as seeing how China applies AI to natural disasters management. In his belief, AI could be a solution to overcome floods and wildfires issues, and also social inequality in Brazil.

In the last few years, BRICS leaders acknowledge that they need AI. They reasserted in the declarations that came out from the 2022 and 2023 BRICS Summits that they are keen to establish cooperation in new technologies like AI. Last year, BRICS set up an AI study group to further strengthen collaboration and create innovation for member countries.

The member countries have to work together on AI development, more specifically in public health security, and climate changes, said deputy head of Kazan’s executive committee, Radik Shafigullin, ahead of the BRICS summit in Kazan. “Unity among BRICS members is very important. The rivalry will go into cooperation-it is the future only for both participating countries and the advanced AI,” he noted.