MUST staff attends AI meet in Egypt

Mr Ralph Tambala, a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology at the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) was part of the Malawi delegation that participated at the International Artificial Intelligence (AI) Forum in Cairo, Egypt between January 10 and 14^, 2023.

The forum brought together over 70 delegates from 27 different countries to discuss the latest developments and innovations in the field of AI.

The opening event was graced by Egypt’s Minister of Youth and Sports, Dr Ashraf Sobhi.

The forum also focused on other areas where AI is having a major impact, such as sports and business.

In sports, AI-based technologies like video analysis, autonomous refereeing, and performance analysis intelligent systems, are helping to improve the accuracy and fairness of competitions, and enhance the viewing experience for audiences.

In the business world, AI is being used to improve efficiency, optimize decision-making, and personalize customer experiences, giving companies a competitive edge in the ever-changing market conditions.

The forum also discussed the role AI can play in achieving United Nation’s SDGs.

Mr Tambala contributed a pitch paper titled “An AI-based Stance Detection Tool of Health Misinformation in Vernacular Audio Social Messages in Africa”.

Fake news on health spread through recorded audios on social media platforms, such as WhatsApp, is usually in vernacular and has wreaked havoc in Africa as the messages usually target unsuspecting recipients to shun health initiatives such as vaccines.

The project aims at developing an AI tool that automatically detects the stance of an audio message that has been recorded in vernacular, with respect to whether the message contains health misinformation or not.

Stance detection is the task of determining the attitude of a speaker or writer towards a particular topic or issue.