Minister-designate for Science and Technology, Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, has called for stronger human oversight and necessary safeguards in the use of Artificial Intelligence in Ghana.
She is of the view that mere legislation will not address evolving challenges that may come with AI tools.
Addressing the Appointments Committee on August 27, she noted that the use of AI to observe changes in soil or movements at illegal mining sites will be useful for agencies to monitor the country’s progress in the area.
But she wants real enforcement mechanisms with adequate human capacity that can track AI adaptation and implementation every material time.
“…the most crucial aspect is to ensure that we have the proper oversight, human oversight, of artificial intelligence as we use it, whether it’s to perhaps set maybe AI bots to observe changes in the soil, or whether it’s to observe movement around illegal mining sites, whether it’s to monitor the afforestation projects, or whether it’s simply to just help to track some of the things that the various agencies are doing in order to provide a transparent dashboard for the public to see what is being done,’ she said.
According to Ms Agyeman-Rawlings, “as positive as it is, as it can be, we have to be very careful that it doesn’t run away from us in terms of the safeguards and oversight.”
She stressed that, “Legislation on its own is only as good as the execution, the implementation, the enforcement as we have around that. And the human capacity is key. I believe that that is really essential if we’re to get a handle on how AI is used within our jurisdiction.”
