Sophia the humanoid robot is coming to Kenya

Sophia -the humanoid robot- is set to come to Nairobi during the Trescon’s World Artificial Intelligence Show slated for the 21^st and 22^nd March 2019, at the Villa Rosa Kempinski hotel. The World AI Show aims to address the rising interest in innovative technologies for multiple countries across the African continent.

Some African countries including South Africa, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone have voiced their support and admiration for Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta’s ‘Big 4’ Agenda initiative, that looks to incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Robotics into Food Security, Affordable Housing, Manufacturing and Public Healthcare.

Kenya is one of the pioneering nations in Africa that is exploring the adoption of innovative technologies into sectors such as Healthcare Management, Public Transportation, Banking & Financial Services and Agriculture.

“The AI and Blockchain Task Force of Kenya is implementing radial changes in the education sector to boost national learning capabilities” says Hon. Michael Onyango, a member of the taskforce mandated to publish a roadmap for distributed ledger and AI for the country with the primary objective of making Kenya a leader in job creation through the big four agenda. Hon. Onyango adds that the task force has concluded their initial research and will soon be releasing the report to the public.

Mohammed Saleem, CEO of Trescon, says that “The rate of adoption of innovative technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning has helped businesses across the globe become more efficient and transparent. Hence, countries in Africa that suffer from extreme poverty and business mismanagement will benefit the most from these futuristic technologies. Keeping this in mind, we are hosting the World AI Show in Kenya because the local economy in the country is slowly imbibing these advancements, and this summit could just be the push it requires”.

The show will play host to a slew of industry thought-leaders and policymakers such as Dr.  Bitange Ndemo, Chairman of Blockchain and AI Task force for the Government of Kenya; the Hon’ Mr Michael Onyango, Member of Distributed Ledgers and Artificial Intelligence Task Force, Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology for the Government of Kenya; and the world’s first ‘humanoid’ robot Sophia.

The event will explore various relevant topics surrounding AI, ML and Robotics based technologies through a series of interactive panel discussions, tech-talks and keynote presentations.