AI as Our Mirror: Exploring Ourselves Through AI Empowerment | Vukosi Marivate | TEDxPretoria
Recorded on Monday 4 Dec 2023
DSFSI PI Prof Vukosi Marivate gave his first TEDx talk at TEDxPretoria in December 2024.
Vukosi Marivate narrates his journey to innovative AI research for African languages. He highlights early impactful encounters including Wikipedia edits to fill data gaps, and social media analysis. Emphasizing AI’s potential for inclusivity, Vukosi advocates for supporting African AI initiatives, underlining technology’s role in capturing diverse narratives. Prof Vukosi Marivate is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and holds the ABSA UP Chair of Data Science at the University of Pretoria. He specialises in developing Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods to extract insights from data, with a particular focus on the intersection of ML/AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP). His research is dedicated to improving the methods, tools and availability of data for local or low-resource languages. As the leader of the Data Science for Social Impact research group in the Computer Science department, Vukosi is interested in using data science to solve social challenges. He has worked on projects related to science, energy, public safety, and utilities, among others. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.