Deloitte Africa launched its Generative Artificial Intelligence practice for the Africa market on the first day of the African SAP User Group (AFSUG) and SAP biennial Saphila 2023 conference at Sun City, North West Province.
The consulting firm says the practice brings together industry experience, skilled AI engineers as well as ecosystem and alliance partners to help customers build generative AI solutions to accelerate business innovation.
The use of AI to make business processes more efficient in realtime is a central theme at Saphila 2023.
According to Deloitte Africa, generative AI is already revolutionising industries with its capability to analyse unstructured and structured data and model it in a way that makes human sense. This results in simplifying the engagement between humans and digital systems, enhancing productivity and innovation at an accelerated pace.
"We enter the market with the aim of creating what’s next."
Quentin Williams, Deloitte Africa.
Quentin Williams, director and AI leader for Deloitte Africa, said, “There’s been extensive discussion across industries around the capabilities of generative AI technology and its potential to revolutionise the way we work, how it allows for digital systems to understand us as humans, without effort; and for us humans to create digital systems and solutions quickly and at scale. We will be going much further than exploring what’s possible – we enter the market with the aim of creating what’s next.”
Jania Okwechime, partner, pata pnalytics and AI peader for Deloitte West Africa, added, “Through this practice, our clients now have access to AI labs, accelerated use-case development and Large Language Model managed services - all within our trustworthy AI framework. [...] We aim to, and will; increase AI fluency within the market, grow AI talent on the continent and together with our alliance partners, take enterprise scale generative AI solutions to our clients.”
The practice aims to help clients create innovative AI-fuelled applications to bring about business process efficiency gains and productivity improvements.
Use cases
Deloitte identifies power supply and healthcare as emerging use cases for generative AI.
The technology can optimise electricity delivery, including maintenance scheduling, by simulating distribution choices and generating cost-effective strategies.
In healthcare, AI can streamline diagnostics and treatment by providing physicians with real-time, data-driven insights.
Deloitte noted that while generative AI can increase efficiency, there are risks to consider. The technology may not incorporate ethics in decision-making, potentially causing reputational harm. Additionally, unidentified flaws or inadequate data could result in financial losses
Wessel Oosthuizen, associate director for digital risk solutions and Africa AI Institute leader at Deloitte Africa, said, “We can help organisations build the right infrastructure, collect, and manage the right data, train the right models to create generative AI solutions that are effective and scalable and validate prebuilt models to ensure alignment to your firm’s ethics and values.”
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