You just finished watching your favourite series on Netflix, and as the credits are rolling, a tab showing you other series you may like pops up. It is highly likely that, instead of scrolling back to the home page, you’ll get your next binge-watch here.
This isn’t rocket science but the power of Artificial intelligence (AI). More interestingly, AI isn’t just applied for recommendations; it personalises your searches. This is just one of the many applications of AI, and Andrew Masila, Head of Innovation at Safaricom PLC, took us through some of its uses in our daily lives.
Netflix
Aside from the personalised recommendations, AI also suggests movies and series that you might enjoy. These behind-the-scenes actions are meant to enrich your experience.
“So traditionally, you’ve been searching for items, and it brings you a list of items that you have to go through. So, what AI is doing is creating a more natural experience in the digital world. It’s able to contextualise based on your country, based on what you’ve done before, based on what’s hot on the market, and it’s able to present to you what is relevant and contextual to you,” said Andrew.
Offers
A message from Safaricom, for example, ‘Get a TikTok bundle’ or ‘Shop for the latest 5G gadgets in town’, may pop up on your phone. These are usually not sent by an individual – they have been generated by AI.
“We serve over 40 million customers. That’s a lot of data, so AI gives us the capability to generate personal recommendations for customers. This, in turn, creates more meaningful experiences for them,” Andrew stated.
Therefore, if your favourite food store sends you a text informing you of an offer on, say, chicken, AI was used to personalise this offer for you.
Smart fridge
AI is now helping people track the food in their fridges – for those with smart fridges. Through an inbuilt smart camera, the fridge can take stock of your food and read the temperature.
“If you have a health regime, the smart camera can be able to check what is in your fridge, look at your exercise regime, and if you allow it, it can access your biodata. Using that, it can be able to recommend what should be stocked in your fridge, and when it runs out, it can make an order using M-PESA. As a user, you only authenticate the purchase of this particular element. This is what AI can do for your lifestyle,” he said.
Virtual doctor
You can use AI to get a diagnosis of your health from a virtual doctor. A virtual doctor powered by AI is a digital healthcare system that leverages AI technologies to provide medical consultations, diagnostics, treatment recommendations, and health advice.
If you have a smartwatch, you can also get updates on your blood pressure, heart rate, etc.
Do It Yourself (DIY)
Artificial intelligence is empowering more people to take on DIY projects. For instance, the Make Ur Bundle option allows Safaricom customers to select data bundles at their preferred price points, and this is powered by AI.
“If you want to build a house, you can use AI with a combination of immersive technologies to design your house without going to the physical space,” said Andrew.
Innovation
Generative AI tools are helping people innovate faster. At Safaricom, some of the products they have developed, such as M-Ratiba, use artificial intelligence.
M-Ratiba is a feature that allows M-PESA customers to add their subscription services, schedule payment dates, and indicate whether they want to auto-deduct or manually pay for their subscriptions.
“For innovators, if you have a problem, you can prompt AI to tell you the possible solutions to the identified problem, making the innovation faster,” said Andrew.
Farming
In poultry farming, AI can help you detect diseases through the use of smart cameras. In crop farming, farmers can use AI to help them identify the perfect fertiliser for their plants.
Some may see AI as the new kid on the block, but it has probably been around even before you were born. With all its capabilities, however, the question is: Can AI surpass human capability, and should we allow it to?
According to Andrew, AI, if put to good use, is meant to complement human capability. “AI still has a long way to even match full human capability. AI learns from humans; it’s humans who create AI, and the full capability of humans is yet to be explored,” he said.
For instance, you might enter a self-driving car, and things go haywire, or the chatbot you use could hallucinate. This means that you shouldn’t approach AI with your eyes closed. Andrew hopes that in the future, we’ll create a risk-free, worry-free digital and AI environment.
He explained: “If you throw AI at the wrong problem, then it will waste your time and money. It could also create inefficiencies. So, what’s important is to know the linkage of AI to the problem being solved.”
