Tech Expert Advocates Equipping Youth With AI Skills

A Tech expert and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bildup AI, Chibuike Aguene, has stated that Nigeria must take proactive steps towards equipping young people with the skills necessary to thrive in the new era of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is revolutionising industries and redefining the workforce.

He said the future of work will be powered by hybrid intelligence, where human intelligence is augmented with AI.

Speaking on AriseTV Newsnight on Saturday, Aguene said top CEOs worldwide are already investing heavily in AI with tangible results, adding that they are recognising it is no longer a long-term bet, but a current necessity.

He said: “We’re not just experiencing a tech shift like we’ve seen over the past decades. We’re living through a workforce revolution, the likes of which we’ve never seen before, where intelligence will be hybrid, combining both human and machine elements.

“Let me just give you a context of the talks about intelligence being hybrid. Everything that we see that exists today, such as television, aircraft, and mobile phones, was created by human intelligence, perhaps with the aid of technology. However, we are now transitioning into a superhuman era where intelligence will be hybrid.

“All the top CEOs across the world are investing heavily in artificial intelligence, and most of them are seeing results. This is no longer a long-term bet. It is something that they are seeing results in. It’s an interesting time to be alive.

“But it also poses a challenge for us in Africa, where we have not even been able to equip young people to develop human intelligence to keep up with what is happening in the world, and now we are talking about hybrid intelligence, where you have superhuman employees.

“Anybody who is going to be productive in a few years from now will have to be equipped to have AI as their co-workers. So, we are supposed to start preparing. That is the direction every business owner should be heading now: how to integrate artificial intelligence and how to prepare and retrain their staff. You are hiring new people; AI must be at the centre of it.

“AI is no longer an experimental thing. It is now operational. Any business that claims this AI technology doesn’t concern them will not be in business for long. So, I’m excited. It’s also a challenge, like I mentioned earlier, for us as a nation to start thinking about how we prepare the next generation. Otherwise, we’re going to lose the next generation in terms of creativity and productivity.”

Aguene, however, said to stay ahead, Nigeria must start preparing now by investing in education and training programmes that focus on developing hybrid intelligence, encouraging businesses to adopt AI, and promoting a culture of innovation and adaptability.

“AI is no longer a distant concept. It’s right here with us. We are going to reorganise or rethink entire workflows in every organisation. There are three dimensions to this. One is in terms of education, specifically how we’re educating the people who will fill the workforce of tomorrow today. I don’t think there is any school that you attend and hear about superhuman or hybrid intelligence, but that’s what the reality they are going to face.

“So, for a business owner, imagine, for example, you have a customer support personnel there, and they work nine to five. There’s a limit to what they can accomplish within that timeframe. However, if you augment intelligence with artificial intelligence, they will be able to achieve what would have taken approximately five months.

“We are entering an era of solving things that were termed impossible, so that on the business side. So, if you don’t apply that, you won’t be in business. That means that for business to work, you need talents that have AI as part of their skill set on that side. Then, the other part, which I think is very important, is that all stakeholders come together. This is not something that will happen in silos. There has to be cooperation across the board,” he said.