Problems of implementing artificial

intelligence in Nigeria

1. Data quality and quantity

As mentioned above, the quality of the system relies
heavily on the data that’s fed into it. AI systems require
massive training datasets. Artificial intelligence learns
from available information in a way similar to
humans, but in order to identify patterns, it needs
much more data than we do. It makes sense when you
think about: we’re also better at tasks the more
experience performing them. The difference is that AI
can analyze data with a speed we as humans can’t even
dream of, so it learns fast. The better data you give it, the
better outcomes it will provide.
How can you solve the data problem? First of all, you
need to know what data you already have and compare
that to what data the model requires. In order to do that,
you need to know what model you’ll be working on –
otherwise, you won’t be able to specify what data is
needed. List the types and categories of data you have:
is the data structured or unstructured? Do you collect data
about your customers’ demographics, purchase history,
on-site interactions, etc? When you know what you
already have, you’ll see what you’re missing.
The missing parts may be some publicly available
information that the system will have easy access to, or
you may have to buy data from third parties. Some types
of data may are still difficult to obtain, e.g. clinical data
that would allow more accurate treatment outcomes
predictions. Unfortunately, at this point, you have to be
prepared that not all types of data are easily available. In
such cases, synthetic data comes to the rescue. Synthetic
data is created artificially basing on real data or from
scratch. It may be used when there isn’t enough data
available to train the model. Another way to acquire data
is to use open data as an addition to your data set or use
Google dataset search to get data to train the model. You
can also use an RPA robot to scrape publicly available
data, e.g. information published on Wikipedia. When you
know what data you have and what data you need,
you will be able to verify what ways of expanding
datasets work best for you.

2. Data labeling
A few years back, most of our data was structured or
textual. Nowadays, with the Internet of Things (IoT) a
large share of the data is made up of images and videos.
There’s nothing wrong with that, and it may seem like
there’s no problem here, but the thing is that many of the
systems utilizing machine learning or deep learning
are trained in a supervised way, so they require the
data to be labeled. The fact that we produce vast
amounts of data every day doesn’t help either; we’ve
reached a point where there aren’t enough people to label
all the data that’s being created. There are databases that
offer labeled data, including ImageNet which is a
database with over 14 million images. All of them
manually annotated by ImageNet’s contributors. Even
though in some cases, more appropriate data would be
available elsewhere, many computer vision specialists use
ImageNet anyway only because their image data is
already labeled.
There are a few data labeling approaches that you can
adopt. You can do it internally, within your company, or
outsource the work, you can use synthetic labeling or data
programming. All of these approaches have their pros and
cons, as presented in the table below.
3. Explainability
With many “black box” models, you end up with a
conclusion, e.g. a prediction, but no explanation to it. If
the conclusion provided by the system overlaps with what
you already know and think is right, you’re not going to
question it. But what happens if you disagree? You want
to know HOW the decision has been made. In many
cases, the decision itself is not enough. Doctors cannot
rely solely on a suggestion provided by the system when
it’s about their patients’ health.

4. Case-specific learning
Our intelligence allows us to use the experience from one
field to a different one. That’s called the transfer of
learning – humans can transfer learning in one context to
another, similar context. Artificial intelligence continues
to have difficulties carrying its experiences from one set
of circumstances to another. On one hand, that’s no
surprise – we know that AI is specialized – it’s meant to
carry out a strictly specified task. It’s designed to answer
one question only, and why would we expect it to answer
a different question as well? On the other hand, the
“experience” AI acquires with one task can be valuable to
another, related task. Is it possible to use this experience
instead of developing a new model from scratch?
Transfer learning is an approach that makes it possible –
the AI model is trained to carry out a certain task and
then applies that learning to a similar (but distinct)
activity. This means that a model developed for task A is
later used as a starting point for a model for task B.
5. Bias
Bias is something many people worry about: stories of AI
systems being “prejudiced” against women or people of
color make the headlines every once in a while. But how
does that happen? Surely, AI cannot have bad intentions.
Or can it…?
No, it cannot. An assumption like that would also mean
that AI is conscious and can make its own choices when
in reality AI makes decisions based on the available
data only. It doesn’t have opinions, but it learns from the
opinions of others. And that’s where bias happens.
Bias can occur as a result of a number of factors, starting
with the way of collecting data. If the data is collected by
means of a survey published in a magazine, we have to be
aware of the fact that the answers (data) come only from
those reading said magazine, which is a limited social
group. In such a case, we can’t say that the dataset is
representative of the entire population.
The way data is probed is another way to develop bias:
when a group of people is using some system, they may
have favorite features and simply not use (or rarely use)
other features. In this case, AI cannot learn about the
functions that are not used with the same frequency.
But there is another thing we have to consider in terms of
bias: data comes from people. People lie. People spread
stereotypes. This happened in Amazon (!) recruitment
when their AI recruiter turned out to be gender-biased.
Since men dominated the workforce in technical
departments, the system learned that male applicants are
favorable and penalized the resumes that included the
word “women’s”. It also downgraded graduates of all
women’s colleges. You can read more about this case in
my article about AI fails.

6. How to deal with model errors

Artificial intelligence is not error-free. Human
prejudices (or lies) seep into its algorithms and
sometimes the results are biased. As mentioned above,
there is a variety of reasons why datasets are biased. Any
issues like that can cause AI to produce inaccurate
outcomes, e.g. predictions.
“Bad reasoning” is another common cause of AI’s
mistakes. As AI systems get more and more advanced, it
can also get increasingly difficult to understand the
processes in the network. So when an AI system makes
a mistake, it may be difficult to identify the exact
place where something went wrong. And what if the
decision is about an autonomous car making a sharp turn
or running someone over? Luckily, scientists
developed Whitebox Testing for Deep Learning Systems.
It tests the neural network with a large number of inputs
and tells where its responses are wrong so they can be
corrected.
But are the mistakes made by AI always so dangerous?
Not always, certainly. That all depends on the use of the
system. If AI is used for cybersecurity, military use,
driving vehicles – more is at stake. If the system chooses
a man over a woman that is as skilled, it’s an ethical
issue. But sometimes the mistakes are just silly – as
shows the 2015 Wired article where they describe AI that
was shown an image of black and yellow stripes. And it
decided it’s a school bus. It was 99% sure it was right.
Only it really wasn’t right at all.
To make sure that the errors produced by AI are not
critical, we must ensure high quality of input and
appropriate testing.

7. Lack of understanding of AI among non-technical

employees
AI implementation requires the management to have a
deeper understanding of current AI technologies, their
possibilities and limitations. Unfortunately, we’re
surrounded by a plethora of myths concerning artificial
intelligence, ranging from mundane things like the need
of hiring an in-house data science team (who, you should
know, only work for Facebook, Amazon, and Google, so
how do you even compete) to sci-fi fantasies about smart
robots ending humanity. The lack of AI know-how
hinders AI adoption in many fields. Another common
mistake that is caused by the lack of understanding is
working towards impossible goals.
How to solve this problem? Start with education. I know,
it may sound discouraging but I don’t mean you have to
become a data scientist. Just have a look around your
industry, watch some big players, see what use cases
they’ve deployed. Learn about the current possibilities of
artificial intelligence, you can do it yourself or ask an
expert in the field to help you out. Once you have some
knowledge, it’ll be easier for you to manage your
expectations because you’ll know what AI can and
cannot yet do for your business.

8. Scarcity of field specialists

In order to develop a successful AI solution, you need
both the technical knowledge and business understanding.
Unfortunately, it’s often one or the other. CEOs and
managers lack the technical know-how necessary for AI
adoption, while many data scientists aren’t very
interested in how the models they develop will be used in
real life. The number of AI experts that will know how
to apply the tech to a given business problem is very
limited. So is the number of good data scientists in
general.
Companies outside the FAMGA group (Facebook, Apple,
Microsoft, Google, Amazon) are struggling to attract top
talent. And even if they’re attempting to build an in-
house team, they aren’t sure whether they’re getting the
right people. You can’t really know whether they deliver
top-quality solutions if you’re lacking the technical
knowledge. Small and medium enterprises may fall short
on the idea of AI adoption because of their limited
budget. However, outsourcing a data team is now an
option as well.

9. Lack of business alignment

As shown in the chart from O’Reilly at the beginning of
this article, company culture not recognizing needs for AI
and difficulties in identifying business use cases are
among the top barriers to AI implementation. Identifying
AI business cases requires the managers to have a deep
understanding of AI technologies, their possibilities and
limitations. The lack of AI know-how may hinder
adoption in many organizations.
But there’s another problem here. Some companies jump
on the AI bandwagon with too much optimism and no
clear strategy. AI implementation requires a strategic
approach, setting objectives, identifying KPIs, and
tracking ROI. Otherwise, you won’t be able to assess the
results brought by AI and compare them with your
assumptions to measure the success (or failure) of this
investment.

10. Difficulty assessing vendors

Just as in the case of hiring data scientists, when you’re
lacking the technical know-how, you can be easily
fooled. AI for business is an emerging field and it’s
especially vulnerable as a large number of companies
exaggerate their experience and in reality, they may not
know how to use AI to solve actual business problems.
One idea here is to use websites such as Clutch to identify
leaders in AI development. It’s also good to see what the
companies you’re considering have in their portfolio.
Another approach would be to make a small step first,
such as a workshop with the vendor that you see as
promising. This way, you’ll see whether they understand
your business, have the right skills, and know-how to
address your pains.