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What makes it different from silicon valley? I read the whole article but couldn't find it mentioned except for the headline. Is there something I'm missing? Is

What makes it different from silicon valley? I read the whole article but couldn't find it mentioned except for the headline. Is there something I'm missing? Is it just that they aim to limit sponsorship from silicon valley giants?

scumbert 7y ago
They take money from the CCP instead of venture capitalists
- silasdavis 7y ago
  Do you have a source for this claim?
  - cardy31 7y ago
    Not adding a source, but Chinese investment on the African continent is huge right now, and has been for years. It has gone largely unnoticed by western media. However, many African nations now owe huge amounts of money to China from large infrastructure projects. Anecdotally, when I was in Zambia every construction company was Chinese, and every job site was a Chinese foreman with Zambians doing the work.
    - aaron695 7y ago
      > It has gone largely unnoticed by western media. I wouldn't say this is really true. But either way I haven't heard of them investing in intellectual capital anywhere, just infrastructure. Which is amazingly great, they are rapidly improving quality of life in so many countries the west has in many ways abandoned.
    - thablackbull 7y ago
      So what we've learned from this thread is: * Chinese firms are hiring plenty of locals and not importing labor as commonly accused of from your own personal experience * Chinese investments are investing plenty, even in AI, and not just extracting commodities * By investing, Africans are building real skills and developing their own AI talent pool Really makes you wonder why we here in America just ignore Africa.
      - cardy31 7y ago
        I didn’t say they weren’t hiring plenty of locals. But they seemed to import the guys running things. The ratio could be 20:1 Local:Chinese or even higher. Basically a Chinese guy saying where to dig, and tons of locals digging. They definitely aren’t bringing in Chinese labourers.
      - TulliusCicero 7y ago
        Do we? The article talks about major American tech companies sponsoring this conference.
    - MrsPeaches 7y ago
      Just FYI that Zambia also has long standing relationships with Russia.[1] Top government officials in the science space speak Russian. Also Chinese have been involved in SSA since the 60s e.g. South African Boarder War (aka Namibian War of Independence), which Zambia was also involved in. [2] Finally most of east and southern Africa was Socialist from 50s/60s until the 90s (many still are), so it makes sense for them to be trading with China, the world power that is closest to their political inclinations. [3] Other side is UK/US/EU axis, who are the ones who royally fucked it up in the first place (pun intended). [4] I know who I would choose, if I were in their positon. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia%E2%80 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia%E2%80 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Border_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Border_War [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_socialism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_socialism [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramble_for_Africa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramble_for_Africa
AFascistWorld 7y ago
Cheap labor abound.
- xiler 7y ago
  Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18369384 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18369384
losvedir 7y ago
That was my question, too! I was wondering if they were developing some qualitatively different form of AI that's not just, e.g., matrix multiplication or something like that. That'd be neat, but I didn't notice anything in the article about that. It did mention a few African-specific projects: controlling malaria and identifying African wildlife. So, perhaps, it means not that the tech is different, but the applications.
- visarga 7y ago
  Exactly, it's more about applying existing AI techniques to specific African problems and bootstrapping a vibrant community.
threwawasy1228 7y ago
When I saw this I was expecting a anti-racist angle. Something like "In SV the white mans bias in machine learning stops minorities from being hired, yet here in Africa... "

scumbert 7y ago

They take money from the CCP instead of venture capitalists

silasdavis 7y ago
Do you have a source for this claim?
- cardy31 7y ago
  Not adding a source, but Chinese investment on the African continent is huge right now, and has been for years. It has gone largely unnoticed by western media. However, many African nations now owe huge amounts of money to China from large infrastructure projects. Anecdotally, when I was in Zambia every construction company was Chinese, and every job site was a Chinese foreman with Zambians doing the work.
  - aaron695 7y ago
    > It has gone largely unnoticed by western media. I wouldn't say this is really true. But either way I haven't heard of them investing in intellectual capital anywhere, just infrastructure. Which is amazingly great, they are rapidly improving quality of life in so many countries the west has in many ways abandoned.
  - thablackbull 7y ago
    So what we've learned from this thread is: * Chinese firms are hiring plenty of locals and not importing labor as commonly accused of from your own personal experience * Chinese investments are investing plenty, even in AI, and not just extracting commodities * By investing, Africans are building real skills and developing their own AI talent pool Really makes you wonder why we here in America just ignore Africa.
    - cardy31 7y ago
      I didn’t say they weren’t hiring plenty of locals. But they seemed to import the guys running things. The ratio could be 20:1 Local:Chinese or even higher. Basically a Chinese guy saying where to dig, and tons of locals digging. They definitely aren’t bringing in Chinese labourers.
    - TulliusCicero 7y ago
      Do we? The article talks about major American tech companies sponsoring this conference.
  - MrsPeaches 7y ago
    Just FYI that Zambia also has long standing relationships with Russia.[1] Top government officials in the science space speak Russian. Also Chinese have been involved in SSA since the 60s e.g. South African Boarder War (aka Namibian War of Independence), which Zambia was also involved in. [2] Finally most of east and southern Africa was Socialist from 50s/60s until the 90s (many still are), so it makes sense for them to be trading with China, the world power that is closest to their political inclinations. [3] Other side is UK/US/EU axis, who are the ones who royally fucked it up in the first place (pun intended). [4] I know who I would choose, if I were in their positon. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia%E2%80 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia%E2%80 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Border_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Border_War [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_socialism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_socialism [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramble_for_Africa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramble_for_Africa

AFascistWorld 7y ago

Cheap labor abound.

xiler 7y ago
Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18369384 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18369384

losvedir 7y ago

That was my question, too! I was wondering if they were developing some qualitatively different form of AI that's not just, e.g., matrix multiplication or something like that. That'd be neat, but I didn't notice anything in the article about that. It did mention a few African-specific projects: controlling malaria and identifying African wildlife. So, perhaps, it means not that the tech is different, but the applications.

visarga 7y ago
Exactly, it's more about applying existing AI techniques to specific African problems and bootstrapping a vibrant community.

threwawasy1228 7y ago

When I saw this I was expecting a anti-racist angle. Something like "In SV the white mans bias in machine learning stops minorities from being hired, yet here in Africa... "