Be Part of African AI - Travel Scholarships

So you've heard of ChatGPT?

Did you know the models trained fail to recognise many African languages spoken by hundred of millions of people - a huge market for technology products.

So you've been using StableAI for your new profile pic?

Did you know that the same technology is being used for health diagnostics and agritech in Africa?

So you know about DeepMinds' AlphaFold?

Did you know that businesses are leveraging this technology to rapidly innovate biomedical products in Africa?

Well now you know, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's more. So much more. Step inside.

Who are we?

The Deep Learning Indaba is an organisation whose mission is to Strengthen African Machine Learning. This mission is currently executed using three principal programmes, which aim to build communities, create leadership and recognise excellence in research and innovation across our continent.

Why now and why Africa?

African machine learning is strong and varied. ​Yet it will not have escaped the attention of those who attend the internationally leading machine learning conferences that African attendance and participation is extremely low. It is critical for the future trajectory of machine learning and artificial intelligence, for the types of teams we build and problems we address, that this imbalance and lack of representation be addressed. Africans must be contributors, shapers and owners of the coming advances in machine learning. The Deep Learning Indaba is our effort to strengthen the foundations of African machine learning, and to increase the participation of African researchers in the field.

What is the annual Deep Learning Indaba?

Over seven days, the Indaba will bring leaders of the field to Accra to teach and mentor students, academics, researchers and entrepreneurs in the theory and practice of deep learning. The more than 800 attendees will hail from over 36 African countries, as well as other countries across the world, and will form one of the largest machine learning teaching events globally. Beyond technical exchange, this week will create opportunities for new research connections, foster a better understanding of the variety of career paths in the field, and, we hope, through new friendships, perspectives and backgrounds, take the steps to realising a more diverse, racially-representative, and multicultural machine learning community.

Our principles

Our participants share a common theme in their hopes for the Indaba: they each hope to build their own confidence and ability to make contributions in this area of science; they wish to inform their future career trajectories; and importantly, they seek a vision of the role that machine learning can play within their communities and local problems. And as much as they hope to learn from us – as we seek to better understand how African machine learning can be strengthened – we hope to learn from their experiences, their challenges, and from their excitement around all that might be possible with machine learning. This is the true spirit of an Indaba; we will build on the traditions of our past to strengthen our culture of scientific exchange, and in so doing, the foundations of our future.

How can you help?

Around 800 people will attend physically. We endeavour to support as many students with travel scholarships as possible, from Algeria to Zimbabwe. Without this support, most students would not be able to attend. We are supported by a wonderful array of sponsors, and are grateful to all our current corporate sponsors! This campaign hopes to raise further funds to enable 30 more students to attend, and also allow individual donors and supporters to join us on the exciting journey of strengthening machine learning in Africa.

On average, the estimated cost for each student's travel scholarship is £1000. Each £1,000 donated will send one more student to this year's Deep Learning Indaba.

Student challenges

"Firstly, I will like to thank you for this great opportunity. I currently earn approximately $115 per month which far exceeds the travelling expense I will incur to travel. I would love to attend the Deep Learning Indaba event to learn from industry experts but I cannot due to not being able to sponsor my travels. I appreciate the time spent reviewing my application. If there is an alternative to this, I will be eternally grateful."

"Thank you so much for positively considering my application. I am excited to be joining you this year. However, I am unable to accept the accommodation grant offer. At this time, I will be unable to foot the bill for my airfare - I have checked about 5 different flights and the cost is running well over R22,000 (Rands)..."

"Good morning to you all. I was very very happy when I saw that my application was held up for this great very rich deep learning event and full of opportunities, nevertheless I am not able to pay my travel expenses (visa, plane ticket, food) for the simple reason that I have no one who supports me financially and who could subsidize it to me..."