In this special issue, we feature selected papers from the inaugural Forum for Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR), established and hosted by the Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR)1 . FAIR 2019 was held at the UCT Graduate School of Business Conference Centre in Cape Town, between 3 and 6 December 2019. The Department of Science and Technology’s (DST) latest White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation (2019) identifies Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as priority areas for South Africa. It recognises that these technologies will change the way the South African society and economy function. The potential of AI is already being unlocked in key areas of South African society. For example, South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, has identified AI as a future area for research and innovation, and is exploring the use of machine learning for real-time monitoring and fault prediction at their power stations (Bhugwandin et al., 2019). The South African Revenue Service is aggressively building an in-house AI capability for analysing and detecting non-compliance in tax returns (South African Revenue Services, 2020).
展开▼
