2022 Inaugural Conference:
USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO ADVANCE MOROCCO'S NEW DEVELOPMENT MODEL AND THE RELATED SDGS

INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT

Artificial Intelligence (AI) aims at building intelligent devices and robots to mimic tasks that are associated, a priori, with humans such as understanding, reasoning, seeing, singing, thinking, among others. To perform these tasks, the devices/robots must have knowledge about the world in which they are evolving and how they can manipulate it to perform useful tasks.

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The adoption of AI has significantly accelerated over the last 5 years due to the prevalence of digital technologies and breakthroughs in algorithmic capabilities. Moreover, access to richer data and increasing computing power have contributed to AI’s acceleration. The most popular AI applications include chatbots, vision and image recognition, process optimization, and fraud analysis on transactional data. Emerging applications include:

• Consumer and market segmentation

• Computer-assisted diagnostics

• Call Centers and Virtual Assistants

• Sentiment analysis and opinion mining

• Face detection and recognition

• Human resources applications such as resume screening or as related to agriculture, water management, education, governance, etc.[1]

Despite emerging more than half a century ago, the field of AI is still relatively new, especially as it relates to its application in international development.[2] In contrast to the exciting and promising opportunity that AI offers to developed countries, most developing countries have not yet fully embarked in the digital era. Most have not developed their

back-office components such as records/data related to the civil state, education, health, transportation, to name a few. This is a fundamental prerequisite to any AI application as related to development.

In many situations, Information Systems and AI have been adopted just for appearance’s sake, since it is the current

standard to have and to adopt analytics, Cloud technologies, big data and Chatbots, which do not necessarily fullfill any citizens’ need nor do they contribute to the global process of development.

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The term AI4D (Artificial Intelligence for Development) has emerged in the last 5 years to refer to the application of AI

within the field of human and socio-economic development. It mainly addresses issues related to the digital divide and how to overcome it through applications that directly or indirectly benefit the disadvantaged population and improve their socio-economic conditions.

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Unlike “mainstream AI”, where the main goal is to create software for business purposes, AI4D is about what should be

done to support human and socio-economic development, and how to achieve results. AI4D therefore has a profoundly moral agenda; it is not about the technologies themselves but with how they can be used to enable the empowerment of poor and marginalized communities.

Morocco, like most developing countries, is facing complicated development challenges. To overcome these challenges in a structured and efficient manner, the Moroccan Government has launched an ambitious national framework for a

New Development Model (NDM). The NDM seeks to accelerate progress and prosperity for all Moroccans by harnessing their full potential and energy and leveraging digital solutions.

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The NDM provides for:

• A citizen-centered approach to growth

• A clear commitment to sustainable development

• A modernized and responsive public administration and good governance

• A proactive search for new solutions and opportunities

AI presents a promising opportunity for Morocco and provides additional tools to address national development

priorities, accelerate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)[3] implementation, and achieve the UN

2030 Agenda goals within this NDM context. Development stakeholders are already utilizing AI to accelerate progress

toward achieving the 17 SDGs.

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A widely cited study by a group of international and multidisciplinary researchers found that AI can conceivably enable 79% of the SDGs and can drive the provision of food (SDG2), healthcare (SDG3), water (SDG6), and renewable energies (SDG7) for populations around the globe.[4]

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However, “AI is unfortunately not a standardized ‘plug and play’ tool you can simply apply” to different programs in very different development contexts.[5] For Morocco to access and harness AI for positive use, it needs to develop a better

and more robust understanding of AI technologies and their impact on global development. In addition, Morocco must

better understand AI’s relevance for and potential influence on Morocco’s current socio-economic circumstances and

plans its applicability and feasibility in the local context.

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[1] AI and Human Development towards a Research Agenda, The International Research Development Center, Ottawa, 2018.

[2] See Artificial Intelligence in International Development, A Discussion Paper, the International Development Innovation Alliance, June 2019.

[3] For more cases, see the Global AI Repository, UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/AI/Pages/ai-repository.

aspx

[4] Vinuesa et. al., (2020) Vinuesa, R., Azizpour, H., Leite, I. et al. (2020). The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Achieving the Sustainable Development

Goals. Nat Commun 11, 233. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-14108-y

[5] Artificial Intelligence in International Development, A Discussion Paper, the International Development Innovation Alliance, June 2019