Study says more women than men in Africa will likely lose outsourcing tasks to AI

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — More women than men working in Africa’s outsourcing sector will likely see their tasks in the workplace replaced by automation and artificial intelligence by 2030, a report said Thursday.

The report, released at a conference on AI in the Rwandan capital, also said that the now-surging growth of the outsourcing industry on the African continent may slow, and it urged workers to boost their skills so that they can trade up to better jobs.

More than 1,000 policymakers, business leaders, and interest groups were gathered in Kigali for the first-ever Global AI Summit for Africa.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who addressed the conference on its opening day, called for more investments, innovation and creativity.

African countries should “go back to the drawing board and build a strong foundation for connectivity,” Kagame said. “Let’s continue working together, and driving AI to reduce inequality, and allow more and more of our citizens to benefit from the good AI can deliver to all of us,” he said.

The new report by Caribou and Genesis Analytics in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation says that tasks performed by women are on average 10% more vulnerable to automation than those by men in the same sector. This disparity will exacerbate gender-based inequalities in the sector’s workforce if not proactively addressed, it said.

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The study finds that lower-paying jobs, which make up 68% of the workforce, are particularly at risk. It found that up to 40% of human tasks in Africa’s outsourcing sector could be automated.

But AI experts at the summit said that with the right investments and training, women and youth could access better-paid, higher-skilled work than what the currently do.

Jeremy Jurgen, managing director of the World Economic Forum, which is co-hosting the conference, said there was a shortage of AI workers and a need to invest in developing talent to address that.

African leaders present called for more collaboration.

“African countries need to have clarity on what they want to do with AI and what they’re bringing to the table, then we can start talking about collaborating on AI without compromising our sovereignty,” Nigerian Communication Minister Bosun Tijani said during the conference.