Cameroon intends to use AI for regulation enforcement
Cameroon's regulatory agencies aspire to effectively use artificial intelligence (AI) to strengthen regulatory frameworks, increase public trust, and contribute to the country's future economic growth.
The watchdogs from various sectors, including civil aviation, ICTs, oil and gas, product standards, and telecoms, brainstormed recently in the capital Yaounde during a two-day workshop hosted by their umbrella organisation, the Cameroon Forum of Regulatory Institutions (FIRC).
According to Ebot Ebot Enaw, director general of the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies and president of FIRC, they want to change the way regulatory tasks are approached by identifying trends, predicting outcomes, and making decisions with previously unattainable precision and speed.
“ICTs in general and AI in particular represent a unique opportunity to reinvent public services, making them more accessible, efficient and citizen-focused, while meeting the regulatory challenges of a digital world,” Enaw said.
During the workshop, the regulatory agencies discussed real use cases for AI in optimising decision-making processes and monitoring the performance in the public sector.
They also improved their understanding of AI technologies and their impact on enforcement actions, which helped to close the knowledge gap in this rapidly evolving area.
They also considered ethical and regulatory issues surrounding the incorporation of AI into regulatory procedures, such as transparency and bias management.
FIRC has committed to promoting the use of AI in modernising public services, including predictive analysis, work automation, and big data management.