From designing algorithms for strategic games to leading Google’s AI expansion strategy in Africa, Dr. Moustapha Cisse’s journey in the world of AI has been nothing short of captivating. A math and physics graduate from a university in Senegal, Cisse’s love for artificial intelligence began when he started designing algorithms for games. He soon realized the vast potential of AI in shaping the world in a positive way.
With a Masters and a PhD in Machine Learning from Paris, France, Cisse quickly made a name for himself in the AI research community. He spent some time working at Facebook AI Research before being offered the opportunity to lead Google’s AI research lab in Accra, Ghana, the first of its kind in Africa.
Cisse is a hands-on AI researcher with a technical prowess that is unmatched. He has several publications in respected international journals and conferences, and his research interests include issues of safety, security, fairness, and bias in the development of AI. He advocates strongly for AI for social good, and his work is driven by a desire to enrich and enhance the quality of living in societies across the world while also enabling their core values.
One of Cisse’s key passions is using AI to solve specific local community problems. For instance, he proposes building AI systems and datasets to predict nutrition crises and also to provide insight for proactive actions in Africa. He believes joint partnerships should be established between policy makers and the AI community to build intelligent solutions to nutrition challenges, and he was very passionate about this cause at the African Green Revolution Forum.
Furthermore, Cisse emphasizes the need to focus on making AI models less biased by relying on high quality and less noisy datasets. He believes that to remove bias and inequality, data trust mechanisms should be used to evaluate the input data that AI products and platforms currently rely on. He also advocates for exploring many important problems to be solved in the developing world, not just stereotypical white or male-only issues.
As a co-founder of several African AI groups, including the BlackinAI group, Cisse is committed to enhancing black people’s involvement in AI through collaborations and initiatives to foster diversity and prevent data bias. The BlackinAI group has over 600 members from Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and North America, with over 200 female members.
Cisse is also an active participant in African talent development and capacity building events, and he is an open access advocate, strongly advocating for free access to knowledge as a driving force for innovation. He recently signed an agreement to boycott Nature’s Machine Intelligence Journal due to its lack of open access.
In summary, Dr. Moustapha Cisse is a witty, inspiring, hands-on AI expert with an unwavering vision for the application of AI to transform the world for good. His technical contribution, commitment to African talent development, advocacy for open access, and passion for solving local community problems have distinguished him as a trailblazer in the field of AI.
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