Kenya in 2043: AI glimpse into the future

I am back from a couple of weeks in England to say Hello to my new granddaughter, Willow. It was a trip around relatives and old friends. Understandably, there was much talk about how things have changed in both the UK and Kenya.

I was in the south of England, visiting places along a line from Bath in the southwest to Eastbourne in the southeast. I was in places that I thought I knew well, such as Southampton, where I had lived and worked for a number of years.

But, with all the new bypasses and motorways, if I hadn’t got Satnav in the hire car, I would have been hopelessly lost a number of times.

And so when the conversation turned to the way things have changed, as it frequently did, I indulged myself, and probably bored my listeners with a string of reminiscences. I will spare you much of this, but I have lived long enough to have lived through some quite dramatic changes in both the UK and Kenya. I grew up without TV and the internet.

 If you wanted to talk to someone on the phone you rang up a building in the hope the person would be there. And when I first came to Kenya in 1967, beyond Dagoretti Corner the right-hand side of the Ngong Road was lined with traditional thatched huts. The stretch of the Mombasa Road between Hunters Lodge and Mtito Andei wasn’t tarmacked.

When the other grandfather said, ‘I wonder how things will be like for Willow in twenty years time’, Jan, Willow’s father, said, ‘Let’s see what AI says about Kenya’s future’. He opened up his computer and brought up the ChatGPT website and asked it to write a 650 words article – the same length as Going Places – on the question, What will Kenya be like in 20 years time? In less than 10 seconds, a well-written article appeared. It was a very positive piece – ChatGPT tends to avoid negativity. When we tested this by asking it to write an article on positive qualities of Hitler, it refused.

According to this AI application, the integration of technology into daily life in Kenya will be seamless. The Internet of Things (IoT) devices will be pervasive, regulating energy consumption in homes and optimizing agricultural output in remote regions. Kenya's economy will have experienced exponential growth, propelled by a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit and strategic investments.

The country will have diversified beyond its historical reliance on agriculture and tourism. It will lead in clean energy production, exporting solar and wind technologies to neighbouring countries. Kenya will have embraced sustainable practices with unparalleled fervour. Renewable energy sources will dominate the landscape, with vast solar farms and wind turbines harnessing Kenya's abundant natural resources.

Inclusivity and gender equality will have made tremendous strides, and women will hold leadership positions across various sectors, contributing to a more balanced and harmonious society. Kenya's diplomatic influence will have grown substantially, owing to its economic prowess and commitment to conflict resolution, and the country will be playing a pivotal role in mediating regional disputes and providing humanitarian aid to neighbouring nations.

Nevertheless, however promising Kenya's future may appear, it will not be without challenges. Rapid urbanization, for example, will have strained city infrastructure, demanding innovative solutions to ensure equitable access to resources.

I realise that this article has depended on a massive and swift scanning of published information on Kenya up to 2021. It made me think back to the time when I was a university teacher assessing postgraduate papers. How do lecturers these days know that students aren’t using applications such as ChatGPT? At least its productions don’t have references, I thought. Wrong. I asked for the same article with references and they quickly appeared.

This is amazing isn’t it – and also frightening? I wonder how ChatGPT would perform as a travel writer for the Sunday Nation!

John Fox is Chairman of iDC Email: [email protected]