Ripples of the Wave of Change

AI Saturdays started globally on the 6th of January, 2018. Lagos, Nigeria Chapter is one of the 61+ Cities participating in this global goal of getting people who wants to kick-ass in AI together and form a study group for the next 16+ weeks.

Little drops of water make a mighty ocean… Little by little the ant makes its colony a thousand times its size. It’s amazing how something so small can make a colony the size of an average human-being…From the ant I learnt that a small beginning isn’t what it seems to be… rather it’s a disguised success. — Jakpinky

Nigeria has been a country of many labels; sometimes derogatory. The name “Nigeria” leaves no better image in the mind of most people but corruption, poverty, developing nation, sleeping giant of Africa, to mention a few. While this perception still holds for a lot of people, there is a new breed of younger generation trying to find a meaning, expression and solution to problems not just local but global. There have been many of such efforts but this write-up zooms highlights just one of such, a dream that hatched on Saturday, 6th January 2018. Before now, there has been meet-ups that were quarterly but one-off as regards each meeting but this idea is about continuously building on subsequent meetups for 16th weeks to build and empower the Artificial Intelligence (AI) community in Nigeria alongside with the rest of the world, #AISaturdays.

A step back to my past, I have heard of AI since my undergrad years, just about when the popular movie I, Robot staring Will Smith, was released. I’ve always been a fan of sci-fi movies, so it wasn’t surprising that a passion was sparked in me to learn, understand and transform the world through the development of AI products. Even though Sci-fi movies AI aren’t exactly what real-life AI is — you know what I mean :-)

It was thereon that my AI ripples first started forming, thinking about it, this sounds like an irony considering the fact that I actually studied Computer Science in school but trust me, none of my Q Basic, FORTran, AI lectures spiked enough interest in me like that movie did.

I guess I left my head in the clouds :(

Bless you! I, Robot — now I’m a fan for life :)

On the start of this fateful day, it appeared like the word got out to just a few as the organizers initially planned for 20 persons. However, as the lessons began, more people started coming in as the hours advanced. The first day ended with about 67 persons ranging from students to AI enthusiasts.

One of the thing that fascinated me about the study group was how linear algebra could be simplified into an interesting, short yet condescend concepts. I was literally in a “mathematics class” for hours without calculating or solving any problems yet I understood the lessons far better than when I was in school
where I was more bothered in solving exercises than understanding its concepts or applications. Okay, to be honest, I think school cheated me :( Nobody told me Matrices could be used to represent basically everything — sort-of.

Essence of Linear Algebra blew my mind, the lessons were concise yet illuminating mathematical concepts one learnt without earlier possessing that in-depth understanding of its applications or how it relates to the natural world.

The puzzles are starting to fit together in my mind. The ripples have begun forming and in the next 16th weeks, change is imminent.

This is a great first start and we’re very excited about the enthusiasm in people to learn about AI. We hope we can be able to not only excite the participants but help them form a learning path towards their AI journey.

See you next week 😎.

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