The Algerian expert in information technology, Yazid Agdal, believes that accelerating the adoption of digitization technologies will push the economy forward, and will contribute effectively to fighting corruption. He also talked about the digital dinar project and how Algeria will benefit from it.
Agdal stressed - in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that artificial intelligence platforms represent a new digital era that will lead to a revolution that will change and affect human lives, as did the emergence of the Internet before.
There has been much talk in Algeria about "digitization", "digitization economy" and "startups", and a special ministry has been created in this matter (the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and Emerging Enterprises). How can Algeria transform this sector into an economic activity?
In general, the matter is good because it brought this sector out of the shadows and margins, and led to the introduction of laws by the Ministry and procedures such as the issue of marks such as the “start-up company” mark and the “innovative project” mark, and related tax privileges that go with it, and related matters such as financing as well. Such as the creation of the Algerian Fund for startups to finance them, and the establishment of a government accelerator called "Algerie Ventor", and this made these companies, as I said, emerge from the shadows into the light, and operate according to a law that is more proportional to the law that viewed startups as normal companies that apply The same applies to any other company.
Despite these good measures that are valued and encouraged, it is difficult to talk about significant economic effectiveness in the early years, because this sector is also linked to the financial, economic and legislative system and the institutions’ need for this type of company.
We have to wait about 3 to 4 years to see how these startups develop, adapt to the challenges and deal with the available data, and we will see what they offer in terms of products that are directed to the foreign market or expand outside the country.
However, it is certain that some of the hopes raised and some of the slogans that were launched that we are in a knowledge economy and an alternative economy to hydrocarbons are alternative slogans to reality, and it is difficult to achieve them in a short period of time.
Algeria opens the first Arab and African university specializing in artificial intelligence (Al-Jazeera)
Perhaps the term "start-up companies" seems ambiguous or confusing to many, so what does it mean?
What is the difference between a "startup company" and the various regular companies?
The matter is related to the Arabic translation of Starup, which refers to a start-up company, as the word “start-up” refers to a small company or a company within the framework of construction, meaning miniature, and this prompted people to confuse concepts and not differentiate between the small or micro-enterprise that falls within the framework of classic projects. .
The issue of translation played a role in this confusion, especially since the term is new to our culture.
In the world of startups, the field of activity is innovative, and this means a completely new field, or that innovation is within the work on an already existing field, but with a technical touch such as using an application or a technical platform that facilitates access to the service to a large number of people, and this is what makes this type of Projects grow rapidly if they are successful, and they achieve large profits without necessarily being associated with high operating costs, and for this we hear about large profits for startups in the event of their success.
Also, startups are characterized by a high degree of economic risk, because whoever establishes these companies or who finances them does not know what their future will be like, how the public will receive them, and whether they will be accepted or not.
That is why this type of company does not attract classical capital, which studies risks strongly and does not apply for financing unless it guarantees profits.
This type of investment has special funds that invest in several projects despite the high degree of risk that may reach 85% in a good economic environment. Investing in many projects is what makes the return feasible in the event of a successful project that can compensate for the losses that resulted from many other projects.
What are the obstacles that negatively affect the movement of the digital system and prevent its development to become one of the country's economic pillars?
There are several factors, including the lack of a comprehensive vision to digitize all governmental or economic interests, as each sector operates on its own, and this is a problem because the sectors are interrelated and interdependent, and therefore digitized systems need to communicate between them.
There is also the problem of the human element. Working on high digitization mechanisms requires the presence of high human competencies that can facilitate project management and control the technical aspect and information protection, but the government sector is often a sector that drives out competencies due to the level of salaries and the absence of motivation.
There is also resistance from within the sectors themselves, as the absence of digitization encourages nepotism and corruption, and a group of people benefit from the status quo and impede the trend towards digitization.
Another problem is the absence of follow-up and evaluation after launching projects related to the digital system. For example, people have the possibility of obtaining civil status certificates through a digital platform, but the competent authorities do not follow up on this evaluation work to know what can be developed, what should be avoided, and the complications and problems that arise from that.
Regulations and legislation have been introduced related to the so-called “self-contractor” or “freelancer”, which works freely and is not affiliated with a specific institution.. What is your assessment of it?
What are the things that still need to be modified and corrected?
The self-contractor law is among the matters that the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and startups in Algeria have worked on, and it is considered an answer to a serious problem that young professionals in several fields such as technical designs, software, etc. were suffering from, because in the absence of the legal framework, they could not previously issue invoices for their services because they They do not have institutions that were the only ones authorized to issue invoices, and this used to make it difficult for local and foreign companies to contract with them, because these companies need invoices for the services they pay for in order to control their financial burdens.
The other problem is related to receiving money from foreign institutions to which this professional young man provides his services, as this requires a professional justification, so the “self-contractor” law came to facilitate these procedures and remove these problems, and these facilities will lead to an increase in the demand for young people to offer their expertise and technical capabilities to the public. Local and foreign companies, which reflects positively on several aspects.
There has been talk recently in official circles about the creation of a "digital dinar", but some have confused it with cryptocurrencies such as "Bitcoin" or "Ethereum".
What is meant first by the digital dinar?
What is the difference between it and cryptocurrency?
What can the digital dinar provide of added value?
How can it be used?
Official digital currencies exist in a number of countries, and the digital dinar is a similar project in Algeria. With the expansion of the use of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, central banks sought to counter this trend, as cryptocurrencies are not linked to central banks or countries, and therefore are not subject to monitoring or control.
In addition, the path of digitization requires the provision of facilities for electronic payment and the movement of funds, especially since the new generations find themselves more involved in this system, and for this reason the digital currencies adopted by countries and supervised by central banks contribute to monitoring the movement of capital, but these projects are often still in the process. study or experiment.
The digital dinar is a project that will contribute to advancing e-commerce (Al-Jazeera)
The difference between the digital dinar and the regular dinar is that the digital currency does not have a financial block unlike the regular currency, but the digital currency has the legal force or the monetary block itself, which enables the bank to track its movement.
The digital dinar will contribute to the gradual abandonment of hand-to-hand cash handling, but it requires a technical and legislative infrastructure to control dealing with it and secure the transactions that take place using it.
But this leads us to talk about the reality of electronic payment in Algeria, which is an area in which many still refuse to deal through it, so how do you see this matter?
In Algeria, there is a real trend towards trying to popularize electronic payment such as paying bills and paying for services by postcard and bank card.
There are efforts made in this field, but there is a problem with the issue of generalizing it, because there is a lack of educating people through the media, for example, and there is a lack of making the necessary efforts to push people in this direction so that they feel confident while using electronic payment.
Moreover, the success of electronic payment will drive the recovery of other sectors such as e-commerce and startups, and for this reason, we must work on the awareness field, intensify it, and motivate people to move to it.
In the context of the technical acceleration that the world is witnessing due to the development of knowledge tools and what technical companies offer, artificial intelligence has recently emerged as a technology that can bring about a digital and knowledge revolution, including the "GBT Chat" platform, which has attracted great interest.
How can we make the best use of AI platforms?
Making the artificial intelligence platform "ChatGPT" available to the general public represents a major revolution in the digital world, comparable to the revolution of the Internet when dealing with it, just as the entry of the Internet and then search engines such as Google changed a lot in people's lives, so will artificial intelligence platforms the same thing.
There are also other intelligence platforms that may be more powerful, flexible, and accurate, and this is what makes the impact of this technology very significant in several areas such as educational institutions and some professions such as journalism, design, and professions related to data processing. Some will be able to adapt to this technical revolution and interact positively with it, while some will remain unable to enter this world.
The impact will extend, for example, to the fields of education, the evaluation of students and researchers through tests, and the related fraud and scientific theft, and there are some universities that have banned the use of artificial intelligence platforms on their campuses, and there are tools under development that enable the distinction between texts written by real people or were the result of authoring an intelligence program. artificial.
It is clear that we are witnessing a major revolution, and the reality will push many to adapt to the new situation, and we must push for the exploitation of these technologies to serve people, otherwise we will turn into victims of them.