Responsible AI & Data Ethics Professional Certificate

Artificial intelligence and data-driven systems now help decide who receives a loan, which households are targeted for aid, which job applicants are shortlisted and what information people see. When these systems are designed carelessly they can discriminate, invade privacy, spread misinformation and concentrate power, often harming the people with the least voice. Responsible AI is the discipline of preventing these harms while realising AI’s benefits.

This course gives you practical tools, not just principles. You will learn the major ethical frameworks and what they mean in African contexts; how to collect and handle personal data lawfully and respectfully under laws such as Kenya’s and Uganda’s Data Protection Acts and the GDPR; how bias enters data and models and how to measure fairness with metrics such as approval rate ratios and equal opportunity; how to explain model decisions and document systems with model cards and datasheets; and how organisations govern AI using frameworks such as the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and laws such as the EU AI Act. You will also examine the wider impacts of AI on workers, the environment and democracy.

The capstone asks you to conduct a full responsible AI assessment of a proposed AI credit-scoring system that uses mobile money data to lend to small traders in East Africa, including a fairness analysis by gender and rural or urban location and clear recommendations to the lender’s board.

No programming is required; the course is designed for both technical and non-technical professionals. How the course works: six modules, 23 lessons with more than 30 videos from sources including TED, MIT, Google, IBM Technology, DW and PyData, a hands-on activity in every lesson, a quiz after every module, a capstone project and a final certification examination. Most learners finish in 6 to 8 weeks at 4 to 5 hours per week.