First Rhodes Scholar to focus on artificial intelligence
The first Rwandan to be awarded a Rhodes Scholarship for study at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom aspires to harness artificial intelligence (AI) in areas such as education, economics, business and medicine and contribute to improving the lives of people on the African continent.
Billy Byiringiro, 23, was one of 2,300 applicants from the East African countries of Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda who competed for the prestigious scholarship, first awarded in 1902. He was chosen after a rigorous selection process which, because of COVID-19, was done virtually for the first time in the history of the scholarship, according to a statement from the Rhodes Trust.