Tech Talk with Vodacom

Artificial Intelligence has become an integral part of our everyday lives, changing how we communicate, work, and even make decisions. And one particular technology has captured the attention and imagination of people worldwide—ChatGPT.

Developed by OpenAI, ChatGPT is an autonomous language model that can engage in dynamic and responsive conversations with humans, just like you and me.

In this episode of Tech Talk with Vodacom, we speak with Deon Heunis, Co-founder & Chief Technology Officer of Swipe iX, about the potential ChatGPT and autonomous AI has to build the future of the internet.

Virtual reality has begun blending in thoroughly with our daily lives in recent years. But what does Virtual Reality look like in a continent as varied, unique and challenging as Africa? Our guest is Walid Kilonzi, a pioneering Extended Reality Producer based in Kenya who works with academic institutions and creative spaces to create the next generation of African Extended Reality creators and developers.

There’s currently no escaping the internet’s favorite buzzword – The Metaverse, but according to recent estimates, the metaverse is set to become an $800 billion market by 2024, and with tech giants like Microsoft, Apple and Google and Facebook investing millions into it, we thought it was time to find out what it's all about.

With that in mind, we sat down with several experts in the field of tech, to try and pin down what the Metaverse is and why you should know all about it.

In this Tech Talk with Vodacom episode, we talk game development with Evan Greenwood, creative director of game development studio, Free Lives. 

On average there are over 2.3 billion people playing games worldwide, and that number is only getting bigger with the advent of cloud gaming services. But within this enormous industry, how do smaller developers keep their drive, passion and ultimately, their business running – while juggling ever-changing technology and the challenges of interactivity, while still trying to keep it all fun?

COVID-19 has of course had a massive global effect on how we do business and most industries have needed to pivot. But some areas have thrived in this time of uncertainty, none more so than esports, or competitive gaming. More people have picked up a controller during this pandemic and the esports industry has taken note. In this episode, we talk to Sam Wright (aka Tech Girl), an esports host and shoutcaster, about the growing trend of eSports, in South Africa and abroad.

If there’s one thing that the past year and a half proved, it’s that our reliance on technology is only going to get higher. In a matter of days, our smartphones became our hub for work, entertainment, documentation and more, making them even more indispensable from our daily lives.

But what does the future of smartphone technology hold? In this episode, we speak with local tech journalist Nafisa Akabor, about some of the biggest trends in smartphone technology.

Olwethu Leshabane is a mom, doula, women empowerment and maternal health advocate, tv personality, blogger, style enthusiast and digital media entrepreneur. On her blog - Art of Superwoman - she explores the possibilities of the perfect balance between being a wife, motherhood and entrepreneurship.

In the first episode of Tech Talks with Vodacom's second season, we speak with Olwethu about the challenges and possibilities of parenting in a digital age. 

With vehicles becoming more sophisticated and more connected, it may well be that in a few years’ time, a car will look nothing like it does today. In this episode, we speak with Dr Joost Kessels, Division Head Product Engineering - Volkswagen South Africa, about the future of Connected Cars. 

Picture a future where calls to customer service are replaced by a quick and cheerful chat on your favourite messaging app. A helpful bot will be on the other end of the conversation, asking what you need, digesting the data and hopefully, solving your problem. As more and more businesses adopt chatbot technology, the more likely this future is. In the latest episode of Tech Talk with Vodacom, we speak to Antoine Paillusseau, CEO of FinChatBot, about the inner workings of these friendly virtual assistants.

AI is seemingly everywhere today. It is used to recommend what you should buy next online, understanding what you say to virtual assistants, recognising who and what is in a photo, and helping to spot spam or detect credit card fraud. But what exactly do we mean when we talk about 'Artificial Intelligence?' We chatted to Atenkosi Ngubevana, Group Executive: Digital Process Re-engineering at Vodacom, about the future of AI.