Tshilidzi Marwala

Tshilidzi Marwala
7th Rector of the United Nations University
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 March 2023
Deputy	Sawako Shirahase, Senior Vice-Rector, UNU
Secretary-General	António Guterres
Preceded by	David M. Malone
2nd Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg
In office 1 January 2018 – 28 February 2023
Chancellor	Njabulo Ndebele Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Preceded by	Ihron Rensburg
Succeeded by	Letlhokwa George Mpedi
Personal details
Spouse	Dr Jabulile Vuyiswa Manana (m. 2000, 3 children)
Alma mater	University of Cambridge Case Western Reserve University
Known for	Rational counterfactuals, St. Petersburg paradox, bounded rationality, information asymmetry, efficient market hypothesis, Lewis turning point, finite element updating
Website	www.gov.za/about-government/tshilidzi-marwala

Tshilidzi Marwala (born 28 July 1971) is a South African artificial intelligence engineer, a computer scientist, a mechanical engineer and a university administrator. He is currently Rector of the United Nations University and UN Under-Secretary-General.^[1] In August 2023 Marwala was appointed to the United Nations scientific advisory council.^[2][3]

Early life and education

Marwala was born at Duthuni Village in the Limpopo Province. He obtained a PhD in artificial intelligence from the University of Cambridge^[4] and a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Case Western Reserve University, graduating with a Magna Cum Laude.^[5]

Career

Marwala has been Rector of the United Nations University and UN Under-Secretary-General since 1 March 2023.^[6] Marwala was previously a vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Johannesburg. He was previously the deputy vice chancellor for research and internationalization as well as the dean of engineering at the University of Johannesburg and a professor of electrical engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand. He was a post-doctoral fellow at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine. He served as a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and on a board of Nedbank.^[7]

One of the books he co-authored on modelling interstate conflict has been translated into Chinese by the National Defense Industry Press.^[8][9]

Media

His work and opinion have appeared in media such as The Asahi Shimbun,^[10] The Nikkei,^[11] Fortune Magazine,^[12] The Japan Times,^[13] Il Sole 24 Ore,^[14] New Scientist,^[15] Time,^[16] The Economist,^[17] CNN,^[18][19] and BBC.^[20] He has also given talks at Rhodes House,^[21] Royal Society,^[22] Cambridge Union,^[23] Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society^[24] and Oxford Union.^[25][26] In 2016 Tshilidzi Marwala delivered the Bernard Price Memorial Lecture in South Africa. With Stephen Hawking and Guy Laliberté he was a judge of the YouTube Space Lab competition.^[27]

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg

Fourth Industrial Revolution

As Vice-Chancellor, Marwala developed and implemented the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) strategy.^[28] To move the fourth industrial revolution, Marwala introduced a compulsory artificial intelligence course and an Africa Insights course for all students, irrespective of their majors.^[29] Furthermore, he introduced Africa by Bus Project, where thousands of students travel by bus to various African countries to understand the African continent.^[30]

Rankings

Under his leadership, the University of Johannesburg was ranked first in Africa in the 2021 Times Higher Education (THE) University Impact Rankings on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and first globally for Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8). In the 2023 Times Higher Education Impact Ranking, it was ranked first in Africa and globally for SDG 1 (no poverty).^[31] From 2018 to 2022, the University of Johannesburg increased research output from sixth position to position first in South Africa.^[32][33] Furthermore, according to the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranking, UJ increased from being number 5 in Africa in 2021 (announced in 2020) to number 2 in Africa in 2023 (announced in 2022).^[34]

Fundraising

Under his leadership, the University of Johannesburg increased its endowment from US$61 million to US$200 million from 2018 to 2022.^[35] During his tenure, the University of Johannesburg purchased and financed two additional campuses, Devland Campus (US$10million) and Media 24 Park (US$20 million), and completed the Soweto Residence Complex (US$30million). Furthermore, the University of Johannesburg increased electricity consumption from solar energy from 0% to 15% from 2018 to 2022.^[36]

Institutes

Marwala established of the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study, UJ Press,^[37] Johannesburg Business School,^[38] Institute of Future Studies, with University of West Indies the Institute for Global African Affairs and Institute of Intelligent Systems.^[39]

United Nations

As the Rector of the United Nations University, Marwala has secured $65 million to establish the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in Bologna, Italy. This Institute will be located at the supercomputing facility CINECA.^[40][41] Marwala has also worked with the United Nations through agencies such as UNESCO, UNIDO, WHO, ITU, ILO, UNICEF, and WIPO.^{[42][43][44][45]} He was a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) committee that developed the ethical guidelines of using artificial intelligence in medicine.^[46] Furthermore, he was a member of the committee that developed the international accord on open data for the International Council for Science (ICSU) in Paris.^[47][38] Institute of Future Studies, with University of West Indies the Institute for Global African Affairs and Institute of Intelligent Systems.^[48]

Governments

Marwala has served globally and nationally on policymaking bodies. Most recently, he was the Deputy Chair of South Africa’s Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (with the President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa serving as Chair). This committee developed the country’s fourth industrial revolution strategy.^[49] Continentally, Marwala is the Chair of the International Scientific Advisory Board for the African Centre of Excellence in the Internet of Things (ACE-IoT) based in Rwanda.^[50] The government of Namibia appointed him on the Fourth Industrial Revolution Task Team.^[51]

Other activities

Marwala is on the corporate board of Nedbank (2019-2023),^[52] and is a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation (2020-2023).^[53]

Marwala has been a visiting fellow at Harvard University,^[54] Wolfson College, Cambridge,^[55] and University of California, Berkeley.^[56] He is an honorary professor at the Nanjing Tech University as well as the Central South University in The People's Republic of China.

Academic contributions and research

Marwala's research interests include the theory and application of artificial intelligence to engineering, computer science, finance, economics, social science and medicine. Marwala and Israeli researcher Daniel Muller studied the St. Petersburg paradox using the concept of the relative net utility.^[57] Marwala and Bo Xing have also studied the relationship between blockchain and artificial intelligence.^[58] With Evan Hurwitz, Marwala built software agents that can bluff on playing a game of poker.^[59][60]

Artificial intelligence and aerospace engineering

Marwala has applied artificial intelligence in aeronautical engineering and an example of this is his work on using AI to detect faults in aerospace structures, which he published papers in journals of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics such as AIAA Journal and Journal of Aircraft. ^[61][62][63]

Artificial intelligence and medical sciences

Marwala has worked on the application of artificial intelligence to health care. For example, he has used AI to diagnose pulmonary embolism ^[64] and epileptic activity ^[65] as well as understand HIV^[66] and Covid-19.^[67] He was a co-inventor of the innovative methods of radiation imaging^[68] and with Megan Jill Russell as well as David Rubin the artificial larynx.^[69]

Artificial intelligence and economics

Marwala and Evan Hurwitz proposed that there is less information asymmetry between two artificial intelligent agents than between two human agents and that the more artificial intelligence there is in the market, the less the volume of trades in the market.^[70][71] Tshilidzi Marwala and Evan Hurwitz in their book^[72] applied Lewis turning point theory to study the transition of the economy into automated production and identified an equilibrium point (Lewis turning point) where it does not make economic sense to move human labor to automated machines. Tshilidzi Marwala and Evan Hurwitz, in their book,^[72] observed that the advent of intelligent online buying platforms such as Amazon and technologies such as flexible manufacturing offers the opportunity for individualized supply and demand curves to be produced. They observed that these reduce the degree of arbitrage in the market, permitting individualized pricing for the same product and bringing fairness and efficiency into the market. Furthermore, with Evan Hurwitz in their book,^[72] they observed that decision-making and predicting machines that are executed using artificial intelligence and other machine learning techniques reduce the biases and variances of the errors on decision making and thus make decisions in a closer manner to the conclusions of rational expectations theory than human decision-makers. In his response to Bill Gates, Marwala has also brought to the attention the difficulty of taxing robots given the fact that a great deal of the devices that we use have robotics features.^[73] He developed the concept of pseudo-modal energies, proposing the theory of rational counterfactual thinking, rational opportunity cost and the theory of flexibly bounded rationality.^[74] Marwala also observed that the applicability of prospect theory depends on how much artificial intelligence is used to make a decision. He also observed that the more artificial intelligence is used for decision-making, the more efficient the markets become. For example, if artificially intelligent machines make all decisions, the markets will be fully rational.^[75]

Artificial Intelligence and Political Science

Tshilidzi Marwala has contributed to the application of artificial intelligence in political science, international relations, and interstate conflict. With Monica Lagazio, he has studied the effects of artificial intelligence on international relations, including the possibility of interstate conflict. In this regard, these researchers have discussed how AI can be used to predict and manage conflicts, as well as how it may alter the nature of diplomacy and international negotiations. This work involved analyzing data and predicting potential conflicts using machine learning algorithms.^[76] Marwala and Bhaso Ndzendze have investigated how AI can be utilized in international relations decision-making procedures. He has discussed the potential for artificial intelligence to enhance decision-making by providing more precise forecasts and analyses.^[77][78]

Awards and honors

Marwala is a member of The World Academy of Sciences,^[79] American Academy of Arts and Sciences,^[80] Chinese Academy of Sciences,^[81] African Academy of Sciences,^[82] and the Academy of Science of South Africa.^[83] In high school he won the National Youth Science Olympiad and represented South Africa in the London International Youth Science Forum.^[84] He is the recipient of the Order of Mapungubwe. In 2022, Marwala was awarded the IT Personality of the Year Award in South Africa for his work on the fourth Industrial Revolution,^[85] in 2020 the Science-for-Society Gold Medal from the Academy of Science of South Africa.^[86] and in 2024 the Hans Carl von Carlowitz Sustainability Award.^[87] Marwala has received honorary doctorates from the Caucasus University in Tbilisi in Georgia,^[88] the University of Venda.^[89] and Tshwane University of Technology.^[90]

See also

• Simon Connell – Particle physicist in South Africa
• Youba Sokona – Malian climatologist (born 1950)
• Mohamed Thameur Chaibi – Tunisian professor of Rural Engineering

References

1. "Tshilidzi Marwala | United Nations University". UNU | United Nations University. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
2. "UN Secretary-General Creates Scientific Advisory Board". UNU, United Nations University. United Nations University. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
3. "UN Secretary-General Creates Scientific Advisory Board for Independent Advice on Breakthroughs in Science and Technology | UN Press". press.un.org. 3 August 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
4. "University of Cambridge PhD Thesis". 3 March 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
5. "Case Western Reserve University Alumni". 3 March 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
6. "Prof. Tshilidzi Marwala Begins Term as United Nations University Rector | United Nations University". UNU | United Nations University. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
7. "Nedbank". 13 May 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
8. "鍩轰簬璁＄畻鏅鸿兘鐨勫啗浜嬪啿绐佸缓妯?-中国图书网，图书，书店，网上书店，特价书，特价图书". www.bookschina.com. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
9. Marwala, Tshilidzi; 马瓦拉 (5 November 2023). 基于计算智能的军事冲突建模 – 图书 – 亚马逊. 国防工业出版社. ISBN 978-7118105285.
10. "Tshilidzi Marwala". Asahi Shinbun. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
11. "Tshilidzi Marwala". Nikkei Shinbun. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
12. "Tshilidzi Marwala". Fortune. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
13. "Tshilidzi Marwala". The Japan Times. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
14. "Tshilidzi Marwala". Il Sole 24 Ore. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
15. "Software learns when it pays to deceive". New Scientist. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
16. "TIME | Current & Breaking News". Time. Retrieved 27 October 2017.^{[dead link‍]}
17. "On Jacob Zuma, Iraq, Croatia, home ownership, Somali pirates, education, Greece, Machiavelli, economics". The Economist. 14 May 2009. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
18. "UJ grabs AI spotlight in CNN feature". 15 January 2018.
19. University of Johannesburg official Youtube (16 January 2018), UJ Vice-Chancellor speaks on AI on CNN Marketplace Africa, archived from the original on 19 December 2021, retrieved 20 November 2018
20. "BBC World Service - Business Daily, The education scam". BBC.
21. "Scholar Talk: Artificial Intelligence with Prof. Tshildzi Marwala". Rhodes House. Archived from the original on 3 December 2019.
22. "Day 1 highlights - 2021 Commonwealth Science Conference: Science for a resilient future | Royal Society". royalsociety.org.
23. "Is AI dangerous". Archived from the original on 19 December 2021.
24. "Development in the Data Economy | Berkman Klein Center". cyber.harvard.edu. 11 September 2019.
25. "AI Panel". Archived from the original on 19 December 2021.
26. "AI Panel".
27. "Judges". YouTube Space Lab Resources. Google Sites. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
28. "4IR". 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
29. "4IR". 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
30. "Africa by Bus". 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
31. "Rankings". 1 June 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
32. "Research". 27 May 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
33. "Research". 27 May 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
34. "SRanking". 10 July 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
35. "Fundraising". 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
36. "Solar Energy". 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
37. "UJ Press". 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
38. "JBS". 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
39. "IIS". 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
40. "UNU AI". 27 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
41. "UNU AI". 27 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
42. "WHO" (PDF). 27 November 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
43. Marwala, Tshilidzi (27 November 2021). "UNESCO". The UNESCO Courier. 2019 (2): 56–57. doi:10.18356/d94175df-en. S2CID 213291921. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
44. "UNICEF". 27 November 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
45. "WIPO". 27 November 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
46. "WHO" (PDF). 20 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
47. "Namibia". 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
48. "AI and Data". 27 April 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
49. "RSA". 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
50. "Rwanda". 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
51. "Namibia". 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
52. "NedbankBoard". 20 April 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
53. "NelsonMandelaFoundation". 20 March 2023. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
54. "South African Fellowship Program certificates awarded". Harvard Gazette. 7 June 2007. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
55. "New appointment for former Visiting Fellow | Wolfson College Cambridge". www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
56. "Visiting Scholars Program | Center for Studies in Higher Education". www.cshe.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
57. Muller, Daniel; Marwala, Tshilidzi (2019). "Relative Net Utility and the Saint Petersburg Paradox". arXiv:1910.09544 [econ.GN].
58. Marwala, Tshilidzi; Xing, Bo (2015). "Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence". arXiv:1802.04451 [cs.AI].
59. Marwala, Tshilidzi; Hurwitz, Evan (7 May 2007). "Learning to bluff". arXiv:0705.0693 [cs.AI].
60. Merali, Zeeya (2 June 2007). "Software learns when it pays to deceive". New Scientist.
61. Tshilidzi Marwala (2003). "Fault classification using pseudo modal energies and neural networks". American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Journal. 41 (1): 82–89. Bibcode:2003AIAAJ..41...82M. doi:10.2514/2.1916.
62. Tshilidzi Marwala; Sibusiso Sibisi (2005). "Finite element model updating using Bayesian framework and modal properties". American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Journal of Aircraft. 42 (1): 275–278. doi:10.2514/1.11841.
63. Tshilidzi Marwala (2002). "Finite element model updating using wavelet data and genetic algorithm". American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Journal of Aircraft. 39 (4): 709–711. doi:10.2514/2.2971.
64. Scurrell, Simon; Marwala, Tshilidzi; Rubin, David (2007). "Automatic Detection of Pulmonary Embolism using Computational Intelligence". arXiv:0706.0300 [cs.CV].
65. Nadim Mohamed; David Rubin; Tshilidzi Marwala (2006). "Detection of epileptiform activity in human EEG signals using Bayesian neural networks". Neural Information Processing-Letters and Reviews. 10 (1).
66. B.B. Leke; T. Marwala (2006). "Autoencoder networks for HIV classification". Current Science. 81 (11).
67. R. Mbuvha; T. Marwala (2020). "Bayesian inference of COVID-19 spreading rates in South Africa". PLOS ONE. 15 (8): e0237126. Bibcode:2020PLoSO..1537126M. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0237126. PMC 7406053. PMID 32756608.
68. "Patent US20080296504 – Method and Apparatus for Radiation Imaging – Google Patents". 30 March 2004. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
69. "Patent US20110190881 – Artificial Larynx – Google Patents". Retrieved 19 September 2015.
70. Marwala, Tshilidzi; Hurwitz, Evan (2015). "Artificial Intelligence and Asymmetric Information Theory". arXiv:1510.02867 [cs.AI].
71. "Artificial Intelligence can Reduce Information Asymmetry : Networks Course blog for INFO 2040/CS 2850/Econ 2040/SOC 2090". blogs.cornell.edu. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
72. Marwala, Tshilidzi; Hurwitz, Evan (2017). Artificial Intelligence and Economic Theory: Skynet in the Market. London: Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-66104-9.
73. Marwala, Tshilidzi (2018). "On Robot Revolution and Taxation". arXiv:1808.01666 [cs.CY].
74. Muller, Daniel (25 November 2018). "Economics of Human-AI Ecosystem: Value Bias and Lost Utility in Multi-Dimensional Gaps". arXiv:1811.06606 [q-fin.GN].
75. Marwala, Tshilidzi (1 July 2015). "Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Theory". arXiv:1509.01213 [q-fin.GN].
76. Tshilidzi Marwala; Monica Lagazio (2011). Militarized Conflict Modeling Using Computational Intelligence. Heidelberg: Springer. ISBN 978-0-85729-789-1.
77. Bhaso Ndzendze; Tshilidzi Marwala (2021). Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies in International Relations. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing. ISBN 978-981-123-454-5.
78. Bhaso Ndzendze; Tshilidzi Marwala (2023). Artificial Intelligence and International Relations Theories. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-9811948763.
79. "Marwala Tshilidzi". TWAS. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
80. "Marwala Tshilidzi". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
81. "Marwala Tshilidzi". Chinese Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
82. "AAS Fellows in South Africa". African Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
83. "ASAf Fellows in South Africa". Academy of Science of South Africa. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
84. Molefi. "Minister Pandor commends Scifest for making science acessible [sic] to young people". www.dst.gov.za. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
85. "UJ's Prof Marwala wins IT Personality of the Year Award". 12 April 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
86. "Asaf Gold medal". 12 April 2022. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
87. "Award". 12 October 2024. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
88. "UJ's Prof Marwala awarded honorary doctorate from Caucasus University". 1 August 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
89. "honorary doctorate f". 1 August 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
90. "honorary doctorate f". 28 March 2024. Retrieved 28 March 2024.

External links

• Biography