The African nation of Zambia had lots of copper and was once one of Africa’s richest countries. But it fell into deep poverty under the socialist rule of dictator Kenneth Kaunda from 1964 to 1991. Socialism hinders economic growth and opportunity. Under Kaunda’s oppressive rule, per capita income fell by more than half after taking inflation into account — on paper, it rose from $237 per person in 1964 to $429 in 1991, but during that period, the value of a dollar fell by more than 77%, so in real terms (adjusting for inflation), the income of the average Zambian fell to just $98 per person per year, in 1964 dollars (based on the value a dollar had back in 1964). After Kaunda left office, Zambia went through a period of economic transition away from socialism, in which its per capita income rose to $1,457 in 2024 dollars — but that’s only worth about $145 in 1964 dollars. So Zambians are still poorer than they were at independence in 1964, although they are much better off than they were in 1991, after suffering through 27 years of socialism.
Moreover, copper production has recently fallen as existing copper mines run out of copper.
But new copper discoveries found using artificial intelligence may enable Zambia to recover its lost prosperity. KoBold Metals, a mineral exploration company, recently found what The New York Times called the “largest copper discovery in more than a decade.”
As Malcolm Cochran notes, “KoBold’s approach to exploration” consists of
a large dataset combined with artificial intelligence. Their system uses a wide variety of geological data to predict the location of mineral deposits. Crucially, their models also calculate the uncertainty of these predictions and determine what kind of information is needed to improve their accuracy. The process then moves to the field, where KoBold’s geologists survey and sample promising terrain while artificial intelligence uses that new information to determine what to measure next and, ultimately, where to drill. All this calculation saves time and money. Kobold’s founders claim their system “shortened the learning cycle from a season to a day” and “generated predictions with 80 percent lower false positive and false negative rates compared to conventional predictions.”
These advantages rely on KoBold’s massive database, called TerraShed, which can standardize and analyze everything from hand-drawn maps and typed reports to electromagnetic measurements. According to Kurt House, KoBold’s CEO, TerraShed now contains three percent of all geological data and has led the company to around sixty exploration projects. House puts it nicely: “We don’t drill for metals, we drill for information.”
This new mineral wealth is badly needed. Zambia is ranked as one of the world’s least-developed countries, with most of its people living in poverty.
In other news, Zambia recently banned marriage by people under the age of 18. At least on paper, that was a big change, because 1.7 million of Zambia’s 20 million people were child brides, and 400,000 Zambians got married before age 15. Zambia is a landlocked, mostly rural country deep in south central Africa. Parliaments in several other African countries have also recently banned marriage below age 18.
African nations that pass such bans often don’t enforce them vigorously. Partly, they pass such bans to make international organizations approve of them, and keep foreign aid flowing.
Zambia is a signatory to international agreements banning marriage among minors — such as the Convention on the Rights of Children (CRC), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) that all categorically state the minimum age of marriage as 18, without any exceptions.
By banning child marriage, Zambia joins six other nearby countries in southern Africa, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, and Zimbabwe, that mandate a minimum age of 18 for marriage for both boys and girls with no exceptions — not even when the bride and groom are 17, and their parents consent to the marriage.
Artificial intelligence is also greatly improving the detection of many different diseases. Artificial intelligence has discovered a new material that could reduce lithium use in batteries and thus reduce our dependence on China.
Robots with artificial intelligence are spreading on Japanese farms. In the U.S., farming robots now use artificial intelligence to kill 100,000 weeds per hour. Drones with artificial intelligence will make farming easier.
Scientists have developed tiny robots made of human cells to repair damaged cells. Nanorobots are also being used to fight cancer by cutting off the blood supply of tumors.
