AI momentum can solve problems including health and climate change, Dell says

As the world battles several challenges from climate change to poverty and healthcare,  Adrian MacDonald, President EMEA – Dell Technologies, says artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to solve all these problems.

MacDonald made the remarks at the Dell Tech Forum at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit on Thursday.

The event, which has grown bigger and better over the years, drew thousands to the forum as they learnt, connected, and collaborated with industry experts, chatted with Dell spokespeople, and got hands-on insights into a wide range of products and services, all in one place.

Dell CEO, Michael Dell also shared a message with attendees at the forum.

Message from @MichaelDell at the Dell Tech Forum at Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in Johannesburg. #DellTechForum @DellTechZA pic.twitter.com/lUUvkp9ND0

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Healthcare and Earth

McDonald said AI has the potential to solve many problems, especially in health.

“What I am seeing is healthcare industries who are consuming AI, Agentic, AI, Generative AI, at a phenomenal pace, I do genuinely believe that we are going to cure most human diseases within the next 10 years.”

McDonald believes that AI will also heal planet Earth.

“Separately, I do believe that we will fix most of the large planetary issues utilizing AI, we will find out things that we don’t currently know, and it will help us to rebuild our planet to full health.”

AI is real and it can solve problems… Adrian MacDonald, President EMEA – Dell Technologies #DellTechForum @DellTechZA @DellTech @Dell pic.twitter.com/jvT0aySvjy

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McLaren F1

For those who love Formula One, McDonald also highlighted how technology helps the McLaren F1 team stay ahead of the pack.

“A digital wind tunnel effect, which has been a key part of driving McLaren’s current success over the last seven, eight years. They can build a digital twin, which we can work together on and collaborate on. You can basically build a digital car. Then you can test it.

“Surprisingly, at the very end, when you build the real car, the tolerance is 99.9% accurate in the digital wind tunnel. So there are restrictions on using real tunnels. There are restrictions within the F1 guidelines on how you can you can play those things. This has been a real technology partnership that has really helped McLaren move forward at pace,” McDonald said.

This is how Dell Technologies helps the McLaren Formula 1 team. McDonald explains. #DellTechForum @DellTech @Dell @McLarenF1 pic.twitter.com/K4ZwvU6gMQ

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Business and AI

Meanwhile, new research from Dell showed that businesses in South Africa are increasingly viewing AI as a strategic priority.

The findings of the study reinforced the main theme of the Forum, which focused on empowering South African organisations to harness AI for real-world impact by shifting from theoretical discussions to actionable strategies.

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South Africa

The global study, which surveyed 2,850 business and IT decision-makers, of which 50 were from South Africa, found that 92% of South African companies now view it as a ‘key part’ of their business strategy.

Additionally, 32% of South African organisations report seeing tangible productivity and financial returns from initial AI investments.

Despite the promising indicators, 94% of businesses in South Africa struggle to fully integrate AI into every aspect of their operations, while 42% are still in the early-to-mid stages of their AI adoption journey.

The research highlighted that while South African companies are making strides toward AI adoption, scaling AI effectively across an enterprise requires a holistic approach.

Tipping point

Habib Mahakian, Vice President for Southern and Sub-Saharan Africa, Dell Technologies said South African companies are at a tipping point.

“The ambition to enhance processes, customer experience, and decision-making through AI is clear, but turning that ambition into large-scale, reliable, and ethical AI applications remains a significant challenge.

“The biggest hurdle is not just the technology, but also the people and processes around it. AI requires trust, new skillsets, and innovative ways of working,” he said

Encouraging

An encouraging trend revealed in the report is the increasing link between AI and sustainability goals.

Businesses are exploring AI’s potential to optimise energy efficiency – such as smarter data centre management, minimising idle workloads and moving inferencing tasks to edge computing environments.

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