African countries are expanding their artificial intelligence capabilities through new investments, language initiatives, cloud infrastructure, startup funding and skills programmes. GSMA and the governments of Benin, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria and Togo launched ATLAS Umoja AI to develop models supporting African languages, addressing limited representation across existing AI platforms. In Egypt, Spanish outsourcing group Konecta opened a $100 million AI centre of excellence, with plans to expand its workforce to around 3,000 employees by 2028. Oracle is preparing a sovereign cloud region in Nairobi, while Morocco has signed an agreement with Vertiv covering AI, cloud and data centre infrastructure. Google has also opened applications for a South African accelerator supporting 15 AI startups with funding, cloud resources and mentoring. Elsewhere, South Africa launched an AI skills partnership involving Vodacom, the University of Johannesburg and Amazon Web Services, while Mauritius began a national survey to assess business AI readiness. The developments reflect growing efforts across Africa to build local AI capabilities, strengthen digital infrastructure and expand access to AI skills and services.
Read more here
https://www.africaainews.com/p/new-pan-african-ai-language-initiative
