Business

Samantha Perry

Depending on who you ask, AI is either humankind’s greatest invention that will power the world into a new era of prosperity, or the root of all evil, making millions jobless, deepening digital divides and leading to our downfall. The reality probably lies somewhere in between, with a lot of codicils and sub-clauses.

On the one hand, there is ample evidence that AI technologies can help bring marginalised communities into the mainstream. In South Africa, a trauma-informed chatbot named Zuzi is helping survivors of gender-based violence navigate the legal and health services they need, in a number of local languages. In Tanzania, small farmers are diagnosing early-onset diseases in cassava plants using the Nuru AI app on their phones. And Ethiopian startup Gebeya is developing AI digital agents tailored to the needs of businesses on the continent.