Elijah Ntongai, an editor at TUKO.co.ke, has over four years of financial, business, and technology research and reporting experience, providing insights into Kenyan, African, and global trends.
Kenya is one of four African countries set to benefit from a massive artificial intelligence (AI) funding push by Google.
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In a bid to deepen its commitment to Africa’s AI development, the tech giant announced a cumulative USD 7 million (about KSh 905 million) investment to support AI education, safety, and skills development programmes in Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa.
“AI has the potential to transform economies, but only if more people have the skills to shape and use it. Through Grow with Google, we’ve trained more than 6.5 million people across the continent in digital skills.
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We’re now expanding that work with a $7 million (about KSh 905 million) contribution from Google.org to support AI education and safety programmes in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. These programmes, delivered with academic and nonprofit partners, will focus on AI training and skilling, cybersecurity, and online safety,” read the report on the Google Africa blog.
In Kenya, the AI funding will support education and safety initiatives delivered in partnership with local academic institutions and non-profits.
Google in Ghana
The announcement was made during the launch of Google’s new AI Community Centre in Accra, Ghana.
Google has envisioned the facility in Ghana as a hub for collaboration, learning, and experimentation in AI, targeting African researchers, developers, students, and civil society.
The KSh 905 million funding forms part of a broader USD 37 million (KSh 4.7 billion) AI investment package by Google, which also includes research grants, infrastructure support, and startup funding aimed at bolstering the continent’s participation in the global AI landscape.
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These programmes will focus on AI training, digital literacy, cybersecurity, and responsible AI usage.
Boosting research and local languages
A major portion of Google’s funding, $25 million (KSh 3.2 billion), will go toward the AI Collaborative: Food Security project.
This is a pan-African initiative helping local researchers and nonprofits build AI tools to improve hunger forecasting and crop resilience.
Additionally, the Masakhane African Languages AI Hub will receive $3 million (KSh 387.9 million) to expand research and open-source tools across 40+ African languages.
This effort will help preserve local dialects and ensure African voices are not left out of the global AI conversation.
Google is also rolling out a catalytic fund aimed at supporting over 100 AI-driven startups across the continent.
With Kenya now firmly on Google’s AI radar, the country is poised to benefit from increased research, skills development, and innovation.
AWS AI training
In other news, Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched its AI Ready initiative in Kenya in 2024.
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AWS was aiming to equip over two million Kenyans with artificial intelligence (AI) skills by 2025 through free training programmes.
The announcement was made by Robin Njiru, AWS’s regional lead for Sub-Saharan Africa, during the Connected Africa Summit 2024 in Nairobi.
The AI Ready initiative included a wide-ranging curriculum covering machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, and computer vision, with content tailored for both beginners and advanced learners.
Proofreading by Asher Omondi, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.
Source: TUKO.co.ke