Kenya is among leading Sub-Saharan countries in the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI), solidifying its status as the continent’s Silicon Savannah.
This emerged at the AI conference on Africa held in Nairobi on Thursday organised by Microsoft as part of its global AI Tour, against a backdrop of rapid AI adoption by Kenyan organisations across various sectors.
Some of the sectors that are AI driven include healthcare, supply chains in retail and enhancing customer experiences in banking, with tangible benefits of AI transforming industries across Kenya.
According to the country manager for Microsoft Kenya, Phyllis Migwi, significant strides have been made in strengthening Kenya’s AI capabilities, where many Kenyan startups and companies have made a powerful impact across East Africa and the continent with innovative home-grown solutions to some of the continent’s most pressing challenges.
Kenya is leading the charge in Africa’s AI revolution alongside South Africa and Nigeria where the three counties are not only driving innovation, but are also building the infrastructure necessary to leverage AI for socio-economic growth.
Migwi emphasised the importance of fostering sustainable technological growth as a vital strategy for securing Kenya’s position in the global digital economy.
“Kenya’s tech sector has a great story to tell when it comes to the adoption of advanced digital tools like AI and machine learning. The AI Tour is Microsoft’s way of highlighting these successes to demonstrate AI’s impact and how organisations can deploy this technology within their own operations. It is our aim to showcase AI’s transformative and innovative potential to empower individuals and businesses in Kenya and beyond,” she said.
Last year, Microsoft announced a new skilling initiative in Kenya, a groundbreaking programme aimed at training one million people in AI and cybersecurity.
