The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Microsoft have entered a partnership aimed at helping promising African startups use artificial intelligence to improve their operations and prepare for expansion. The organizations signed a memorandum of understanding during the EBRD’s annual meetings in Amsterdam. The agreement establishes a framework for a pilot programme focused on […]

Africa’s mobile operators are deploying AI across a growing range of internal functions — including predictive maintenance, network optimization and AI-driven customer service — according to the Mobile Economy Africa 2026 report published this week by the GSMA. The report cited an Airtel initiative launched in Uganda in April 2025, which the telco described as […]

Africa’s AI boom has a supply problem. Developers and small agencies across the continent want to build and deploy AI tools, but they routinely hit the same wall — high cloud costs, unreliable GPU access, latency issues connecting to overseas servers, and infrastructure complexity that demands in-house cloud engineering talent most startups simply do not […]

The United Nations has called on major artificial intelligence companies to publicly disclose the full environmental cost of their data centres and to power them with renewable energy, launching a transparency initiative for the sector. The rapid global build-out of data centres to fuel the AI revolution has drawn scrutiny from environmental groups for high […]

Naspers, through its subsidiary Prosus, has launched a new agentic AI platform for businesses in South Africa called ToqanClaw — and the company says it is completely free to use, with no tokens or usage limits. Similar to the OpenClaw platform, ToqanClaw draws on multiple AI models from major providers, including Anthropic and other open-source […]

South Africa’s fruit export industry, long regarded as one of the country’s most advanced agricultural sectors, is facing a technological shift as artificial intelligence begins to reshape how growers, exporters and supply chains operate. Industry experts say AI-driven forecasting, planning and market intelligence could redefine decisions from farm to port. Jaco Ferreira, managing executive...

As AI continues to accelerate cyber risk globally, Microsoft has announced a new multi-model, AI-driven vulnerability discovery system — codenamed MDASH and embedded with more than 100 individual agents — and is now onboarding South African customers into the programme. MDASH provides a harness for defenders to use multiple increasingly powerful models combined with agent […]

As artificial intelligence adoption accelerates worldwide, a South African-founded startup is seeking to make AI infrastructure more affordable, accessible and sustainable. Supascale AI has officially launched its cloud AI marketplace — a platform that enables businesses, developers and creators to access leading AI models at significantly lower costs while allowing GPU owners to monetize...

Kenya is accelerating its national digital skills agenda through an expanded partnership between the government, Microsoft and technology sector stakeholders aimed at increasing access to artificial intelligence and digital skills training across the country. Speaking during a strategic engagement held on June 17, Principal Secretary for the State Department for ICT and Digital Economy John […]

Kenya is in discussions with OpenAI to establish Nairobi as the home of the first OpenAI Academy initiative in Eastern Africa, President William Ruto has revealed — a move that could cement the country’s standing as the region’s leading artificial intelligence hub. Ruto disclosed the development after meeting OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman on […]

Fifteen AI-focused startups from eight African countries have completed the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa programme, with 60% of the cohort already profitable and generating average monthly revenue of $60,000, organizers said on Thursday. The startups — drawn from Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Angola — graduated at a Close-out […]

South Africans can now get instant tax help via a WhatsApp message or voice note, after digital tax assistant TaxTim launched TimAI — a South African AI tax assistant — ahead of the July tax season, making instant tax answers free to anyone in the country. Users can send a message or a voice note […]

The South African Revenue Service says artificial intelligence has already blocked more than R100 million in impermissible outflows — and that it is just the start of an ambition that stretches to AI agents potentially handling the bulk of taxpayer interactions. Speaking during a media Q&A at a SARS event in Pretoria previewing the 2026 […]

Harmattan AI, a defence company developing autonomous defence systems, has signed a strategic partnership with the Royal Armed Forces of Morocco to support the deployment of next-generation autonomous air defence capabilities and the development of a domestic defence industrial base. The partnership reflects Morocco’s decision to deploy autonomous air defence capabilities at scale from 2026 […]

South Africa’s independent businesses could soon have an artificial intelligence assistant helping them manage sales, customers and day-to-day operations, after commerce platform Yoco unveiled a suite of new digital tools aimed at easing the burden on entrepreneurs. The launch comes as many small businesses battle subdued consumer spending and rising operating costs. The latest survey […]

The governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Rogério Zandamela, has advocated for regulating the use of artificial intelligence in the national financial system, emphasizing that the challenge is to balance innovation with stability, security and consumer protection. “This is not about stifling innovation, but rather about creating clear rules that ensure these tools are used […]

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the fraud landscape, and South African banking leaders appear among the most concerned globally, according to a new survey of fraud, anti-money laundering, and risk and compliance leaders across 25 countries. The survey of 1,440 leaders — including 80 from South Africa — found that 96% of South African respondents […]

Morocco’s Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform has launched the Rally AI Future Lab, a national initiative organized by the Jazari Institute that brings together 1,000 researchers, engineers, students, entrepreneurs and developers for a five-day intensive programme. The inaugural lab runs from June 16 to 20 in the city of Merzouga, in the Drâa-Tafilalet […]

Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the National Training Academy have launched the Artificial Intelligence for Government Organisation Leaders National Initiative — a programme designed to equip senior public sector leaders with digital leadership knowledge and practical AI skills. The training covers strategic leadership, generative AI, agentic AI, digital...

Seven partnerships between African AI innovators and Italian and European industry leaders were signed this week at Tecnopolo DAMA in Bologna, marking a significant milestone in efforts to scale African-built AI solutions through world-class research, computing infrastructure and industrial collaboration. The partnerships were formalized under the G7-endorsed AI Hub for Sustainable Development,...

Egypt’s National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has signed a licensing agreement with Hassan Allam Digital Infrastructure to develop and operate a $400 million data centre — the tenth such licence the regulator has issued in the past two years, as the country’s digital infrastructure ambitions attract significant private investment. Hassan Allam Digital Infrastructure is part of […]