Google has unveiled a bold $37 million initiative to accelerate AI development in Africa, pledging wide-ranging support for local research, startups, and community education programs.
The announcement came during the launch of a new AI community centre in Accra, Ghana, which will serve as a hub for training, collaboration, and AI experimentation. Speaking at the event, James Manyika, Google’s Senior Vice President, emphasized the continent’s rising role in artificial intelligence innovation.
“Africa is home to some of the most important and inspiring work in AI today,” he said.
Supporting Food Security and Climate Resilience
One of the key programs introduced is the AI Collaborative for Food Security, which aims to support early hunger detection, crop resilience, and informed decision-making for smallholder farmers. The project connects researchers and nonprofits to help African food systems withstand increasing climate and economic pressures.
Local farmers in Nigeria, for example, are already using AI to monitor soil health and manage farm environments, including temperature and humidity in poultry production.
Empowering Startups and Education
As part of the package, Google will also launch a new financing platform to support AI-focused startups in the agriculture, health, and education sectors. Through Google.org, the company is investing $7 million to expand AI education programs in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Ghana.
A further $3 million grant was awarded to Masakhane, a pan-African tech collective that is developing AI tools in over 40 African languages.
In South Africa, two institutions – the African Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence and the Wits Machine Intelligence and Neural Discovery Institute – will each receive $1 million in research funding.
Leveraging AI for National Development
Ghana’s Minister of Communications and Digital Technology, Sam George, urged citizens to harness AI technology to tackle pressing national issues like flooding, traffic congestion, and waste management.
Google’s AI efforts in Africa have previously included wildfire alerts in East Africa, maternal health tech in Ghana and Nigeria, and language model development in Nairobi and Accra.
