My research focuses on the social, economic, and political implications of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and natural language processing (NLP), with a particular emphasis on technoscientific innovation, development, and the digital economy. My interest is at the intersection of social justice, technology and innovation policy, and the governance of data and AI systems. Most of my work investigates the development of AI and its innovation ecosystem across multiple African countries focusing on how AI, data governance, and the data economy are imagined by local communities and national and international actors. In doing so, I examine the sociotechnical knowledge production and innovation practices of governments, scientists, and the tech industry in the local context using mixed methods approaches incorporating multi-sited ethnography.
Please describe one or two of your most interesting projects.
I’m currently working on two interesting projects:
– The first one is looking at the development of natural language processing and LLMs for African Indigenous languages, looking at alternative approaches that are more suitable for the so-called low-resource languages and seriously take into account the realities of the local context.
– The second project is examining the local informal data economy across a few select African countries and how local communities are incorporating emerging AI and data systems and practices into their local contexts.
I would like to contribute to the ongoing conversation about the implications of emerging AI systems and data practices for local communities across the African continent and develop methods and approaches that can empower globally marginalized AI communities and enable them to develop more locally situated AI and data infrastructures.