25 July 2025

A flagship component is the AI Collaborative for Food Security, a $25 million partnership launched with Google.org. It unites researchers and nonprofits to develop AI tools for early hunger forecasting, crop resilience, and tailored guidance for smallholder farmers, aiming to make Africa’s food systems more adaptable and equitable amid climate and economic shocks.

In addition, Google is investing $3 million to support the Masakhane Research Foundation, which promotes AI tools in over 40 African languages. The funding will help create datasets, machine translation models, and speech recognition tools to improve access to digital content in native languages, fostering inclusivity.

To nurture AI innovation, Google is launching a catalytic funding platform for AI startups tackling real-world challenges in agriculture, healthcare, education, and more. This platform will blend philanthropic capital, venture funding, and Google's expertise to help over 100 early-stage ventures scale responsible AI solutions, complemented by mentorship and technical support.

Recognizing the importance of infrastructure and community engagement, Google is establishing the AI Community Centre in Accra, Ghana — the first dedicated space for AI learning, experimentation, and collaboration in Africa. The centre will host training, workshops, and events focused on AI literacy, social impact, and arts and culture, fostering a diverse ecosystem of developers, students, and creators aligned with African priorities.

To address the growing demand for AI and digital skills, Google is offering 100,000 scholarships through Google Career Certificates across Ghana. These fully funded, self-paced programs will cover AI essentials, prompting skills, IT support, data analytics, and cybersecurity, enabling learners to build careers in Africa’s digital economy.

Beyond Ghana, Google.org is committing an additional $7 million to support AI education and capacity-building in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Ghana, focusing on curricula development, online safety, and cybersecurity initiatives.

Furthermore, Google has awarded two $1 million grants to bolster AI research capacity: one to the African Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AfriDSAI) at the University of Pretoria, supporting applied AI training; and another to the Wits Machine Intelligence and Neural Discovery (MIND) Institute in South Africa, funding MSc and PhD research to shape Africa’s role in foundational AI.

“Africa is home to some of the most inspiring work in AI today. We’re committed to supporting the continent’s next wave of innovation through long-term investment, local partnerships, and platforms that empower researchers and entrepreneurs,” said James Manyika, Google’s Senior Vice President.

“This support reflects our belief in Africa’s talent, creativity, and ingenuity. By working with local communities and institutions, we’re building solutions rooted in Africa’s realities and designed for global impact,” said Yossi Matias, Vice President of Engineering and Research at Google.

These initiatives build on Google’s ongoing efforts, including AI-powered maternal health dashboards in Ghana and Nigeria, wildfire alerts in East Africa, and regional language models developed in Accra and Nairobi. They exemplify Google’s commitment to shared infrastructure, open research, and inclusive innovation — ensuring AI benefits everyone across Africa and beyond.