Five African governments have put their names to a continental push to build artificial intelligence that works in African languages, alongside a ministerial declaration committing them to a common approach on connectivity policy.
Benin, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria and Togo are backing ATLAS Umoja AI, announced in Abuja, Nigeria, on 24 July 2026 by the GSMA together with the five countries’ digital ministries and four African technology companies: Awarri, Zindi, Pawa AI and Mozisha.
What ATLAS Umoja is meant to do
The initiative is designed to pool expertise, datasets and best practices across governments, industry and researchers, to develop AI that reflects African languages and development priorities rather than importing models trained elsewhere. It builds on Nigeria’s national N-ATLAS programme, which the organisers describe as the first step towards the continental version.
Angela Wamola, head of Africa at the GSMA, said the initiative targets two of the biggest barriers to internet adoption. “By making AI and digital services available in the languages people speak every day, the initiative will help tackle two of the biggest barriers to internet adoption, digital literacy and locally relevant content,” she said.
Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, framed it in terms of sovereignty, saying AI’s benefits must be built on African languages, cultures and knowledge systems. Ministers from Nigeria, Namibia and Togo serve on the AI for Good Global Commission, whose momentum the launch builds on.
The declaration behind it
The launch accompanied the Abuja Ministerial Declaration on Meaningful Connectivity for Africa, adopted by ministers and heads of delegation at the African Telecommunications Union’s Conference of Plenipotentiaries. The declaration commits governments to digital inclusion, technology-neutral regulation, resilient digital infrastructure and locally relevant digital services.
Caroline Mbugua, the GSMA’s senior director for public policy in Africa, said the declaration signals that African governments share a common vision for investment-friendly policy. Delegates also examined technology-neutral satellite licensing, a live question for regulators weighing how to admit low-earth-orbit operators.
The language focus is not new ground for these partners. Zindi ran the GSMA-backed challenge that turned 42,000 crowd-sourced attacks into a public AI safety benchmark across eight African languages, published earlier this year.
This is a developing story. We will update as more information becomes available.
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