MTN pledges support for Nigeria’s AI language initiative to empower 1.5bn Africans

MTN Group has committed to supporting Nigeria’s call to develop African language datasets for Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The pledge, announced during The Y’ello Chair Vodcast filmed on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York, aims to ensure that Africa’s 1.5 billion people are not left behind in the global AI ecosystem.

Nigeria’s minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, issued a challenge to MTN Group, a telecom giant operating in 15 African markets, to fund academic research into the continent’s diverse languages.

This research is critical for building Large Language Models (LLMs) tailored to Africa’s needs, enabling AI-driven solutions in education, health, commerce, and governance. “To leapfrog AI in Africa, we need a collaborative public-private effort,” Tijani emphasised during the vodcast, hosted by Angela Wamola, head of sub-Saharan Africa for the GSMA.

Ralph Mupita, MTN Group, president/CEO responded decisively, stating, challenge accepted, while underscoring the urgency of preventing Africans from becoming a digital underclass, in a world where over 2,000 African languages remain underrepresented in global AI systems.

“The digital economy is our best bet to ensure citizens have dignity, hope, and opportunity,” Mupita said, highlighting the transformative potential of inclusive AI. The initiative aligns with the recent launch of the Nigerian Atlas for Languages & AI at Scale (N-ATLAS), a public-private partnership between the Nigerian government and Awarri Technologies.

N-ATLAS is an open-source multilingual LLM designed to digitise and preserve Nigeria’s linguistic diversity, with over 500 languages spoken in the country. The framework is also available to other African nations, offering a platform for innovation in local languages. Mupita emphasised that embracing technology should eliminate the indignities of poverty while fostering digital and economic inclusion.

“The outcomes we want are that people are digitally included, economically included, and that they have dignity,” he said.

MTN’s commitment marks a significant step toward ensuring Africa’s voices are heard in the global AI landscape, paving the way for solutions that reflect the continent’s rich linguistic and cultural heritage.