Generative Artificial INtelligence for Africa

GAINAfrica proposes a new approach to locally-adapted Generative AI addressing societal needs in African regions. The project develops inclusive, low-resource GenAI models for agriculture, healthcare, education, and infrastructure and urban planning by adopting multilingual, mobile-friendly, and culturally contextual AI technologies. GAINAfrica investigates 4 use cases and deploys several pilots (10+) in different living labs (5+) to foster local innovation ecosystems and empower start-ups. The approach of the project is based on co-creation and participatory research, capable of including local stakeholders (industry and SMEs, local governments, research institutions, and civil society), and also women, vulnerable and underrepresented communities, to ensure a strong societal alignment. The project aims to deliver an ethical, legal and societal aligned toolkit for responsible GenAI deployment, also guaranteeing a transferability framework to adapt EU GenAI solutions to African society, also in terms of infrastructures and languages. This is achieved through a consortium, coordinated by Sapienza Università di Roma, including top EU universities and companies and SMEs, African R&D hubs, universities, and civic actors across 5 different African countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Benin and Uganda), covering both Saharan and sub-Saharan societal contexts and needs. A distinctive feature of GAINAfrica is its deliberate promotion of interdisciplinarity, not only between STEM and SSH disciplines (linking AI engineering, medicine, agronomy, and sociology, urban studies with ethics, law, economics, and pedagogy), but also within each area.

The expected impact is a 40% increase in access to digital services based on AI in target regions, a 25% performance improvement of AI models in low-connectivity and edge environments, several scientific outputs and 10+ local capacity-building workshops.