For Africa, which houses the largest world population of young people (which should double at more than 830 million by 2050), the capabilities in rapid expansion of AI have both an important opportunity and a call for urgent action.
I started a lifelong learning trip as a young engineering student in Zimbabwe. Thanks to a research project on neural networks, I became aware of the deep potential of AI and the need to benefit everyone.
At Google, we believe that access to AI – which requires not only connectivity and products, but the training to use it – is essential to unlock opportunities and widen the innovation capacity of young Africans. AI is the way Google offers our mission to make information universally accessible and useful, and how we will transform knowledge and learning. With AI, collectively, we have the opportunity to democratize access from the start, by ensuring that the digital divide does not become a fracture of AI, which makes it useful for everyone.
Connectivity unlocks Africa’s digital potential
For decades, Google has supported African Internet connectivity, starting with our investment in 2006 in the dry cable. In 2021, Google promised $ 1 billion over five years to continue this mission. We exceeded this commitment early, investing more than a billion dollars, which contributed to the development of a reliable, resilient and secure infrastructure essential for Africans to exploit the power of the AI.
Today marks another important step in our commitment to the digital future of Africa. Google announces four strategic connectivity poles by submarine cable in the northern, southern, east and western regions of Africa. This investment creates new digital corridors within Africa and between Africa and the rest of the world – ultimately deepening international connectivity and resilience, as well as economic growth and opportunity.
This is the last addition to our Africa Connect Infrastructure program. We establish vital connectivity through the continent, including Google Cloud region in Johannesburg Serving users through the continent, the Equiano cable that turns along the whole west coast of the continent, and UmojaThe first fiber optic way to directly connect Africa to Australia (crossing Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa).
Our investments to date have allowed 100 million Africans to access the Internet for the first time, and the Equiano cable alone is expected To increase real GDP this year in Nigeria, South Africa and Namibia, respectively, respectively $ 11.1 billion, $ 5.8 billion and $ 290 million. We also have Made Gemini available on Google Distributed CloudSo more entrepreneurs, businesses, governments and developers can use our advanced AI models from anywhere with improved safety, reliability and resilience.
Google AI can accelerate learning and innovation led by young people
Allowing young people in Africa to learn, innovate and direct is essential for Africa’s development and economic growth. This is why we obtain an advanced AI in the hands of students (aged 18 or over) in the countries of the continent – starting with Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe – by offering them a free one -year subscription to our year Google Ai Pro Plan, available in the coming weeks.
With Deep researchStudents can save time with personalized search reports, providing detailed information from hundreds of sites on the web. With a wide access to Gemini 2.5 Pro, students can get help for homework or writing and access all the suite of pro tools, including guided learning in Gemini, a new mode that acts as a learning companion.
By providing students with advanced AI tools for research, problem solving, coding and content creation, allowing them directly to meet challenges and pursue specific opportunities to the continent, thus contributing to economic growth and societal progress.
Help develop skills and solutions
Equipping people with AI skills is essential. To date, we have trained 7 million Africans and plan to train 3 million students, young people and additional teachers by 2030. Google also strengthens local capacities by offering African universities and research establishments with more than $ 17 million in financing, study, training, training, calculation and access to advanced models in the past four years, with an additional $ 9 million come.
Young people had to face obstacles to access to knowledge and information, as well as tools and products in African languages, limiting their ability to benefit from it. Last year, we added 110 new languages to Google Translate, including more than 30 African languages. By relying on this, we are developing open data sets, evaluations and voice models for more than 40 African languages, with plans to reach more than 50 languages and publish 24 sets of open speech data next year.
We have seen the power to allow research and innovation in Africa with the pioneering work of our AI research teams in Kenya and Ghana. With local partners, these Google teams stage advanced research for the benefit of Africa and the world, such as advanced forecasts of floods, open data from buildings, strengthening cultures resilience and support for farmers. We aim to reach 500 million Africans with our innovations powered by AI which help to meet societal challenges by 2030.
The future of African innovation
The AI creates an unprecedented opportunity to benefit everyone, and Google is committed to making it a reality for people, businesses and communities across Africa. Today’s announcements are another example of how Google continues to extend connectivity, increase the access and skills of products through the continent and allow innovation led by Africans – and we will not stop here.
