Naivasha, Kenya – Caroline Njau comes from a family of farmers who tend to fields of maize, wheat, and potatoes in the hilly terrain near Nyahururu, 180 kilometres (112 miles) north of the capital Nairobi. But Njau has chosen a different path in life. Seated in her living room with a cup of milk tea, she labels data for artificial intelligence (AI) companies abroad on an app. The sun rises over the unpaved streets of her neighbourhood as she flicks through images of tarmac roads, intersections and sidewalks on her smartphone while carefully drawing boxes around various objects; traffic lights, cars, pedestrians, and signposts. The designer of the app – an American subcontractor to Silicon Valley companies – pays her 3 an hour.

The images pop up in Mophat Okinyi's mind when he's alone, or when he's about to sleep. Okinyi, a former content moderator for Open AI's ChatGPT in Nairobi, Kenya, is one of four people in that role who have filed a petition to the Kenyan government calling for an investigation into what they describe as exploitative conditions for contractors reviewing the content that powers artificial intelligence programs. "It has really damaged my mental health," said Okinyi. The 27-year-old said he would would view up to 700 text passages a day, many depicting graphic sexual violence. He recalls he started avoiding people after having read texts about rapists and found himself projecting paranoid narratives on to people around him.

This article is from Big Technology, a newsletter by Alex Kantrowitz. Richard Mathenge felt he'd landed the perfect role when he started training OpenAI's GPT model in 2021. After years of working in customer service in Nairobi, Kenya, he was finally involved in something that felt meaningful and held a future for him. But the position left him scarred. For nine hours per day, five days a week, Mathenge led a team that taught the A.I. model about explicit content.

More than 150 workers whose labor underpins the AI systems of Facebook, TikTok and ChatGPT gathered in Nairobi on Monday and pledged to establish the first African Content Moderators Union, in a move that could have significant consequences for the businesses of some of the world's biggest tech companies. The current and former workers, all employed by third party outsourcing companies, have provided content moderation services for AI tools used by Meta, Bytedance, and OpenAI--the respective owners of Facebook, TikTok and the breakout AI chatbot ChatGPT. Despite the mental toll of the work, which has left many content moderators suffering from PTSD, their jobs are some of the lowest-paid in the global tech industry, with some workers earning as little as $1.50 per hour. As news of the successful vote to register the union was read out, the packed room of workers at the Mövenpick Hotel in Nairobi burst into cheers and applause, a video from the event seen by TIME shows. Confetti fell onto the stage, and jubilant music began to play as the crowd continued to cheer.

Gro Intelligence is tackling two of the biggest problems facing the world today: food security and climate change. We understand and quantify the complex interplay between food, weather, trade, agriculture, and macroeconomic conditions in a world upended by climate change, a growing population, and more. The team at Gro has built a platform that allows businesses, non-profits, and governments to better plan for and adapt to these changes. With offices in Nairobi, New York, and Singapore Gro has the financial backing of prominent investors such as TPG Growth, Intel Capital, Data Collective, and GGV. Gro is a diverse, intellectually curious team of technologists, scientists, and business professionals united by a shared commitment to build AI that addresses agriculture, food, and our climate on the most fundamental level.

Gro Intelligence is tackling two of the biggest problems facing the world today: food security and climate change. We understand and quantify the complex interplay between food, weather, trade, agriculture, and macroeconomic conditions in a world upended by climate change, a growing population, and more. The team at Gro has built a platform that allows businesses, non-profits, and governments to better plan for and adapt to these changes. With offices in Nairobi, New York, and Singapore Gro has the financial backing of prominent investors such as TPG Growth, Intel Capital, Data Collective, and GGV. Gro is a diverse, intellectually curious team of technologists, scientists, and business professionals united by a shared commitment to build AI that addresses agriculture, food, and our climate on the most fundamental level.

Rapid urbanisation in Nairobi, Kenya's capital city, has meant there's been huge growth in the number of vehicles on roads. Today, Nairobi is one of the world's most congested cities. Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) Director General Silas Kinoti has said intelligent infrastructure is helping transport networks to become more connected in an attempt to identify ways of improving experience for everyone on the road. Bird's eye view tech aims to unlock Nairobi traffic jams according to @KURAroads Director General @MuriraKinoti who believes that construction of many roads is a milestone yes but not a solution to nerve-racking snarl ups pic.twitter.com/WGHhRk9N3X He said Kenya will be seeking to emulate on their foreign counterparts like Germany to initiate usage of Artificial Intelligence(AI) to optimise traffic light control and reduce the waiting time at an intersection. "There are real world projects around the globe and the applications are continuously expanding. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be key to help us with the data which would identify patterns that would not have been seen without AI. Through continuous learning, we're able to constantly update the traffic patterns and thus traffic flow. Road Traffic monitoring involves the collection of data describing the characteristic of vehicles and their movement through road networks. Such data may be used for one of these purposes such as law enforcement, congestion and incident detection and increasing road capacity. The roads in Nairobi carry more than 60 per cent of more than two million registered vehicles, resulting in tangles of traffic stretching for miles. Earlier today, KURA top management team inspected the dualling of the Eastern Bypass Project and appreciated the progress achieved. Once the road is complete, traffic jams will be reduced and improve connectivity.@PDUDelivery "KURA being an expert in Intelligent Traffic System (ITS) with an example being Yaya Centre,we will have cameras, signals and censors in all arms of the junctions.

Join our #IWDHack2022 Hackathon inspiring young people into AI for Impact in celebration of International Women's Day 2022! About this event: Calling all teens aged 12-18! Join us for a 5 day hybrid(both physical and virtual) event of fun and learning about Artificial Intelligence. The dates are: 5th-6th March 2022 12th-13th March 2022 19th March 2022 Solve a real problem and change the world. What are you waiting for? Teens in AI are running our 5th Global Hackathon to celebrate International Women’s Day by inspiring young people aged 12-18 into AI. Our hackathons bring together young people, especially girls, across the world to learn the skills to drive innovation and a community that believes in them. For the fifth time, we are hosting the #IWDHack2022 Hackathon in Nairobi,Kenya: #IWDHack2022 #teensinainairobi #IWDHack2022Nairobi Teenagers from all over Kenya and Nairobi are invited to join this campaign that is on a mission to promote diversity in the tech industry. Join us to boost your understanding about AI, develop a diverse set of skills including project management, design & coding, and be guided by key industry mentors. For more information, please visit: https://www.teensinai.com/iwdhack2022/

One day after work last month, Tom Otieno* went to a shopping centre in Nairobi to pick up groceries before heading home. He got a call from someone he had been chatting to for a week on Grindr, a social networking app for gay, bi, trans and queer people. The man had already tried ringing several times during the day while Otieno was with colleagues and was keen to meet. Otieno, 29, mentioned where he was but said that he did not want to see the man. Then, as he was heading to his car, he got another call.

Over the past several decades, climate change has led to major disasters in Eastern Africa countries including Tanzania. From floods, chronic droughts, landslides, strong winds and earthquakes to their secondary impacts of diseases and epidemics, these are some of the recent disasters plaguing Tanzania. These disasters lead to death and displacement of people, loss of properties and livelihoods, disruption of social networks and services such as water, food, and healthcare thereby leaving communities more vulnerable and susceptible to the next extreme event. Lack of disaster preparedness and awareness makes the situation worse as communities remain helpless in the event of disasters hence face its full impact. Combining citizen science and modern technological innovation provides an opportunity to build the resilience of communities and reduce risks.