Google has pledged a $37 million investment to boost artificial intelligence (AI) development in Africa.
The tech giant announced the move during the launch of its new AI Community Centre in Accra, Ghana.
The funding targets multiple sectors, including agriculture, education, and health. It also supports local startups and researchers working on AI solutions tailored to Africa’s unique challenges.
James Manyika, Google’s senior vice president, said, “Africa is home to some of the most important and inspiring work in AI today.”
He emphasized that the continent must not be left behind in the global AI movement.
Among the flagship projects is the AI Collaborative for Food Security, which aims to support smallholder farmers.
The project will bring together researchers and non-profits to develop tools that improve crop resilience, early hunger detection, and better decision-making.
It comes at a time when food systems across Africa face rising threats from climate change and economic instability.
AI tools are already in use on many farms in countries like Nigeria. Local agri-tech startups now help farmers monitor soil, temperature, and humidity to boost productivity and prevent crop failure.
To support more innovations, Google plans to launch a new financing platform.
It will fund AI-powered startups focusing on agriculture, education, and health.
Through its nonprofit arm, Google.org, the company has committed $7 million to AI education across Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Ghana.
Another $3 million will go to Masakhane, a collective working to develop AI tools for over 40 African languages.
In South Africa, two leading institutes the African Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.
The Wits Machine Intelligence and Neural Discovery Institute will each receive $1 million research grants.
Ghana’s digital technology minister, Sam George, encouraged citizens to harness AI to solve national problems like flooding, waste, and traffic.
Google’s previous AI efforts in Africa included maternal health tech, wildfire alerts, and language model development in both Accra and Nairobi.