At #AfriCHI2025, our lead @vukosi.bsky.social asked a the question: 👉🏾 Do Africans really want chatbots? For us at, it’s a reminder that Africa’s AI future isn’t just about building smarter systems, it’s about building technologies that listen, understand our languages, and reflect our values. 1/

For those at MBZUAI in Abu Dhabi, I will be giving a seminar talk tomorrow (13 Oct 2025)

Introducing Kesego Mokgosi: Visiting PhD Researcher with the AI4D African Languages Lab open.substack.com/pub/dsup/p/i...

New work out of the Data Science Law Lab at UP - @DataLawAfrica Working to answer -> Are data scientists in Africa allowed to use copyrighted news broadcasts to train AI and develop technologies for local languages? Watch -> youtu.be/p-zFzlbhUw4 Paper -> doi.org/10.1080/1360...

Huge congratulations again to Dr. Mpho Mokoatle on her PhD in Computer Science from UP! 🎓 So proud her groundbreaking cancer research and inspiring journey are featured by the Weekend Argus. Her work in DNA analysis for early detection is truly life-changing! iol.co.za/weekend-argu...

My Inaugural Lecture is now online 🎥 Beyond the Symbols: Natural Language Processing as an Adaptive Problem I reflect on my journey in advancing AI & NLP for African languages, tackling data scarcity, building communities & imagining inclusive futures. 👉 www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwef...

Next was an excellent talk by @vukosi.bsky.social on natural language processing for low resource languages and the importance of Africans developing their own solutions at @dsfsi.bsky.social youtu.be/hwefANMnSxo?... (5/8)

We’re excited to share that members of our Data Science for Social Impact Lab at UP contributed to UNESCO’s new global report: AI and the Future of Education: Disruptions, Dilemmas and Directions. 🔗 unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/p... @unesco.org

Day 4 at the #DeepLearningIndaba was an inspiring mix of research, policy, and community building. 🌍 #DLI2025

Day 3 at the #DeepLearningIndaba was another milestone moment for African AI. 🌍 #DLI2025 @deepindaba 1/n

🌍 Excited to share a powerful seminar by Dr. Judy Gichoya (Emory Univ): “AI for African Healthcare: Beyond Chatbots Toward Contextually Informed Innovation.” 🎥 Watch: youtu.be/c8b7JjszYi0?...

UP is breaking the language barrier in academia! Join the launch of the Translation of Abstracts Project—bringing research to Sepedi, isiZulu, and Afrikaans. 12 Aug, 09:00–12:00, Javett Auditorium or online. Info: www.dsfsi.co.za/blog/library... RSVP: up-za.libcal.com/event/14796230

🚨 New Paper Out! “Cross-lingual embedding methods and applications: A systematic review for low-resourced scenarios” by Thapelo Sindane, @vukosi.bsky.social, and Abiodun Modupe. Published in Natural Language Processing Journal. 🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.nl...

Honoured to contribute to the G20 AI Working Group panel on African AI initiatives. Emphasised the need for cross-sector collaboration & funding research to build a strong African AI ecosystem. With @dsfsig.bsky.social & partners, we drive inclusive, ethical AI for Africa’s future.

🌍 African language innovators — we want your input! Join DSFSI’s survey to help build better, fairer machine translation & small language models that truly serve our communities. Takes just 10-15 min! 📝 👉 forms.gle/NrDg7kn3jqs3... #AfricanNLP #LanguageTech #CommunityDrivenAI

🎓 DSFSI Autumn 2025 Graduations: Celebrating Growth, Collaboration, and Impact We celebrated our latest group of graduates — from honours to PhD — and the many research journeys that reflect DSFSI’s commitment to collaborative and impactful science. 👉 Read more www.dsfsi.co.za/blog/may-gra...

🎉 The 2025 MIT 808 Big Data Science Exhibition is live! AI for public health, climate, conservation & law — built by UP students w/ real-world partners. 🔗 Projects: up-mitc-ds.github.io/808exhibitio... 📺 Videos: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

🚀 New logo. Same mission. We’re excited to reveal DSFSI’s updated look — a symbol of our evolution & our values: 💡Collaboration 🤝Responsibility 🧭Openness ✊Agency 💞Generosity #DSFSI #AI4Good #NLP4SocialImpact

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