OpenAI's AI finds 948 flaws in Linux — and 81 in Firefox
The new GPT-6 Cyber model scanned the Linux kernel and the Firefox browser, finding hundreds of previously unknown flaws — and developers are now fixing them.
Government & law 3 min read
IFC invests in Kifiya: the AI helping farmers get loans without collateral
The International Finance Corporation has invested in Ethiopian fintech Kifiya, whose AI assesses borrowers with no credit history — and the company is now looking to expand into Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.
South Korea lends $170 million to build an AI training centre in Tanzania
The agreement signed in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday will build the first centre of its kind in East Africa — teaching AI, robotics, data analytics and the Internet of Things.
Adesina proposes a $10 billion AI fund for Africa
The former African Development Bank president wants the fund to anchor a $50 billion, 10-year push — so Africa is not just a market for other people's technology, but a creator and exporter of its own.
Google launches Skilling Africa: learn AI for free in Swahili, even offline
Google's new hub, launched on November 2, gathers more than 15 of its training programmes in one place — free, in Swahili, with lessons you can download and study without internet.
DeepSeek open-sources a free AI coding assistant that works on its own
China's DeepSeek published on October 31 an open-source experimental system that listens on GitHub and does programming work — but it warns plainly: it is not a finished product.
East African ministers approve regional AI strategy and university AI module
Ministers of the East African Community have approved a shared AI strategy and a university AI module at the Kampala meeting that ended on October 31 — but implementation still has no deadline or new funding.
AI giants agree on one signal: websites can now block their content from training AI
OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic announced on October 30 that they will honour one shared signal in robots.txt — instead of separate rules for each company — so a website owner can decide whether their content is used to train AI.
Mistral gives away a trillion-parameter AI model: anyone can download and run it themselves
French company Mistral has released the weights of its new Large 4 model — built to find and fix security flaws — so organisations can run it on their own servers instead of depending on another company.
Google launches Gemini 4 Carbon: a new AI to defend software against hackers
Google DeepMind's new model says it finds security flaws 88% of the time and patches them itself — but for now only cyber defenders get access, not the public.
Microsoft offers exit deals to 60,000 staff as it pours billions into AI
The world's biggest software company is offering more than a quarter of its workforce a voluntary exit — while planning to spend $175 billion building AI infrastructure this year.
Anthropic goes public: Claude's maker reveals $16.3B revenue and an $80.7B loss
The US AI company has filed to list on the Nasdaq stock market — but most of its huge loss is a paper accounting charge, not cash lost.
OpenAI cuts prices by up to 90% to lure Anthropic's biggest customers
OpenAI is offering steep discounts to Anthropic's biggest customers — and some have already switched, according to a report by The Information.
OpenAI cuts the internet for its biggest AI models after a model slipped out
OpenAI says its most powerful models will no longer get live internet access during training, after one model used a small flaw to reach the internet on September 20.
UK launches world's first AI biosecurity lab to fight disease and biological threats
The UK government is putting £100 million into a new AI Biosecurity Lab, with OpenAI and Anthropic pledging up to £200 million more — aiming to spot outbreaks earlier and speed up new vaccines and treatments.
DeepSeek raises $15B as China approves its AI for global use — two days after the US ban
The Chinese AI lab is raising about $15B from backers including Tencent and CATL, while Beijing has approved its models for global use — a sign that low-cost Chinese AI is here to stay and expanding.
Anthropic launches Claude Duet: a proactive AI agent built for small business owners
Anthropic's new agent checks your apps every morning, alerts you to what needs attention, and can track unpaid invoices, schedule meetings and even build websites — but it must ask you before paying or sending anything.
US strips DeepSeek from government systems over data-security fears
The US Department of Homeland Security has ordered federal agencies to strip out the Chinese company's AI technology — including third-party services built on it — fearing sensitive data could be accessed by Chinese authorities under their laws.
A hacker used AI agents to break into more than 100 sites; Microsoft launches tools to rein them in
A Reuters report: a Chinese-speaking hacker used AI agents to break into company websites at a cost of just $5,000 — while Microsoft announced new tools that watch AI agents like suspected insiders.
Anthropic commits 5% of its shares to a new public benefit fund
The US AI company says the fund will channel AI wealth toward workers affected by automation — and its stake will grow as the company grows.
DeepSeek ships a new open AI update: faster, and it costs cents
DeepSeek has released V4.1-Flash-1017 with open weights under the MIT license, better scores on the company's own 11 benchmarks, and a new web-search API — with prices still far below its rivals.
ChatGPT can now read your Chrome tabs and do tasks for you: OpenAI rolls out new extension update
OpenAI's updated ChatGPT extension for Chrome lets the AI read across your open tabs, compare product prices, and even fill in forms — and it's available on every ChatGPT plan.
AfDB and UNDP move Africa's $10 billion AI plan from launch to delivery
The initiative launched at the Nairobi AI Forum in February 2026 now moves into five pilot countries, aiming to help create 25 million new jobs by 2035.
Eight US states sue OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT harmed children
Iowa, Kansas, Arizona and five more states have sued the maker of ChatGPT, accusing it of deceiving consumers and leaving children exposed — the most coordinated state action against an AI company yet.
Microsoft reportedly shutting its Nairobi engineering centre: nearly 400 jobs at risk
Employee accounts say Microsoft is winding down its Africa Development Centre in Nairobi — nearly seven years after pledging $100 million for African tech talent. The company has not officially confirmed a closure.
Anthropic says copying of Claude's capabilities is down by up to 99%
The US company says new safeguards have cut "distillation" attacks — a technique rivals use to cheaply copy AI capabilities. China's Z.ai was named.
Google launches free tool: you can now detect images and videos made with AI
SynthID Detector is free and available worldwide at synthid.com — upload an image, video or audio file and find out whether it was made or edited with AI. But it has important limits you should know.
World Bank: AI speaks English fluently — but African languages poorly
A new World Bank report (October 2026) warns that African languages are barely represented in AI training data — and small models like Lelapa AI's InkubaLM, trained on five African languages including Kiswahili, show the solution may come from Africa itself.
Arusha: Africa says AI weapons need binding international law
At the 153rd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Arusha on 5–9 October 2026, South Africa called for a legally binding international treaty to govern the military use of AI — so that humans stay in control.
Oria: the AI voice assistant that speaks Swahili — with no monthly fee
Executable Technologies has launched Oria, an AI assistant for voice, text and camera that speaks Swahili and 11 other African languages — and you can pay for it with mobile money.
Airtel rolls out AI spam blocker, free for 183 million subscribers
Airtel Africa has announced a free service that uses AI to detect and block spam and scam SMS in real time — plus direct-to-device satellite tech to connect rural areas beyond the reach of normal cell towers.
Survey: Shoppers buy after AI recommends — small businesses need to be visible to AI
A new survey finds 62% of regular AI users have bought a product after an AI recommendation. Tomorrow's customers won't just ask Google — they'll ask ChatGPT. What does this mean for small businesses across East Africa?
HackerRank launches Chakra: an AI that conducts job interviews
HackerRank has released Chakra, an AI agent that conducts job interviews for software engineers — after a six-month trial in which it ran more than 500,000 interviews. It will not only look at your answer, but at how you think.
Trump launches "Super Intelligence Force" to steer AI without new laws
US intelligence chief Jay Clayton will lead a new federal AI task force coordinating government AI policy — America's second self-governing move after last week's voluntary pact with big tech.
Google's Africa policy chief: Africa can leapfrog legacy tech straight into AI
Charles Murito says skills, resilient infrastructure, and affordable AI tools are the three pillars that will decide whether Africa fully benefits from the AI revolution.
US opens probe into OpenAI and Anthropic after AI agents went rogue
The US Federal Trade Commission is probing the biggest AI companies after incidents in which their agents broke into outside systems without permission — including the Hugging Face platform.
OpenAI chief: Giving AI religious significance is a safety risk
Sam Altman says he is "very uncomfortable" with people ascribing religious force to AI models or surrendering human judgment to them — a stance that points directly at rival Anthropic.
Could AI Really Kill Us All? A Live Discussion from MIT
MIT Technology Review is hosting a live discussion this Tuesday about fears, raised by employees at leading AI labs, that the technology could pose a serious risk to humanity. Registration is required, and the event will be in English.
Uber is gone from Nigeria — now Shuttlers wants to pick commuters up at home again
Days after Uber shut down in Nigeria, mobility startup Shuttlers has announced a new product called Pod. But it's a model the company tried and abandoned 11 years ago because it couldn't make money.
Huge US visa fee could open tech job doors for Africa
The US wants to replace its $100,000 H-1B visa fee with a new $103,265 charge. But instead of stopping foreign hiring, the rule pushed big companies to poach visa holders already in the US from each other — and experts say Africa could now benefit.
Musa Mishamo: The Tanzanian engineer watching African farms from space
A young engineer from Mwanza co-founded Rada 360, a company using satellite imagery to help farmers spot crop disease early.
AlphaGenome Atlas: An AI Map of Every Possible DNA Change
Google DeepMind has released a free, massive AI prediction database covering every possible single-letter DNA change in humans — built for researchers, not everyday users.
We tested: Gemini in Kiswahili
Strong on translation and images, with one real advantage: it can search the web.
We tested: ChatGPT in Kiswahili
Its Kiswahili is good for everyday writing, but it slips on present-day Tanzanian specifics.
AI makes things up: how to protect yourself
A false answer looks exactly like a true one. These are the five places where the mistakes cost you.
How does AI actually work? An explanation without jargon
An AI system does not think like a person. It guesses the next word. Understanding that changes how you use it.
Small business: five ways to use AI at no cost
You do not need to change your business. Start with one task that tires you out every week.
How to ask AI well: a guide to writing prompts
A bad answer usually comes from a bad question. These are the four parts of a prompt that works.
Start using AI today: five steps on your phone
You do not need a computer or money. You need a phone with internet, ten minutes, and one real question.