Oria: the AI voice assistant that speaks Swahili — with no monthly fee

The technology company Executable Technologies has announced a new artificial-intelligence assistant called Oria — an assistant designed with Africa in mind. Oria launched publicly on 5 October 2026 and is available on the web (askoria.app), on the iPhone App Store and on Google Play for Android phones.

Unlike most AI assistants that work in English alone, Oria writes in 12 African languages — including Swahili, Hausa, Yorùbá, Igbo, Wolof, Amharic and Zulu — and replies in the language you write to it. It also speaks and writes French and English.

Oria works in three ways: you can talk to it by voice (a live conversation you can interrupt, which keeps going even with the phone in your pocket), by text, or through the phone camera — for example pointing it at a textbook page, a medicine leaflet or an office form for step-by-step guidance. It can explain lessons from secondary school to university level, correct exercises, draft letters and reports, and produce Word, Excel and PowerPoint files that export to PDF. It can also search the web — for prices, opening hours and news — and cite the pages it used as sources.

Its pricing is built for African use: no monthly subscription and no ads. You buy credits only when you need them, and your credits never expire. New accounts start with free credits and no card is required; after that you pay by mobile money — such as MTN MoMo, Orange Money and OPay — as well as by card, bank transfer and USSD.

The company says Oria was designed at the O3Studios technology studio in Conakry, Guinea, and that during its beta phase it was used by more than 700 users in 56 countries with no marketing at all. Oluwayemisi Ogunbamise, the company's co-founder and CEO, said: "Every language left out of technology is a community left out of opportunity."

What does this mean for you?

If you are a student or teacher: You can ask study questions in Swahili and get step-by-step explanations — useful for studying at home or preparing class exercises.

If you are a farmer: You can ask about fertilizer doses for your field, or point the camera at part of a plant for step-by-step advice.

If you run a small business: It can draft business letters, summarize meetings and look up product prices for you online.

If you are a health worker: It helps with notes and paperwork — but the company stresses clearly that it does not diagnose illness or prescribe medicine.