The MTN Group is supporting a major Nigerian initiative to build African language datasets for Large Language Models (LLMs).
Experts view this as a crucial step to guarantee that the continent’s 1.5 billion people are properly included and represented in global artificial intelligence development.
The commitment was made during The Y’ello Chair Vodcast: Your Link to the African Continent, where Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, urged collaboration among government, academia and the private sector to fund research into Africa’s diverse languages.
Calling on MTN to lead the charge, Tijani described the project as vital for Africa’s digital sovereignty.
Accepting the challenge, MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita said, “We like these kinds of partnerships. Challenge accepted.”
He warned that Africa must avoid becoming a “digital underclass” and stressed that technological progress should promote inclusion and dignity.
The conversation took place on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York and followed the launch of Nigeria’s Nigerian Atlas for Languages & AI at Scale (N-ATLAS), an open-source multilingual model designed to map and digitise the nation’s more than 500 languages.
The platform is open to other African countries and aims to support AI solutions in education, health, commerce and governance.
Industry observers believe MTN’s involvement could speed up the creation of homegrown AI systems tailored to African contexts, ensuring the continent becomes a contributor—not merely a consumer—of global AI technologies.
