The AI Opportunity for Africa

In this short talk, I present the state-of-the-art research findings on the impact of generative AI on worker productivity. Unlike previous ICT innovations, the current versions of large language models seem to benefit younger, less productive workers the most.
The conference was hosted by CCI Global in Kenya. CCI Global is a leading business process outsourcing company across Africa. In May 2024, CCI Kenya opened its new 5,000-people building in Tatu City, north of Nairobi. For this grand opening, CCI convened the 'Elevate Africa' conference. This was attended by the President of Kenya, Wiliam Ruto, as well as many world-leading consultants and several of CCI's direct competitors. The clear message of the conference was that in places like Kenya, where the government 'gets' how vital this sector is for high-quality job creation, the global companies in services exports can come together to create new growth clusters.