The Chief Executive Officer of Digital Equity Africa, Mrs Justina Nnam Oha, has assured that her organisation is raising and mentoring the next generation of global Artificial Intelligence innovators in the country.
In a statement, she referenced the overwhelming success of the first inaugural Kids Tech Fest, a global AI Summit for Children held in Lagos.
According to her, everyone was left in awe and overflowing with gratitude, nothing that what was planned as a bold move in children’s digital empowerment became a historic moment in Africa’s tech story with over 5,000 attendees showing up in full force in person.
Nnam Oha added that she and her team are working hard to scale up infrastructure and programming to match the movement.
‘The vision for us is to raise the next generation of global AI innovators in Nigeria. The overwhelming energy told a big story: Africa is ready to raise a generation that thrives in the age of Artificial Intelligence.
“At the conference there were breakout sessions for parents and educators and other for children where they were grouped according to their age for an immersive experience.
“The children were not only taught the workings of AI, but topics like Plagiarism, cyber bullying and ethical AI were of huge focus. Parents were enlightened on safeguarding children in the digital
age and why digital Litracy is a must for their children.
“Beyond the conversations, there were two main highlight. The first was the launch of Bud AI, safe learning companion for children aged 6-17, providing the right guardrails including a child registration process that involves a parent’s emails and regular insight and feedback to the parent on child learning and activity on the app.
The second highlight was the launch of Future Minds Online AI Learning Community for children age 6-16, where they can learn to support their education, creativity and entertainment using safe AI tools.
“With this success, we are committed to returning even bigger, better organised, and deeply aligned with the dreams of the families we serve,” she said.
At the summit, she also announced that this is a first of a conference series to happen all around Nigeria, adding that her team will replicate same initiative in every state that is open for collaboration.