Kenya researchers push African ownership of Chinese AI models

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Open source AI models from Chinese firms are gaining ground in Africa as researchers push for local ownership of the technology..

Kenyan researchers want African governments to use Chinese open-source AI models as a foundation for homegrown systems, rather than simply importing technology built elsewhere.

Chinese companies, including Alibaba, Baidu and ByteDance, have released or backed open-source large language models that let developers download model weights, deploy systems on local servers and retrain them with their own data, according to China Daily.

Wu Chenglin, founder and chief executive of Xiamen-based DeepWisdom, said the approach cuts the cost and technical barriers of building AI tools, opening the field to entrepreneurs and small businesses in markets such as Africa.