Young People in Tech (YPIT), a global community founded in Lagos in 2022, has launched a multi-week artificial intelligence programme titled The Artificial Future, aimed at connecting and accelerating Africa’s emerging AI builder framework.
The programme, running from May to June 2026 across Lagos and online, includes a global webinar and workshop series, a two-weekend AI hackathon, and a closing conference expected to bring together over 1,000 participants.
Organisers say the initiative is designed to strengthen collaboration among African AI developers working on locally relevant systems, such as African-language datasets, speech recognition tools, and healthcare applications adapted to regional contexts.
“The Artificial Future is designed to expand the cluster of builders already working on African AI problems by connecting them and giving them the support structures they often lack,” said YPIT co-founder Daniel Adewunmi.
He added, “The AI tools that will shape African healthcare, finance, and language are being built right now. Most of them are being built by people who have never had to solve African problems. This programme is about changing that.”
The AI hackathon will run on May 30–31 and June 5–6, bringing together more than 250 builders across 50 teams. Participants will work across four thematic tracks: economic access, local language and culture, education, and healthcare, as well as a fifth non-technical storytelling track.
Organisers said the hackathon is intended to move participants from ideas to applied prototypes through mentorship from practitioners across the AI ecosystem.
“We are seeing a small but real cluster of people building African AI systems from language models to healthcare tools, but they are often working in isolation,” Adewunmi said. “The goal is to make that work visible, connected, and scalable.”
The programme will conclude with The AF Conference on June 13, 2026, at The Civic Centre in Lagos, featuring demos, panels, and discussions with founders, investors, policymakers, and researchers.
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Adewunmi described the conference as a “meeting point for the ecosystem,” adding, “It is not just a showcase. It is where builders, funders, and institutions can finally see what is already being created.”
Partners supporting the initiative include Paystack, Cencori, PyData Lagos, African Fintech Foundry, Remostart, TriAI, Enyata community, and Data Science Nigeria.
YPIT said the programme was informed by its mapping of Nigeria’s AI framework, which identified a growing but fragmented community of builders working on Africa-specific AI solutions.
YPIT has more than 5,000 members across Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United States and has hosted over 10 events since its founding in 2022.
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