Author: Joseph Michael

Researchers at the University of Hertfordshire have secured approximately $2.1 million in funding from the United Nations to support an artificial intelligence-driven project to reduce post-harvest food losses and improve food security in Nigeria. The funding will support the HARVIST project, a collaborative initiative involving a consortium of 10 organisations across the United Kingdom and Nigeria that seeks to address the significant challenges smallholder farmers face in storing and distributing perishable produce. Agriculture remains Nigeria’s largest economic sector, yet it continues to suffer from high levels of food waste. It is estimated that a significant proportion of produce is lost…

LAGOS – About 2,500 Nigerians have received training in artificial intelligence safety and digital trust under a nationwide initiative led by the Internet Society Nigeria Chapter. The programme, organised to mark Safer Internet Day 2026, was delivered across the country’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, reaching a broad cross-section of participants, including students, teachers, parents and persons with disabilities. According to organisers, the training focused on improving public understanding of emerging technologies and promoting safer online behaviour as the use of AI tools expands rapidly. Sessions covered topics such as digital literacy, data protection, cyber hygiene and responsible…

The AIDA Global AI Design Awards Ceremony, organised by Homestyler, was held at the ADI Design Museum in Milan, Italy, bringing together international designers, academics, and industry professionals focused on artificial intelligence in design. The event showcased a large number of AI-assisted and AI-generated design entries submitted globally, with participants competing across multiple categories centred on innovation in interior design and digital creativity. The ceremony emphasised the increasing role of artificial intelligence in design workflows, particularly in areas such as space planning, 3D modelling, and visualisation. Organisers highlighted AI’s impact in improving efficiency and enabling more personalised design solutions. Speaking…

A new report by financial infrastructure company Yellow Card has underscored how artificial intelligence and data protection are rapidly becoming central pillars of financial regulation across emerging markets, particularly in Africa. The 2026 report, which examines the intersection of AI adoption, digital payments, and regulatory compliance, argues that financial institutions can no longer separate innovation from governance. “The convergence of data protection and AI governance is no longer a future concept; it is the current operational reality,” the report states. It adds that financial firms operating across multiple jurisdictions must now treat compliance as part of core infrastructure rather than…

Meta Platforms Inc. has announced plans to cut about 8,000 jobs, representing roughly 10% of its global workforce, as the company accelerates spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and restructuring efforts. The layoffs were communicated to employees in an internal memo, which said the move is part of a broader effort to improve efficiency and reallocate resources toward major investments in AI systems. According to the memo, the job reductions will begin on May 20, 2026, and the company will also avoid filling around 6,000 open roles. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the restructuring plans, stating: “We’re doing this as part of…

A Nigerian visual artist, Malik Afegbua, is using artificial intelligence to document and preserve cultural memory, combining emerging technology with storytelling to safeguard histories that are often under-recorded or at risk of being lost. Based in Lagos, Afegbua has been working on AI-assisted creative projects that draw from oral histories, family archives, and community narratives to reconstruct and preserve cultural identity in digital form. He says the aim is not to replace traditional storytelling, but to extend its reach and lifespan. He explains that many important histories exist only in personal memory and are rarely formally documented. According to him,…

The global push to develop talent in artificial intelligence and digital skills is accelerating, with Africa increasingly seen as a key growth hub. In the latest development, Lagos-based game development studio Maliyo Games has partnered with Arizona State University (ASU) to train and certify 10,000 African learners in AI, game development, and related digital skills. The programme, announced through ASU’s Endless Games and Learning Lab in collaboration with Maliyo’s GameUp Africa initiative, focuses on practical, industry-oriented training, including micro-credentials and project-based learning. ASU officials say the initiative is designed to bridge the gap between education and industry demand. “This marks…

Huawei has presented its AI-driven optical network strategy at the OptiX Club 2026 event, highlighting how artificial intelligence is becoming central to the evolution of telecom infrastructure as global data traffic continues to surge. The company said increasing demand from cloud computing, 5G services, video streaming, and AI workloads is placing significant pressure on existing optical networks. In response, Huawei is advancing “autonomous optical networks” that operate with minimal human intervention through AI-powered self-configuration, self-optimisation, self-healing, and predictive maintenance. A major focus of the strategy is the use of AI for predictive fault detection, enabling networks to identify and address…

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has acknowledged that many Tesla vehicles already on the road will require hardware upgrades to support a future version of Full Self-Driving (FSD) capable of operating without human supervision. Speaking during Tesla’s recent earnings discussion, Musk said that older vehicles equipped with the company’s Hardware 3 computer are not powerful enough to run unsupervised autonomous driving systems. He stated that while Tesla previously aimed to achieve full autonomy through software updates alone, that approach is no longer sufficient for older hardware. Musk admitted, “Hardware 3 simply does not have the capability to achieve unsupervised Full Self-Driving.”…

Tether has introduced a new artificial intelligence infrastructure initiative called the “Stable Intelligence” layer, designed to extend AI capabilities across edge devices such as smartphones, laptops, and other low-power computing systems. The system is intended to reduce reliance on centralised cloud infrastructure by enabling AI models to run directly on user devices. According to the company, this approach improves processing speed, enhances privacy, and allows for offline functionality in certain applications. At the core of the initiative is a modular framework that Tether describes as a way to deploy and execute AI models across various hardware environments. The goal is…