Author: Okikiola O. Johnson

The Director-General of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Professor Ayo Omotayo, has called on women, particularly those in rural communities, to embrace technology and artificial intelligence as tools to transform access to justice and strengthen gender inclusion in Nigeria. Omotayo made the call while delivering a keynote address at the national launch of the New Dawn for Women and Community Intervention Initiative (NEWOMCII) and a book unveiling held at the Nigerian Army Conference Centre and Suites in Abuja. Speaking on the theme, “Empowering Women and Communities: A Practical Pathway for Transformation and Sustainable Development,” he said…

The Katsina State Government has entered into a major public-private partnership agreement to install 50,000 solar-powered artificial intelligence (AI) streetlights across the state, in what officials describe as one of the largest smart infrastructure rollouts in Africa. The project, to be implemented in collaboration with Conflow Power Group and its Nigerian partner, Mora Energy, is designed to integrate public lighting with digital infrastructure, including AI-enabled computing capacity, communications services, and security monitoring capabilities. According to the agreement, each unit, known as an “iLamp”, will operate entirely on solar energy and serve as a multi-purpose infrastructure node capable of providing street…

Oracle and Cohere have strengthened their collaboration to expand access to generative AI tools for enterprise customers, with a focus on integrating advanced large language models into business systems through Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). The partnership aims to help organisations deploy AI applications more easily while maintaining strict security, privacy, and data governance standards. By combining Cohere’s foundation models with Oracle’s cloud infrastructure, enterprises will be able to customise and run AI models using their own data within a controlled environment. Oracle says the move is designed to simplify enterprise AI adoption. “Our partnership with Cohere will enable our customers…

South Africa has withdrawn its draft national Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy after it was found to contain fabricated academic references, raising serious concerns about oversight in the use of AI during government policy drafting. The Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi, confirmed the withdrawal, saying the document’s integrity had been fundamentally compromised. “The most plausible explanation is that AI-generated citations were included without proper verification. This should not have happened,” Malatsi said in a statement. He added that the problem went beyond a simple error and struck at the credibility of the entire policy process. “This failure is…

Global artificial intelligence company Anthropic has entered a multi-year partnership with international law firm Freshfields to develop advanced AI tools tailored for legal services, the companies announced on Thursday. The collaboration will focus on building applications to support legal research, contract analysis, document drafting and internal workflows, as law firms increasingly embed generative AI into daily operations. Anthropic described the agreement as its “most material partnership with a law firm to date,” underscoring the growing importance of the legal sector for AI deployment. Under the deal, Freshfields will work directly with Anthropic’s legal and product teams to co-develop AI-driven workflows…

The White House has accused Chinese firms of orchestrating what it describes as a sweeping, coordinated campaign to extract sensitive artificial intelligence (AI) technology from leading U.S. companies, escalating tensions in an already fragile technological rivalry between the world’s two largest economies. In a memo released Thursday, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) alleged that foreign actors “principally based in China” are engaged in “deliberate, industrial-scale campaigns” to replicate advanced American AI systems. Michael Kratsios, the White House science adviser and memo author, said the U.S. government has evidence of systematic efforts to siphon capabilities from frontier AI…

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has unveiled its latest generation of artificial intelligence models, marking its most significant update since the company first disrupted the global AI industry a year ago. The new release introduces two flagship systems, DeepSeek-V4 Pro and DeepSeek-V4 Flash, designed to balance advanced reasoning capability with improved efficiency. The Pro version is positioned for complex tasks such as deep analysis and coding, while the Flash version is optimised for faster, lower-latency applications, including chatbots and real-time automation tools. In its official release materials, the company emphasised a major technical expansion in the amount of information the models…

A high-profile legal filing tied to Wall Street activity has come under scrutiny after it contained apparent AI-generated hallucinations, including inaccurate or nonexistent legal citations-an incident that is intensifying concerns about the use of artificial intelligence in sensitive professional workflows. According to reports, the filing included references that could not be verified in established legal databases, a hallmark of what experts describe as “hallucination,” where AI systems generate plausible but incorrect information. Legal analysts note that such errors, when embedded in court documents, can undermine both the integrity of the case and professional credibility. “This is not a new technical flaw, but…

An AI-powered table tennis robot has defeated elite human players in a landmark series of matches, marking a major breakthrough in real-world robotics and machine intelligence applications. Developed by Sony AI, the robot-named Ace demonstrated the ability to compete at a high level in the sport, winning multiple matches against experienced players and even taking games from professionals under official competition rules. The matches, conducted on a regulation table tennis court in Tokyo, tested the robot’s ability to handle one of the fastest and most unpredictable sports. Table tennis requires split-second reactions, precise control, and real-time decision-making capabilities that have…

Google has selected four Nigerian startups, Bani, MasteryHive AI, Regxta, and Termii, for its 10th Google for Startups Accelerator Africa cohort, reinforcing growing investor confidence in Africa’s emerging AI and fintech ecosystem. The announcement confirmed that the cohort was selected from about 2,600 applications across Africa, with only 15 startups making the final list. The programme continues Google’s focus on supporting high-growth technology companies building scalable solutions for African markets. According to Google, this year’s accelerator places strong emphasis on AI-driven innovation and infrastructure tools that address real-world challenges in financial systems, digital communication, and enterprise operations across the continent. The…