GSMA Director Links Connectivity and Local Languages to AI Inclusion at Geneva Summit

Addressing the AIFOD Geneva Summit 2026, organised by Africa AI Monitor's publisher, Kenechi Okeleke from GSMA Intelligence argued that artificial intelligence cannot achieve broad participation while billions lack digital access. Okeleke, who serves as Senior Director of Regional, Policy and Social Research, noted that 32% of adults in low- and middle-income nations remain offline, a gap affecting roughly 1.4 billion adults and exceeding three billion individuals when including children. He emphasised that national strategies must not separate connectivity shortfalls from wider AI policies.

Local languages driving adoption

Beyond basic infrastructure, device costs and network speeds, Okeleke highlighted the perception of value as a significant hurdle to digital uptake. Most web content is concentrated in a limited selection of high-resource languages, leaving many communities disconnected from relevant material. Okeleke maintained that artificial intelligence could bridge this gap if tools are designed using indigenous and regional languages, thereby expanding access to critical areas such as healthcare, education, finance and public administration.

To advance this strategy, he cited a GSMA initiative that convenes African governments, telecom operators, researchers and start-ups to build local-language AI models. Okeleke concluded by advising against uniform approaches to inclusion, urging cross-sector collaboration between public institutions, private firms, researchers and civil society that responds directly to unique domestic realities.