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Kofi

@kofiemeritus.bsky.social
1.1K followers 154 following 169 posts

Research Interest: Responsible AI in Global South | RTs ≠ endorsement

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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Arch Lynch argues: "For decades, advocates of bombing Iran argued that such an attack might be messy but would ultimately remove the Iranian threat. Yet the United States and Israel, with all their military might, simply failed." reader.foreignaffairs.com/2026/08/18/t...
reader.foreignaffairs.com
The End of the American Middle East
Iran and the Last Gasp of a Failed Order
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
My latest policy brief, co-authored with George Gor and published by The Centre for International Governance Innovation, examines the governance of African states' procurement of AI-enabled weapons and how to develop coordinated arms-control frameworks. Full brief here: lnkd.in/e_AhzRdR
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 02/04/2026
a cognitive scientist here: there are no functions (brain or otherwise) dedicated to "performing" human feelings
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
My Latest Article for @openDemocracy UK: How African creators are currently being exploited in the AI boom A. Globally, AI-generated outputs are projected to cause a potential 20% revenue loss for creators in the music and audiovisual sectors. www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/how-...
opendemocracy.net
African creators are being exploited in the AI Boom
To turn the tide and address AI threats, African copyright frameworks need to be revised.
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
"A flood of sometimes conflicting analyses shows the yawning gap between what little is known about how AI is changing work and everyone’s understandable hunger for certainty." www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...
washingtonpost.com
See which jobs are most threatened by AI and who may be able to adapt
Most web designers will be fine. Many secretaries won’t. Women largely hold the most vulnerable occupations. Look up your job to see how at risk it is.
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
A new publication - Attention (And Money) Is All You Need: Why Universities Are Struggling to Keep AI Talent - tracked the employment, earnings, and research output of 42,000 AI researchers (US-based) over two decades (2000-2020), and reveals some interesting findings.
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Currently reading. Any thoughts from folks who've had the chance to read this?
A book titled "Holy War"
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Africa's research output in Artificial Intelligence is very low and requires public investment. Between 2014-2023, African researchers published almost 20,000 papers on topics related to AI. However, five countries contributed close to 90% of the total output.
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
May Anthropic uphold the same moral standards when the U.S. government uses its AI technology to surveil citizens of other countries. I hope they pass the international surveillance test just as they seek to protect domestic sovereignty. www.anthropic.com/news/stateme...
anthropic.com
Statement on the comments from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth
Anthropic's response to the Secretary of War and advice for customers
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
"The technology development cycle in Germany is a slog of around four to four-and-a-half years, where ideas are bogged down in endless internal debate and commercial negotiations with suppliers."
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
"The Deloitte report contained false citations, pulled from made-up academic papers to draw conclusions for cost-effectiveness analyses, and cited real researchers on papers they hadn’t worked on, the Independent found." fortune.com/2025/11/25/d...
fortune.com
Deloitte allegedly cited AI-generated research in a million-dollar report for a Canadian provincial government | Fortune
In a healthcare report aimed to address a nurse and doctor shortage, Deloitte cited several fake studies with real researchers’ names attached.
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
I’m thrilled to announce I’ve joined the newly formed SAIGE Council from @partnershipai.bsky.social, a multi-stakeholder community addressing the most important and difficult questions concerning the future of AI.
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
From the @thecontinent.org: "...the children appeared to be victims of a systematic recruitment operation that manipulated them into posting political slogans, insults directed at the Egyptian President, calls to open Gaza’s Rafah crossing..."
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
"...the problem has proved beyond the algorithms. We know surprisingly little about our own biology. There are many mysteries in how our cells interact and challenges in measuring our body’s most crucial processes, starving models of the data they need to make more rapid progress." on.ft.com/4pgIyqT
on.ft.com
Why is AI struggling to discover new drugs?
[FREE TO READ] A generation of start-ups have failed to live up to the hype. Executives are now betting that more powerful tools will crack the complexities of human biology
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
“States should think very carefully about what they actually want to get out of this before spending hundreds of billions of dollars trying to indigenize the entire AI stack. You still won’t be able to eliminate dependencies and vulnerabilities on foreign states.” restofworld.org/2025/chinese...
restofworld.org
The myth of sovereign AI: Countries rely on U.S. and Chinese tech
As countries pursue self-sufficiency in AI, they risk depending on foreign companies, undermining their independence and their goals.
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
"The ICT sector rose an annual 21.3% in the second quarter driven by DATA USAGE, said Iddrisu, helping the services industry to expand 9.9% from a revised 7.8% in the prior three months."
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
"...the process of getting a job has become a late-capitalist nightmare. Online hiring platforms have made it easier to find an opening but harder to secure one.." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
"For SMEs, double-digit loan rates have made credit costly, while freelancers—some of whom rely on foreign contracts—have been squeezed by a slowdown in overseas deals that has eroded their incomes amid rising living costs." techcabal.com/2025/08/29/n...
techcabal.com
Why Nairobi’s co-working spaces are losing to restaurants
Nairobi’s co-working spaces were touted as temples of Kenya’s innovation economy where young founders could incubate groundbreaking ideas.
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 23/07/2025
we at @aial.ie, are investigating amplification/censorship on X/twitter in EU. what are major EU: -politicians & regulators -journalists -influencers & public intellectuals, with high visibility/influence on X, across both left & right political ideologies we're interested in existing datasets too
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
"What is missing is a preventive, policy-driven architecture that ensures content moderation practices are humane, companies are accountable for their algorithms, and corporate actors cannot hide behind layers of subcontracting to escape responsibility." blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/...
blogs.lse.ac.uk
Three lawsuits against Meta in Kenya expose the digital governance gap in Africa - Africa at LSE
The internet giant Meta is facing legal challenges that could change the way we think about legal jurisdiction and corporate responsibility in the digital age, writes Mumbi Kiragu. Kenya has emerged a...
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Nanjala @nanjala.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
If I can give you any advice about anything it would be this - do everything in your power to protect yourself from being governed by people who hate you.
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
"But the war for talent is not just about output — it’s about perception. A start-up’s ability to attract investors and a listed company’s ability to keep its stock price up are both aided by the buzz generated by a few superstar minds." www.ft.com/content/9e9f...
ft.com
What’s behind the AI talent gold rush?
Eye-watering payments show how hard it is for tech companies to build a competitive moat
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Ana Brandusescu @anabrandusescu.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
New publication alert! The Challenges of Accountability in AI for Immigration: The IRCC and Canadian AI Governance balsilliecases.ca/case-study/t...
web page of case study The Challenges of Accountability in AI for Immigration: The IRCC and Canadian AI Governance and its abstract
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Starlink's expansion across markets in Africa and other Global South countries have raised concerns about digital exclusion - high prices and more users within high-income communities, but there are much bigger regulatory and geopolitical implications we might be underestimating.
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
"The group said it would strike the overseas deals in co-ordination with the US government." www.ft.com/content/060c...
ft.com
OpenAI plans Stargate expansion outside US
Global spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure with partners is expected to be ‘above and beyond’ $500bn target at home
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Countries in the Global South and poorer communities should not be treated as experimental labs for testing AI’s potential - to solve socio-economic challenges.
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
One reason for skepticism towards AI hype is many of the same people insisted the Metaverse was definitely the future and you're dumb if you didn't get that, and before that insisted NFTs were definitely the future and you're dumb if you didn't get that. LLMS seem to have more use cases, but still.
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
For the love of God, I am tired of hearing tech optimists in Africa saying "AI is going to take away jobs in Africa". Read more about the technological and political culture of Africa.
media.tenor.com
a man in a suit and tie is making a funny face and says `` shut up please '' .
ALT: a man in a suit and tie is making a funny face and says `` shut up please '' .
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
"Half of the fund will come from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Japanese government’s overseas development assistance arm, with the remainder covered by a matching sum from the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority." www.semafor.com/article/03/1...
semafor.com
Nigeria readies $40M startup seed fund backed by Japan
The government is stepping in to boost support for early-stage ventures.
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
"From experience, we know that current training programs for fieldwork and data collection in the Global North do not necessarily reflect the complex positionalities of Global South researchers." blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...
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gquaggiotto.bsky.social @gquaggiotto.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
If African governments do not invest in building the infrastructure needed to leverage AI, the “AI Messiahs” who sing “AI will solve all of Africa’s problems” will continue to shape the future of AI in Africa www.lcfi.ac.uk/news-events/...
lcfi.ac.uk
The Paradox of Africa’s Autonomy in Shaping its AI Future - LCFI
This blog was written by Kofi Yeboah, a former CFI Visitor. In it, Kofi contends that the notion of Africa making significant progress and controlling its own AI future is overly optimistic. Instead, ...
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Nanjira @nanjira.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
@kofiemeritus.bsky.social nails it!
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
My research piece for University of Cambridge's Leverhulme CFI argues that the perception held by some African techno-solutionists that Africa is leading its own AI future is overly optimistic and overlooks the significant influence of external actors. www.lcfi.ac.uk/news-events/...
lcfi.ac.uk
The Paradox of Africa’s Autonomy in Shaping its AI Future - LCFI
This blog was written by Kofi Yeboah, a former CFI Visitor. In it, Kofi contends that the notion of Africa making significant progress and controlling its own AI future is overly optimistic. Instead, ...
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Ethan Zuckerman @ethanz.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Meta cancelling professional factchecking in favor of community notes is causing worry in West Africa, where online disinfo has led to community violence and death: globalvoices.org/2025/02/21/t... - Great Global Voices coverage.
globalvoices.org
The impact on the African continent of Meta scrapping its fact-checking program
The removal of fact-checking on Meta, the social media platform, will have a significant impact on the work of professionals committed to combating disinformation and false information.
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
The bare fact of civic disempowerment is the one constant in contemporary aid programs regardless of whichever model – St. Petersburg or Brussels – prevails." odi.org/en/insights/...
odi.org
Why the crisis in global aid is bigger than Trump
No sooner was he sworn in than Donald Trump, in a series of ‘executive orders’ and memos, unleashed pandemonium in the global aid order by demanding the realignment of all US foreign development assis...
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
I enjoyed reviewing and contributing to this important report by the Tony Blair Institute. It raises important debate on how to develop effective AI regulation in the global south, amidst the complexity of harmonising the diverse geopolitical interests. institute.global/insights/tec...
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Meredith Whittaker @meredithmeredith.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Stand by this: www.politico.com/newsletters/...
What’s a technology that you think is overhyped?

I’m going to give a sideways answer to this, which is that the venture capital business model needs to be understood as requiring hype. You can go back to the Netscape IPO, and that was the proof point that made venture capital the financial lifeblood of the tech industry.

Venture capital looks at valuations and growth, not necessarily at profit or revenue. So you don’t actually have to invest in technology that works, or that even makes a profit, you simply have to have a narrative that is compelling enough to float those valuations. So you see this repetitive and exhausting hype cycle as a feature in this industry. A couple of years ago, you would have been asking me about the metaverse, then last year, you would have asked me about Web3 and crypto, and for each of these inflection points there’s an Andreessen Horowitz manifesto.

It’s not simply that one piece of technology is overhyped, it’s that hype is a necessary ingredient of the current business ecosystem of the tech industry. We should examine how often the financial incentive for hype is rewarded without any real social returns, without any meaningful progress in technology, without these tools and services and worlds ever actually manifesting. That’s key to understanding the growing chasm between the narrative of techno-optimists and the reality of our tech-encumbered world.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Great blog from @mattsclancy.bsky.social on measuring returns to government R&D! One key finding: when govt funds a 1% increase in R&D “capital stock," the whole economy gets ~0.2% more productive a decade later. Compelling evidence we should invest more in research.
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
"Articles and ideas are only as good as the fees you can get for talking about them. They are merely billboards for the messengers." ---- Stephen Marche, a novelist, essayist and an author.
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
"Intellectuals have come to see their careers in capitalist terms. They seek out market niches. They compete for attention. They used to regard ideas as weapons but are now more inclined to regard their ideas as property." --- David Brooks.
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
"But while Africa is demanding a voice, the question remains: How can it be part of the ongoing revolution while starting with a significant delay?" www.lemonde.fr/afrique/arti...
lemonde.fr
Malgré son retard sur l’IA, l’Afrique ne veut pas rester en marge de la révolution technologique
Education, santé, agriculture… L’IA pourrait permettre de répondre efficacement à certains des maux les plus pressants du continent. Mais celui-ci manque encore des infrastructures numériques nécessai...
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
I think @ethanz.bsky.social might have predicted via his book, 'Mistrust', about the ongoing "turmoil" that's challenging America's cherished stance - "we have strong and independent institutions, free from partisan influence."
Screenshot excerpt of Ethan's Mistrust book.
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
“More politically and intellectually challenging policy solutions are likely to be necessary. One thing I can assure you, however, is that “banning open source” is neither desirable nor, if we are being truthful, possible.” www.thefai.org/posts/open-s...
thefai.org
Open-Source AI and the Future | The Foundation for American Innovation
This piece originally appeared at
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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 27/01/2025
Ok, quick thread on why DeepSeek is blowing up assumptions about LLMs and maybe the whole (U.S.) AI industry. DeepSeek is an AI lab funded by a Chinese hedge fund, their AI code is open source, meaning freely available to use, which most big U.S. models (aside from Meta’s) are not. That’s the start…
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
The release of Deepseek-R1(open source), arguably the best reasoning model at the moment, has made some academics, economists and policy analysts to question the effectiveness of US' compute export control measures. I don't know the right answer but here are the main arguments:
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
"In a prior time, [public] intellectuals could be judged by their output; today it is by the noise they make and the comments they generate" --- Jacob Heilbrunn, Editor, The National Interest.
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 20/01/2025
Join us at our upcoming workshop at ICLR, XAI4Science: From Understanding Model Behavior to Discovering New Scientific Knwlg, Apr 27-28 submissions on a-priori (ante-hoc) & a-posteriori (post-hoc) interpretability & self-explainable models for understanding model’s behvr welcm tinyurl.com/3w8sddpm
openreview.net
ICLR 2025 Workshop XAI4Science
Welcome to the OpenReview homepage for ICLR 2025 Workshop XAI4Science
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Kofi @kofiemeritus.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
“You can put commercial pressure, you can boycott companies, you can elect people into government, put pressure on legislation to pass certain rules. But these pressure points make only sense if the society is adequately informed and ready to be engaged with that.”
bmz-digital.global
Data colonialism, digital rights, and the role of civil society - an interview with Nanjala Nyabola and Antonia Baskakov | BMZ Digital.Global
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