2,000 African languages missing from AI models as 790M lack smartphones

Africa’s artificial intelligence adoption faces significant barriers due to the absence of local dialects in AI models and limited smartphone access, according to the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), a global trade body representing mobile network operators. The organization’s findings highlight how language representation and digital infrastructure gaps are creating a substantial divide in AI accessibility across the continent, potentially excluding millions from emerging technological opportunities.

The language barrier: African languages are severely underrepresented in current AI models, creating a fundamental accessibility problem.

• “There are 2,000 languages in Africa and those languages are not represented in the AI models,” said GSMA Director General Vivek Badrinath at Mobile World Congress in Rwanda this week.
• This linguistic gap prevents many African users from effectively interacting with AI systems designed primarily for major global languages like English and Mandarin.

Infrastructure challenges: Beyond language, basic connectivity issues compound the AI adoption problem across the continent.

• Approximately 790 million people in Africa live in areas with internet access but lack smartphones, according to Badrinath.
• “You need to bring the unconnected onto the internet, and you need to bring content to them in their languages,” he emphasized.

Market dynamics: Where AI adoption has gained traction, Chinese companies are outpacing American rivals through strategic advantages.

• China’s DeepSeek has emerged as the leading AI provider on the continent, beating OpenAI and Google due to its smaller energy requirements and lower operational costs.
• US-based AI companies are attempting to compete through reduced subscription prices, university partnerships, and targeted research investments.

Why this matters: The AI divide in Africa represents both a significant challenge and opportunity, as the continent’s 1.4 billion people could be excluded from AI-driven economic growth without targeted solutions addressing language and infrastructure barriers.