Across Africa, artificial intelligence (AI) has evolved from the experimental phase of generic text generators into an engine shaped by the continent’s unique realities. 2025 saw a push toward large language models (LLMs) that understand the nuances of our markets, languages, and infrastructural challenges.
As AI investment rose, governments in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and other African countries also announced roadmaps to integrate AI into key sectors of the economy, and operators began building and activating new data centres across the continent, including MTN and Airtel. With each upgrade, Africa’s AI ambitions to leverage the technology for economic growth and social development in key sectors move closer to reality.
Now, the continent is buzzing with AI products and prototypes that reflect different aspirations, and these are the exciting ones launched this year.
Gebeya Dala (AI app builder, Ethiopia)
Launched by Gebeya, an Ethiopian software company, in October 2025 and founded by Amadou Daffe and Hiruy Amanuel, Gebeya Dala is an AI app builder designed for the African context. Cofounder Daffe built this platform after realising that most global vibe coding tools are laced with language barriers, payment challenges, and device constraints. Gebeya Daya solves this by being a mobile-first platform that lets users describe the kind of app they want in plain language, including local languages like Hausa, Swahili, Amharic, or Arabic, and then automatically generates full-stack code.
What makes it fun is that app creation is not limited to trained developers. A user can tell the AI they want an app to track local crop prices in any supported language, and it will generate a fully functional app optimised for low-data environments and can even integrate features like mobile money payment gateways.
Curation AI (Authentication and opinion intelligence, Nigeria)
Curation AI was launched in late November by MYai Robotics, an artificial and robotics engineering firm founded by Kayode Aladesuyi. This tool emerged as a response to the deluge of misinformation, deepfakes, and synthetic media content spreading across social platforms. Curation AI is an engine for real-time content authentication, built to scan news, videos, audio, and social media posts instantly, flagging AI-generated content and manipulation before users even have the chance to share them.
Curation AI also has an ‘opinion intelligence’ engine that tracks live sentiment across the web, giving users an instant snapshot of what the world actually thinks about a topic at any given moment. This means that brands, media houses, public policy institutions, or even everyday users can monitor what people are actually saying online in real time, rather than relying on outdated datasets.
YarnGPT (Multilingual AI dubbing and speech technology, Nigeria)
Built by Saheed Ayanniyi in February 2025, a Nigerian AI engineer who began experimenting with machine learning models during his undergraduate years at the University of Lagos, YarnGPT is an AI tool that translates videos, generates voiceovers, and converts written content into audio with Nigerian-sounding voices. Ayanniyi built the model by extracting audio and transcripts from local movies to create a dataset that understands the rhythm and intonation of Nigerian speech.
The result is a text-to-speech and translation engine that “yarns” them with the correct local cadence. Its standout feature is video translation, which allows users to upload an English-language video and dub it into Yoruba, Igbo, or Hausa in minutes. It also includes a URL-to-audio conversion tool that turns a written news article into a podcast. The service also offers an API for developers building voice agents or voice-powered features.
YesCheff (Interactive cooking, Nigeria/UK)
For anyone who has ever tried to pause a YouTube cooking video with flour-covered hands, YesCheff is the kitchen assistant you didn’t know you needed. Launched in October 2025 by product designer Deji Ajetomobi, YesCheff lets users search for any delicacy, fetch the best YouTube tutorial, transcribe it, and then reorganise the content into a structured recipe.
This reorganisation includes the meal overview, ingredients, steps, tools, calorie count, serving sizes, and even potential allergens, all powered by a mix of Google’s API, YouTube transcript tools, and OpenAI. YesCheff makes the cooking experience interactive, allowing users to move through each cooking step with adjustable timers, heat indicators, serving-size controls, and ingredient checklists that reveal nearby grocery stores if something is missing.
JobPilot AI (Careers, Ghana)
JobPilot AI was launched in April 2025 by Kelvin Agyare Yeboah and Anthony Gudu as an AI-powered career companion that combines job listings, resume building, and interview coaching into a single dashboard. It has an AI Interview Simulator that creates a real-time simulation where a user can speak to a panel of AI judges who grade confidence, technical accuracy, and delivery on the spot. It also generates Applicant Tracking System (ATS)-friendly resumes and cover letters and uses AI-assisted matching to help users discover job opportunities that align with their skill sets. It has a community forum where users can swap advice, share experiences, and strengthen their professional networks.
SmartSkin Africa (AI skincare analysis and recommendation, Ghana)
SmartSkin Africa was launched in November by Accessplus Communications Limited, a Ghanaian telecommunications and ICT service provider, led by Kelvin Boateng. The platform uses AI to deliver personalised skin analysis and skincare guidance tailored to African skin types. Users upload a selfie on the platform, and the AI examines up to 15 skin parameters, including acne, uneven skin tone, dark spots, pigmentation, hydration levels, wrinkles, dark circles, and overall skin firmness. After the assessment, SmartSkin Africa generates a tailored skin report along with product recommendations that match the user’s unique condition and environment.
The platform can also track skin changes over time, helping users understand how their skin responds to different products as well as shifts in lifestyle and climate. At the launch, Boateng said the goal is simple: to build an AI system that understands the full diversity of African skin and provides guidance that truly reflects it.
Thunders (AI software testing platform, Tunisia)
After a successful run with Expensya, a Tunisian fintech startup, co-founders Karim Jouini and Jihed Othmani launched Thunders in June 2025, an AI-powered software testing platform built to remove one of the most frustrating parts of software development. Instead of spending hours writing brittle test scripts, teams simply describe test cases in plain English, and Thunders’ AI agents automatically generate, run, and maintain the tests for them.
The platform helps teams move faster by taking over repetitive and fragile testing work, freeing developers and QA engineers to focus on what actually matters: building better products and refining the user experience.
Jouini said their goal is to let AI handle the tedious parts of software testing, so teams can ship with more confidence and fewer errors.
Xara (AI banking assistant, Nigeria)
If you want to pick up your phone, open WhatsApp, and say, “Send ₦5,000 to Yemi for her breakfast,” Xara got you covered. Launched in June 2025 by Sulaiman Adewale, Xara is a WhatsApp-based AI banking assistant built on a large-language model fine-tuned for Nigerian speech patterns, Pidgin, and English, with plans to add Hausa and Yoruba. It allows users to send money, pay bills, track spending, and schedule payments using natural conversational commands.
Beyond text, Xara can process transactions through images and voice notes, so users can simply upload a screenshot of bank details or send an audio message and have the transaction completed automatically.
Chidi (AI learning companion, Rwanda)
Chidi was launched in November 2025 by ALX, an African career accelerator and technology training provider in partnership with Anthropic and the Rwandan government. The platform was created to transform how students and educators in Rwanda engage with learning, turning passive study into active thinking.
It is an AI-powered learning companion built on Anthropic’s Claude model. It acts as a “Socratic tutor,” guiding users to think critically, ask questions, and explore problems rather than simply providing answers. Educators can also use Chidi to design lessons with AI-enhanced support, creating a more interactive and effective learning experience.
In its initial rollout, Chidi facilitated over 1,100 conversations and more than 4,000 chats within 48 hours. Phase 2 plans include training up to 2,000 educators and civil servants, integrating Chidi into classrooms, and providing access to Claude-based tools for a full year.
MamaMate (AI-powered maternal health companion, Tanzania)
MamaMate was launched in 2025 by Ele‑vate AI Africa, a pan-African innovation hub building AI and robotics solutions, founded by Yvonne Baldwin. The platform was created to support first-time mothers in rural and underserved areas, providing accessible, culturally relevant postnatal guidance and care.
The device tracks baby-care routines, offers nutrition and maternal health advice, monitors maternal mental wellbeing via voice prompts, and provides anonymous peer-to-peer support for new mothers. Designed for low-connectivity environments, MamaMate AI works offline, runs on solar or USB power, and speaks local languages, making it usable even in remote communities.
At the 2025 AI for Good Innovation Factory and Global Summit, MamaMate AI was recognised for its community-centred approach to maternal health.
2025 proved that African innovators are no longer just adapting global tools; they are building from the ground up for our own reality. We have seen a wave of AI products born from the specific textures of the African experience, i.e., navigating our unique infrastructure gaps, speaking our diverse languages, and serving the informal economies that sustain us.
From agriculture to healthcare, these are not just ‘tech solutions’; they are answers to the challenges we all live with. As we look to 2026, this shift signals something profound: a future where technology is defined by those who understand the nuance of life on the continent, creating ambitious tools that don’t just serve Africa, but inherently understand it.
