Stakeholders from the Global South discussed the future of artificial intelligence, its societal impact and emerging opportunities for collaboration across continents at the Carnegie Global Technology Summit Innovation Dialogue 2025.
Voices from Africa and India highlighted shared challenges, distinct regional strengths and the urgent need to build inclusive and scalable AI ecosystems.
Shikoh Gitau, CEO of Qhala, emphasised the growing momentum around South–South cooperation, noting that the Global South — home to 80 per cent of the world’s population — holds significant collective influence. “We have a bargaining chip from our data sets, from our population, from our rare minerals. We have a lot to offer to this AI economy,” Gitau said.
She pointed to parallels between challenges in Africa and Asia and expressed confidence that shared learning could accelerate progress across both regions. Calling India a “big brother” in AI talent, she cited talentindex.ai findings showing Indian expertise powering innovation hubs from Silicon Valley to Europe. Gitau added that Africa also brings valuable experience in digital adoption, from early ID system digitisation to legal infrastructure reforms.
Shelly Sethi, founder of Mahila Prashikshan Sansthan, stressed the need to expand AI literacy for women and youth, saying India’s next phase of growth hinges on democratising access to emerging technologies. She highlighted government schemes aimed at equipping young people — especially women — with skills needed for an AI-driven economy. “Testing, understanding and learning the new technology is essential,” she said, urging wider use of AI tools for grassroots empowerment.
Dvara Mungra, Co-Founder of SimPPL, said AI can help close information gaps that contribute to high maternal mortality rates in India. She noted that delays in accessing accurate medical information remain a major risk for expectant mothers. “SimPPL is addressing this through Sakhi, an AI-enabled tool delivering medically verified information reviewed by gynaecologists in local languages over WhatsApp. The evolving role of AI in maternal health is reducing the delay in seeking the right information,” she said.
Mungra also pointed to broader healthcare applications — including disease detection and improving access to government health services — but cautioned that India still has “a long way to go” in R&D, especially in creating foundational models tailored to the country’s linguistic and cultural diversity.
Shalini Kapoor, Chief Strategist at the EkStep Foundation, described India as a unique proving ground for large-scale AI deployment. Citing Nandan Nilekani, she said India could become “the test bed for AI adoption,” where systems validated at scale could be replicated globally. “Real impact depends on building concrete use cases in sectors like agriculture, education and healthcare, supported by crucial horizontal enablers such as language technology, safety frameworks and AI-ready data infrastructure,” she said.
Kapoor also highlighted initiatives aimed at democratising AI development — such as GPU access for startups under the IndiaAI Mission — and praised efforts like AI4Bharat’s open models for 22 Indian languages. “AI is for all. No one should be left behind,” she said, adding that India’s approach could serve as a blueprint for the Global South.
Carnegie India hosted the Innovation Dialogue in New Delhi on December 11 as a pre-summit event for the upcoming AI Impact Summit 2026, scheduled to be held in the city from February 15 to 20.
(ANI)
