Mozilla Festival House will be expected to address challenges and explore solutions to issues like digital extractivism, governing AI systems and the datasets that train them and building AI for Africans, by Africans.
The event will feature keynote speaker and Facebook whistleblower Daniel Motaung along with dozens of sessions exploring AI’s impact in Eastern and Southern Africa. Motaung is a former Facebook content moderator based in Kenya. Motaung blew the whistle in 2022 for poor, unfair, and unlawful conditions. He also sued Meta for worker exploitation, neglect, and union busting. He will be speaking at MozFest House Kenya on Thursday
Earlier this year, Mozilla expanded the Responsible Computing Challenge to eight Kenyan universities, helping
bridge the gap between computer science and the social sciences. This initiative is led by Mozilla Fellow Dr. Chao Mbogho. The Responsible Computing Challenge will expand to South Africa and Ghana next year.
Mozilla Common Voice continues to build open-source voice data sets for Kiswahili and Kinyarwanda — and to fund people and organizations building local tools with this data. Mozilla’s broader Africa Mradi continues to support local entreprenuers, developers, startups and students building innovations and products that address
local issues as well as funding research at the intersection of social justice and technology which enhance tech accountability across the region.
Unfortunately, MozFest House Kenya tickets are sold out, but much of the event will be live-streamed online via LinkedIn or at the MozFest Plaza. Participants can also join and engage in our Dialogues and Debates Watch Parties and exclusive Q&A with some of our speakers on Discord.
Chenai Chair, Senior Program Officer, Africa Innovation Mradi, said, “MozFest House Kenya is an unapologetic regional convening to speak truth to power around digital safety, digital rights, tech accountability, and overall, trustworthy AI in Africa. The festival is the premier gathering for activists, artists, technologists, and educators in diverse global movements fighting for a more humane and healthier digital world.”
The event which will kick off on September 21-22 at the Nairobi’s Shamba House Cafe. There will be a $30,000 USD and an audience favorite for “greatest potential impact.”