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Workshop at Deep Learning Indaba 2026
Workshop at Deep Learning Indaba 2026
Spaces like Deep Learning Indaba are at the forefront of shaping the direction of homegrown African AI innovation and technology, resulting in a thriving AI community. Yet, deliberations around what distinguishes African AI research/practice from Western traditions, what African values we should attempt to anchor our technical work in, or what kind of uniquely African future we should envision are largely missing. This workshop is oriented towards active co-deliberation and community-guided introspection around “What is uniquely African about the African AI community?” The workshop will take a deep dive into decolonial theories and engage AI researchers and practitioners, ethics researchers, and sociologists in conversation to distill the core principles of an African AI ecosystem that primarily centers African values.
Workshop Agenda
Introduction
The workshop leads will introduce the workshop, the speakers, and give an overview of the agenda.
2. Moderated Panel
In this part of the workshop, decolonial scholars and AI ethics researchers will engage in a moderated panel discussion on decolonial theories.
This panel will ground the discussion later on in the workshop.
3. Talks on the current status of the African AI landscape
Here, AI experts in several sectors of AI (Natural Language Processing, Computer Vision etc) will give a 15-minute presentation on the status
and progress of AI in their subfield, specifically as it relates to Africa and the African continent. One of the 15-minute slots will be reserved for
either data workers or researchers who focus on data work in Africa.
4. Discussion
Following the presentations, there will be a 45-minute discussion with the speakers and the general workshop participants revolving around
the objectives of the workshop.
5. Mapping our future
Through online collaboration tools like Web Whiteboard, participants of the workshop will map the future of the African AI landscape,
integrating themes from the discussions and presentations. Workshop organizers will lead this part of the session by including points from
the talks given earlier in the workshop. The output of this session may be posted along with a blog post or white paper, with proper
attribution to participants upon their consent.
6. Reflections
We will use the last 10 minutes to give space for participants to reflect on their experience at the workshop.
List of speakers to be announced soon!!
Questions?
Questions?
Contact [hellina_nigatu@berkeley.edu] to get more information on the workshop.
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