a cognitive scientist here: there are no functions (brain or otherwise) dedicated to "performing" human feelings

D. Yet, none of the current copyright laws across Africa directly address the use of unauthorised materials to train AI models or the legal status of AI-generated content, which raises concerns of reproduction and derivative infringement.

C. The unauthorised distribution and infringement of music and films, books, and software accounts for up to 40% in lost income for Nollywood alone.

B. African creators are likely to be hit hard. The continent's share of copyright or royalty income or collections is less than 1%, the lowest across the globe.

African creators are being exploited in the AI Boom To turn the tide and address AI threats, African copyright frameworks need to be revised.

My Latest Article for @openDemocracy UK: How African creators are currently being exploited in the AI boom

A. Globally, AI-generated outputs are projected to cause a potential 20% revenue loss for creators in the music and audiovisual sectors.
www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/how-...

See which jobs are most threatened by AI and who may be able to adapt Most web designers will be fine. Many secretaries won’t. Women largely hold the most vulnerable occupations. Look up your job to see how at risk it is.

"A flood of sometimes conflicting analyses shows the yawning gap between what little is known about how AI is changing work and everyone’s understandable hunger for certainty."
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...

patenting increases (530% more patents per year, 6 p.p. more likely to patent), and their earnings rise by 63% relative to similar job switchers within academia.

Read the full paper here - lnkd.in/gym-puT6

D. After researchers permanently transition from academia to industry, on average their paper-writing declines (65% fewer papers per year, 30 p.p. less likely to publish a paper)...

C. Coinciding with the image recognition revolution kicked off by AlexNet, top 1% earnings in the industry exploded from $595,000 in 2001 →$1.94 million in 2021 (measured in 2015 dollars). Top academic salaries barely budged ($301,000→$392,000).

B. Rising job transitions from academia to industry are driven by young researchers leaving to incumbent firms (firms with greater than or equal to 1,000 employees and greater than or equal to 20 years old) and to the Professional Services and Information sectors.

A. By 2019, 68% of AI researchers worked in industry, up from 48% in 2001.

A new publication - Attention (And Money) Is All You Need: Why Universities Are Struggling to Keep AI Talent - tracked the employment, earnings, and research output of 42,000 AI researchers (US-based) over two decades (2000-2020), and reveals some interesting findings.

A book titled "Holy War"

Currently reading.

Any thoughts from folks who've had the chance to read this?

Africa's research output in Artificial Intelligence is very low and requires public investment.

Between 2014-2023, African researchers published almost 20,000 papers on topics related to AI. However, five countries contributed close to 90% of the total output.

Statement on the comments from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Anthropic's response to the Secretary of War and advice for customers

May Anthropic uphold the same moral standards when the U.S. government uses its AI technology to surveil citizens of other countries. I hope they pass the international surveillance test just as they seek to protect domestic sovereignty.

www.anthropic.com/news/stateme...

"The technology development cycle in Germany is a slog of around four to four-and-a-half years, where ideas are bogged down in endless internal debate and commercial negotiations with suppliers."

Deloitte allegedly cited AI-generated research in a million-dollar report for a Canadian provincial government | Fortune In a healthcare report aimed to address a nurse and doctor shortage, Deloitte cited several fake studies with real researchers’ names attached.

"The Deloitte report contained false citations, pulled from made-up academic papers to draw conclusions for cost-effectiveness analyses, and cited real researchers on papers they hadn’t worked on, the Independent found."
fortune.com/2025/11/25/d...

As part of this Council, I'll lend my expertise to define and guide PAI’s work. By sharing our unique perspectives, we can empower decision-makers to shape an equitable AI future that benefits all. #AIEthics #TechForGood

I’m thrilled to announce I’ve joined the newly formed SAIGE Council from @partnershipai.bsky.social, a multi-stakeholder community addressing the most important and difficult questions concerning the future of AI.

From the @thecontinent.org: "...the children appeared to be victims of a systematic recruitment operation that manipulated them into posting political slogans, insults directed at the Egyptian President, calls to open Gaza’s Rafah crossing..."

Why is AI struggling to discover new drugs? [FREE TO READ] A generation of start-ups have failed to live up to the hype. Executives are now betting that more powerful tools will crack the complexities of human biology

"...the problem has proved beyond the algorithms. We know surprisingly little about our own biology. There are many mysteries in how our cells interact and challenges in measuring our body’s most crucial processes, starving models of the data they need to make more rapid progress."
on.ft.com/4pgIyqT

The myth of sovereign AI: Countries rely on U.S. and Chinese tech As countries pursue self-sufficiency in AI, they risk depending on foreign companies, undermining their independence and their goals.

“States should think very carefully about what they actually want to get out of this before spending hundreds of billions of dollars trying to indigenize the entire AI stack. You still won’t be able to eliminate dependencies and vulnerabilities on foreign states.”

restofworld.org/2025/chinese...

"The ICT sector rose an annual 21.3% in the second quarter driven by DATA USAGE, said Iddrisu, helping the services industry to expand 9.9% from a revised 7.8% in the prior three months."

"...the process of getting a job has become a late-capitalist nightmare. Online hiring platforms have made it easier to find an opening but harder to secure one.."
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Why Nairobi’s co-working spaces are losing to restaurants Nairobi’s co-working spaces were touted as temples of Kenya’s innovation economy where young founders could incubate groundbreaking ideas.

"For SMEs, double-digit loan rates have made credit costly, while freelancers—some of whom rely on foreign contracts—have been squeezed by a slowdown in overseas deals that has eroded their incomes amid rising living costs." techcabal.com/2025/08/29/n...

we at @aial.ie, are investigating amplification/censorship on X/twitter in EU. what are major EU:
-politicians & regulators
-journalists
-influencers & public intellectuals, with high visibility/influence on X, across both left & right political ideologies

we're interested in existing datasets too

Three lawsuits against Meta in Kenya expose the digital governance gap in Africa - Africa at LSE The internet giant Meta is facing legal challenges that could change the way we think about legal jurisdiction and corporate responsibility in the digital age, writes Mumbi Kiragu. Kenya has emerged a...

"What is missing is a preventive, policy-driven architecture that ensures content moderation practices are humane, companies are accountable for their algorithms, and corporate actors cannot hide behind layers of subcontracting to escape responsibility."
blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/...

If I can give you any advice about anything it would be this - do everything in your power to protect yourself from being governed by people who hate you.

What’s behind the AI talent gold rush? Eye-watering payments show how hard it is for tech companies to build a competitive moat

"But the war for talent is not just about output — it’s about perception. A start-up’s ability to attract investors and a listed company’s ability to keep its stock price up are both aided by the buzz generated by a few superstar minds."
www.ft.com/content/9e9f...