Matt Haikin, Anne Muchiri, and Jack Odunga were in Nairobi for the ICT4D 2026 Conference, engaging in critical conversations about the future of digital development. A major highlight of the conference was the “Shifting AI Digital Power” workshop, which took centre stage in the discussions. Hosted by Matt Haikin and facilitated by Anne Muchiri, Jack Odunga, Nyagaki Gichia, and Mala Ram, the session successfully moved the dialogue beyond AI hype toward responsible, human-centered implementation.

The workshop tackled essential themes like South-to-South cooperation, control including data sovereignty, and practical capacity building, reinforcing a vital takeaway: true digital transformation requires local ownership and agency. It is clear that technology must be grounded in local realities, ensuring that communities are active participants in shaping their digital futures rather than just consumers.

Read the full reflections from the team here: https://www.ict4d.at/2026/06/reflections-from-the-ict4d-2026-conference-beyond-the-ai-hype/

#ict4d #ict4d26 #ict4d2026 #ai

New perspectives on LLM sovereignty from IGF Austria 2026. Read reflections and insights from the discussions in this latest blog post by @spipau :

https://www.ict4d.at/2026/06/reflections-on-llm-sovereignty-at-the-igf-austria-2026/

#LLMSovereignty #IGF2026 #AI #DigitalGovernance #ICT4D

Reflections from the ICT4D 2026 Conference: Beyond the AI Hype

ICT4D.at Reps: Jack Odunga and Anne Muchiri, Location: Nairobi Kenya, May 20th-22nd 2026

Wednesday: Conference Opening and Setting the Stage 

Going into the conference, we were open-minded and looking forward to the conversations, building on the momentum from the ICT4D Conference in Ghana in 2024. The opening keynotes largely focused on the future of digital development, exploring how emerging technologies, data, and digital public infrastructure are shaping development practice, while also raising important questions around inclusion, governance, sustainability, and local ownership.

As the conference progressed, one theme became increasingly difficult to ignore: Artificial Intelligence (AI). We did not expect an avalanche of discussions around AI, yet it featured prominently throughout the sessions. What stood out to us, however, was that the conversations were far more nuanced than simply promoting the latest tools and technologies. Instead, discussions centred on responsible adoption, governance, inclusion, capacity building, and understanding when AI is or is not the appropriate solution. This was particularly refreshing, as many AI conversations often focus on capabilities rather than consequences. The panel discussions and technical demonstrations on the use of AI in humanitarian contexts were particularly enriching. Examples ranged from predicting disaster-prone areas to supporting refugee response efforts and improving the efficiency of humanitarian operations. The discussions highlighted both the opportunities and the realities of deploying AI in environments where resources, infrastructure, and human capacity often remain constrained.

As researchers interested in digital inclusion, we found ourselves reflecting on a recurring question: how do we ensure that the communities most likely to benefit from these technologies are not the very ones left behind by their adoption? Rather than presenting AI as the answer to every challenge, many of the discussions acknowledged the importance of context, readiness, and human-centred implementation.

Jack and Anne at the start of the conference, ready for a week of learning and collaboration

Thursday: Shifting Digital Power, voice technologies and Tech Demonstrations

Thursday began with opening keynote sessions that set the stage for conversations around digital transformation, inclusion, and responsible technology adoption.

Following the tea break, Jack and I facilitated breakouts in a workshop on shifting AI digital power hosted by Matt Haikin. The session explored issues around South-to-South cooperation (Jack Odunga), Control (Anne Muchiri), Capacity (Nyagaki Gichia), and Practice (Mala Ram). Different facilitators and participants approached the sub-topics from various perspectives, creating a rich discussion around who benefits from AI, who controls it, and who is often left out of the conversation.

Workshop on Shifting Digital Power

One of the first activities involved understanding participants’ perceptions and experiences with AI. We explored whether participants understood what AI is and whether they had begun integrating it into their workflows. What emerged was a fascinating spectrum. While some participants were highly familiar with AI and actively experimenting with it, others had little awareness of how it could be applied in their work and no clear pathways to begin adoption. What surprised us was not the level of enthusiasm for AI, but the unevenness of adoption. This highlighted that conversations about AI adoption cannot assume a common starting point, particularly within development contexts. 

This observation also connected closely with discussions around South-to-South cooperation (led by Jack) and control (led by Anne) within AI ecosystems. Participants challenged the assumption that innovation must always flow from the Global North, emphasizing the growing role of knowledge exchange and locally developed solutions across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Equally important were questions of control : Who develops the technologies? Who owns the data? Who sets the rules? And ultimately, who benefits from the value created? These discussions reinforced the importance of ensuring that communities and countries are not merely consumers of AI technologies, but active participants in shaping their development and use. 

Jack reviewing outputs from his group with participants from other groups

Anne facilitating a discussion on power, influence, and control in AI ecosystems

After our session, we attended a session on “Voice as the Next Frontier for Inclusive Conversational AI in Low-Resource Language Contexts”. Questions emerged around the complexity of voice compared to text-based interactions. While voice can lower barriers for many users, particularly those with literacy challenges, it also introduces new layers of complexity around language, context, cultural nuances, and interpretation. The day concluded with technical demonstrations showcasing a range of digital tools, including conversational applications and platforms designed to support communication and information tracking.

One message that resonated strongly throughout the day was that AI is not a silver bullet. Before deciding on any technology, we must first understand the problem. Only then can we determine whether AI is the appropriate solution, or whether a simpler, more traditional approach may be more effective.

Friday: Data, Practice, and Scale

Friday was packed with engaging presentations and discussions.

The day opened with keynote presentations that continued the conversation around digital transformation, responsible innovation, and the realities of implementing technology in development and humanitarian contexts. Subsequent sessions explored data collection tools and methodologies, including practical demonstrations of platforms such as CommCare and Kobo Collect. While the technologies themselves were important, the conversations increasingly centered on data quality, governance, and responsibility rather than simply data collection. The conference later concluded with additional technical demonstrations that showcased how organizations are leveraging technology to improve programme delivery and decision-making.

Key Reflections

One of the strongest themes throughout the conference was the inclusion of communities and young people in technology conversations. Rather than designing solutions in isolation, there was a growing emphasis on ensuring that affected communities participate in shaping the systems intended to serve them.

What also became clear is that conversations around digital transformation have matured significantly. The focus is no longer solely on deploying technology but on understanding whether organizations and ecosystems are actually ready to adopt and sustain these technologies. Questions around data governance, security, infrastructure, skills, and organizational readiness featured prominently throughout the discussions.

Several recurring themes emerged:

• Data governance remains central. Collecting the right data, ensuring its quality, and using it responsibly are increasingly recognized as foundational requirements.
• Interoperability continues to be a major challenge, particularly when organizations and governments struggle to share information effectively.
• Political will remains a critical factor in enabling meaningful data sharing and collaboration.
• Partnerships are essential, especially in the humanitarian sector, where there is a growing desire to move beyond endless pilots and towards sustainable scaling.
• Questions around data centers, hosting, energy consumption, and water usage are becoming increasingly important as digital infrastructure expands.
• Bias, inclusion, and fairness remain critical considerations in AI development and deployment.
• Organizations are beginning to think more seriously about staff capacity, reskilling, and redesigning workflows to accommodate emerging technologies.
• Discussions around data sovereignty, AI sovereignty, local language technologies, and small language models reflected a growing interest in ensuring that countries and communities retain agency over their digital futures.

A Shift Towards Responsible Digital Transformation

Perhaps the biggest takeaway was the growing sense of maturity in digital transformation conversations. A few years ago, many discussions around technology seemed driven primarily by the promise of innovation and efficiency. Today, there appears to be a stronger recognition that human-centred values, inclusion, ethics, governance, and sustainability must be integral to technology development. As researchers working on digital inclusion and equitable access to technology, this shift strongly resonated with our own work and experiences. 

The conversations repeatedly reinforced the idea that AI is simply one tool among many. It may be the right solution in some situations, but not all. What matters most is understanding the problem, the context, and the people involved before deciding on the intervention.

Overall, we left encouraged by the increasing emphasis on responsibility in digital transformation. Rather than pursuing technology for its own sake or focusing solely on profit and efficiency, there seems to be a growing commitment to ensuring that technological progress remains grounded in human needs, local realities, and long-term societal value.

"We Built Digital Health Systems Without Securing Them. Now Constituents Are Paying for It":

https://www.ictworks.org/we-built-digital-health-systems-without-securing-them-now-constituents-are-paying-for-it/

#ict4d #health #foss #security

World’s Largest Digital Human Rights Conference Suddenly Canceled

The major tech + human rights conference (thousands in attendance) canceled by government just a few days before it was scheduled to begin.

#Africa #Zambia #RightsCon #ICT4D

https://www.404media.co/rightscon-human-rights-conference-suddenly-postponed/

Excited to share that I am one of 31 contributors to "Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World" by @TimUnwin

It was a privilege to be part of such a unique and diverse team, writing about digital colonialism and surveillance capitalism and how to counter these challenges.

If these topics matter to you, I highly recommend to grab your copy here:

https://www.routledge.com/Digital-Inclusion-in-an-Unequal-World-An-Emancipatory-Manifesto/Unwin/p/book/9781032983042

#DigitalInclusion #DigitalEquality #TechForGood #ICT4D #manifest #DigitalColonialism #foss #SurveillanceCapitalism

"Spinning Digital Cotton to Counter Digital Colonialism" - read about @spipau 's contribution to @TimUnwin new book titled "Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World: An Emancipatory Manifesto"!

Order your copy direct from Routledge here: https://www.routledge.com/9781032983042

You can also simply listen to the vignette, read by @bahoe :

https://ict4d.org.uk/2026/03/03/digital-inclusion-in-an-unequal-world-episode-18-paul-spiesberger-on-spinning-digital-cotton-to-counter-digital-colonialism/

#ict4d #inclusion #manifest #book #colonialism #development