NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 17 — Kenya must invest in talent, digital infrastructure and skills to maximise the economic opportunities presented by artificial intelligence while preparing workers for job displacement, Special Envoy on Technology Ambassador Philip Thigo has said.
Speaking on Capital in the Morning, Thigo said Kenya’s greatest advantage in the AI era is its young, digitally connected population, but warned that skills must translate into products and services capable of generating economic value.
“The greatest opportunity is on talent. But also the next part is talent, turning the talent into opportunity. It’s not just about having people who are skilled. It’s having folks who are skilled and build stuff that actually create economic value,” he said on Monday.
His remarks come as AI adoption expands rapidly in Kenya. DataReportal’s Digital 2026 Mid-Year Global Update, based on GWI survey data, ranked Kenya first among countries covered for recent AI use, with 97.5 per cent of respondents aged 16 and above reporting that they had used at least one AI tool in the previous month.
Thigo cautioned, however, against interpreting the figure as meaning Kenya has the largest absolute number of AI users, noting that it reflects usage relative to population.
He said expanding connectivity would expose more Kenyans to digital technologies, while Kenya must simultaneously strengthen the ecosystem needed to turn that adoption into economic gains.
Building a local AI ecosystem
Thigo said Kenya needs greater investment across research, local capital, infrastructure, intellectual property, public procurement and access to markets.
“We need to build capability across the verticals, whether it’s research… Capital, how we invest, especially investing locally. Currently, a lot of our investments are external. I think for me, that’s a risk,” he said.
He urged Kenya to adopt a global outlook in developing digital businesses, arguing that technology allows Kenyan talent to serve international markets without physically exporting products.
“Any Kenyan right now can work anywhere from Kenya… It’s not about shipping in a box. It’s about being able to deliver from where you are and looking at the world as your market,” he said.
Thigo described this as a “glocal” mindset — thinking locally while targeting global markets — and said Kenyan innovators often struggle not because of a shortage of ideas but because the wider ecosystem is unable to support their expansion.
He cited technology ventures such as Pezesha and Twiga Foods as examples of businesses that can encounter difficulties when other parts of the economy are not ready to support their models.
‘Jobs will be lost’
Thigo gave a blunt assessment of AI’s impact on employment, saying some jobs will inevitably disappear as automation spreads.
“The reality is jobs will be lost. And that’s a hard fact, and I have to tell people this. Unfortunately, you cannot sugarcoat that,” he said.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 projects that technological and other structural changes could create 170 million jobs globally by 2030 while displacing 92 million, resulting in a net gain of 78 million jobs.
Thigo said the key question for workers is whether they will adapt quickly enough.
“Anybody today who does not have your job plus AI will be displaced,” he said.
He cited journalism as an example, arguing that AI should be viewed as a tool for improving research, scripting and other newsroom tasks rather than simply replacing journalists.
Education must adapt
Thigo also called for changes in education to prepare workers and young people for an AI-enabled economy.
He said reskilling and upskilling should extend to people already in employment, while teachers and learners should be prepared to use AI within their respective professions.
“You’re not training AI. You’re training somebody on the content, whether it’s doctor, whether it’s a lawyer, whether it’s a teacher… But you are training them when you’re augmenting artificial intelligence on top of it,” he said.
AI could also help address inequalities in education by tailoring learning materials to individual learners, including through local languages and examples relevant to specific communities.
Agency, child safety and exclusion
Thigo identified loss of human agency, child safety and exclusion as three major risks as Kenya becomes more reliant on AI.
He questioned what Kenyans are using AI for despite the country’s high adoption rates, warning against excessive dependence on machines for decision-making and thought.
“We are delegating our thinking to machines. We are basically outsourcing our lives and our brains to these machines,” he said.
On children, Thigo said parents need to understand AI and digital technologies rather than leaving young people to navigate them alone.
“We’re actually allowing technology to parent our kids. And I think we need to flip that,” he said.
He said the government is working towards a broader national conversation on child safety and technology, with the emphasis on safe and productive use rather than banning emerging technologies.
Thigo also warned that rapid technological change could deepen inequality if people are excluded because they cannot acquire new skills or access digital tools quickly enough.
“The problem with these capabilities is that they may exclude a majority from opportunity… because of speed,” he said.
Shared infrastructure
He further called for shared digital and computing infrastructure to lower the cost of deploying advanced technologies, particularly in sectors such as agriculture where individual businesses may struggle to afford expensive computing capacity.
“Not every sector needs a data center… It could be shared, which means it becomes cheaper for everybody and more efficient in most cases,” he said.
Thigo urged Kenyan workers and businesses to begin adapting to AI immediately rather than waiting for the technology to become more established.
“Start today to think about how AI can improve what you do. Stop worrying about losing jobs. Think about the opportunity that it can create. Third, always think about safety,” he said.
He said Kenya’s ability to benefit from AI would ultimately depend on whether the country can combine adoption with skills, infrastructure, safeguards and access to markets.
“Again, we are in the age of intelligence. Intelligence will lead,” Thigo said.
