In the grand theatre of global innovation, AI often struts onto the stage as a Western export, its script penned in Silicon Valley boardrooms and debated in European forums. Yet, as the “AI & the Global South” episode of the Great Minds on Learning podcast, recorded live at Online Educa Berlin in December 2025, aptly demonstrates, the real drama unfolds far from these spotlights (Helmer and Clark). We’d like to wrap this conversation with our own African perspective. Hosted by John Helmer with guest Donald Clark, two European edtech veterans, the discussion probed AI’s role in Africa with genuine curiosity and admirable candour.
This isn’t a dismissal of cross-continental dialogue, quite the opposite. It’s a call for equilibrium in a partnership that’s ripening, geopolitically speaking. With the European Union’s Global Gateway initiative channelling billions into African digital infrastructure, and post-Brexit Britain forging fresh ties through edtech outreach, the bonds between Europe and Africa are tightening. Recent pacts, such as the EU-Smart Africa Alliance’s grant agreement on e-governance (Smart Africa) and the €500 million Horizon Europe Africa Initiative III (European Commission, “Launch of Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025”), signal a shift from aid to alliance. Yet, as ARLLS, rooted in Africa’s vibrant edtech ecosystem while plugged into global networks, sees it, these bridges must carry traffic in both directions.
ARLLS stands precisely at this intersection: founded by a Kenyan leader now based in the UK, with a team that spans the UK, all through Eastern and Southern Africa. We are deliberately built to bridge Africa to global networks, equipped with expertise on local realities to help shape international standards. Partnerships like the one with Beacon exemplify this joint European-African enterprise in action: co-creating solutions rather than importing them. Yet, as we see it, these bridges must carry traffic in both directions if they are to be truly sustainable.
African youth from 13+ to mid-career professionals aren’t passive recipients of this developing technology; they’re the innovators, utilising and coding AI to solve local challenges, like crop yield predictions in drought-prone regions or ethical data models that respect communal values. To borrow a witty aside from the podcast: AI isn’t a “stochastic parrot” squawking biases, it’s a tool Africans are already wielding pragmatically, often with more ingenuity than their Northern counterparts might assume.
Unpacking “AI & the Global South”
At over an hour long, the podcast, streamable on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Libsyn, delivers a historical sweep of edtech in Africa, blending hard-won lessons with forward-looking optimism. Helmer and Clark, drawing from Clark’s decades of visiting the continent since 1989, frame Africa not as a blank slate but as a leapfrog powerhouse: 70% smartphone penetration by 2030, Starlink bridging remote gaps, and an oral culture ripe for voice AI.
We applaud their takedown of techno-utopian flops. The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) scheme (14:11), with its flood of devices sans infrastructure, and Sugata Mitra’s Hole in the Wall experiments (17:38), computers in walls for “self-directed” learning, earn the label “mosquito projects”: irritating, short-lived, and ultimately abandoned (Helmer and Clark). These echo broader critiques of Western paternalism, where solutions parachute in without local buy-in. Yet, we’d challenge the podcast’s somewhat rosy gloss on ethics: Clark questions Timnit Gebru’s 2021 “Stochastic Parrots” paper (28:11) for overhyping biases, but in African contexts, where data often flows Northward unchecked, this risks underplaying real harms like “AI colonialism” (International Development Research Centre). As the IDRC-FCDO’s AI4D program warns in its 2025 call for proposals, unchecked AI could entrench extractive models that marginalise local knowledge.
On the upside, we wholeheartedly back their praise for “turtle projects” that endure. Moodle, the open-source LMS, stands out for empowering locals without lock-ins, perfectly aligning with ARLLS’s own delivery of 20 leadership modules via Moodle. In 2025 alone, MoodleMoots across Africa (notably in Nigeria and Tanzania, hosted by institutions like the National Open University of Nigeria) showcased its scalability, from massive open platforms to AI-enhanced adaptations for equitable access (MoodleMoot Africa). Clark’s nod to initiatives like Google’s Thousand Languages (37:39) and African-led centres in Ghana and Kenya resonates: AI must honour Africa’s 2,500 languages, breaking colonial barriers.
The Q&A (58:41) lands on pragmatism, AI as “intelligence on tap.” We support this, but add: For African youth and professionals, it’s leadership fuel. Imagine mid-level managers in Nairobi using AI for ethical supply chain decisions, or teens in Kampala honing resilience via Moodle-based simulations. Recent collaborations, like the ADQ-Gates AI-for-Education partnership (USD40M for Sub-Saharan literacy) (Gates Foundation) and Team Europe’s presence at the Transform Africa Summit 2025, show Europe stepping up as a partner, not a patron.
What Europe Misses, and What Africa Offers
From our vantage in Africa’s edtech heartlands, the podcast’s European lens is insightful yet incomplete, like viewing the Serengeti through a conference window. Global gatherings like Online Educa excel at spotlighting failures (OLPC’s dust-gathering laptops), but often overlook Africa’s quiet triumphs: Rwanda’s AI startups, Kenya’s edtech hubs, or Uganda’s mobile-first innovations. We’d gently challenge Clark’s optimism on Western ethics; anthropologist Payal Arora’s point (32:27) about “puritan Northern values” rings true, but African realities add layers. AI must navigate communal data ethics, not just individual privacy.
Geopolitically, this is fertile ground. The 7th AU-EU Summit in November 2025 recommitted to human-centric AI (African Union), while initiatives like the AI Hub for Sustainable Development (Italy-UNDP, with EU backing) (United Nations Development Programme) and the PEERS project signal mutual gains: Europe diversifies supply chains, Africa accelerates innovation (Expertise France). Yet, mobility barriers persist, hindering African researchers’ access to ERC funds. ARLLS bridges this: Our Moodle-powered curriculum fosters leaders who question imported models, blending European rigour with African resilience.
In this ever-tightening Europe-Africa nexus, fueled by Global Gateway’s €150B pledge and post-Brexit UK’s edtech outreach, the edge isn’t a periphery; it’s the frontier of shared progress. For youth pondering their place: Leadership here means giving before taking, as our programs teach, turning geopolitical currents into personal currents of change.
For you, ambitious youth from 13+ stepping into the world, or professionals already navigating Africa’s dynamic landscape, this moment is electric with opportunity. The tides are shifting: AI tools are scaling literacy and skills in sub-Saharan Africa through partnerships like ADQ-Gates’ USD40 million push for responsible EdTech, while cross-continental bridges like the Africa-Europe Youth Academy empower young leaders to co-create solutions rather than just adopt them. These aren’t distant headlines; they’re currents you can ride.
Leadership in this era means positioning yourself at the intersection, using platforms like ARLLS’s Moodle-powered modules to sharpen resilience, ethical decision-making, and collaborative edge before the waves fully crest. When global investments flow in (and they are, with Europe and the UK betting big on Africa’s youthful potential), the advantage goes to those already equipped to lead hybrid teams, question imported models, and innovate locally grounded solutions. You won’t just adapt to AI-driven opportunities in education, energy, or digital economies; you’ll shape them.
Our programs are built for exactly this: bite-sized, mobile-first leadership training that turns geopolitical momentum into your personal momentum. Start giving before taking, build the skills that make you indispensable in partnerships that span continents. The future isn’t coming; it’s here, and it’s yours to steer. Ready to turn these tides into your advantage? Explore ARLLS at www.arlls.com and step forward, own the narrative.
Works Cited
African Union. “The 7th African Union – European Union Summit.” African Union, 24 Nov. 2025, au.int/en/newsevents/20251124/7th-african-union-european-union-summit.
European Commission. “EU-Africa: Global Gateway Investment Package.” International Partnerships, international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/policies/global-gateway/initiatives-sub-saharan-africa/eu-africa-global-gateway-investment-package_en. Accessed 22 Jan. 2026.
—. “Launch of Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025: Africa Initiative III Now Open for Proposals.” EEAS, 14 May 2025, eeas.europa.eu/delegations/african-union-au/launch-horizon-europe-work-programme-2025-africa-initiative-iii-now-open-proposals_en.
Expertise France. “PEERS – Africa-Europe Partnership to Exchange on Education Reforms.” Expertise France, 23 Oct. 2025, www.expertisefrance.fr/en/projects/peers-africa-europe-partnership-education-reforms.
Gates Foundation. “ADQ & Gates Announce AI-for-Education Partnership.” Gates Foundation, 17 Dec. 2025, www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/media-center/press-releases/2025/12/education-systems-partnership.
Helmer, John, and Donald Clark. “AI Learning and the Global South.” Great Minds on Learning, episode, The Learning Hack Podcast, Dec. 2025, learninghackpodcast.com/podcast/ai-learning-and-the-global-south-an-episode-of-the-great-minds-on-learning-podcast. Accessed 22 Jan. 2026.
International Development Research Centre. “Call for Concept Notes: Socio-economic Impacts of Artificial Intelligence in Africa.” IDRC, idrc-crdi.ca/en/call-concept-notes-socio-economic-impacts-artificial-intelligence-africa. Accessed 22 Jan. 2026.
MoodleMoot Africa. “MoodleMoot Africa | Nigeria 2025 Conference.” MoodleMoot Africa 2025, moodlemootafrica2025.nou.edu.ng/. Accessed 22 Jan. 2026.
Smart Africa. “Global Gateway: EU and Smart Africa Strengthen Partnership for Africa’s Digital Transformation.” Smart Africa, 3 Dec. 2024, smartafrica.org/global-gateway-eu-and-smart-africa-strengthen-partnership-for-africas-digital-transformation. Accessed 22 Jan. 2026.United Nations Development Programme. “G7-Endorsed AI Hub for Sustainable Development Launches in Rome.” UNDP, 20 June 2025, www.undp.org/romecentre/press-releases/g7-endorsed-ai-hub-sustainable-development-launches-rome-forging-25-new-partnerships-catalyze-transformative-potential.
