Karim Beguir, co-founder of InstaDeep: People are too gloomy about AI
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 11 March 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“People are too gloomy about AI, particularly in the developing world it is seen as a threat, that people are going to be using AI systems, rather than offshoring jobs and the like. That's true, but you could use AI yourself and develop solutions to the challenges you have in your community, in your country, and create unprecedented wealth.” BBC presenter Ed Butler speaks to Karim Beguir, co-founder and boss of InstaDeep, Africa’s biggest AI firm. InstaDeep’s technology played a key role during the pandemic, tracking new disease variants to support the development of targeted vaccines. And while he acknowledges artificial intelligence does need control and direction, he believes it has the potential to bring enormous benefit to the developing world. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and political economist Professor Helen Thompson. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. Presenter: Ed Butler Producer: Hannah Mullane, Niamh McDermott, Lucy Sheppard Editors: Justine Lang and Damon Rose Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Karim Beguir Credit: JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP via Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.4 | Hi there, I'm BBC presenter, Ed Butler, and this is the interview from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:11.7 | The best conversations coming out of the BBC, people shaping our world from all over the world. |
| 0:18.8 | If you're not a little bit afraid, then you're not paying attention. |
| 0:23.4 | You have never seen a people so united. |
| 0:27.0 | Do not make that boat crossing. Do not make that journey. |
| 0:29.7 | Being born in America, feeling American, having people treat me like I'm not. |
| 0:33.8 | We're more popular than populism. |
| 0:37.6 | For this interview, I'm with Karim Begir. He's the co-founder of Instadeep, Africa's biggest |
| 0:43.4 | AI firm. In 2014, he launched the company with just two laptops and $2,000. Three years later, |
| 0:51.5 | he was meeting the tech titan Mark Zuckerberg of Meta. By the time the pandemic hit, |
| 0:56.8 | his technology was being used to track dangerous COVID variants, supporting the development of targeted vaccines. |
| 1:03.7 | As you'll hear, Karim's belief in giving something back to society underpins his work, |
| 1:09.8 | whether it's sharing his groundbreaking research |
| 1:12.4 | or launching a project to bring the opportunities of AI to the developing world. |
| 1:18.1 | It's about breaking that sort of like glass wall, which is in people's minds, that I cannot |
| 1:24.7 | be successful. If I am in Africa, I don't have the same opportunity as in Silicon Valley. |
| 1:31.1 | Of course, it's still true, but it's a lot less true than before because of the Internet. |
| 1:36.2 | But also now, because of AI, you could be in a remote tone in Africa, |
| 1:42.1 | but you would have essentially a team of geniuses working for you |
| 1:46.2 | because modern AI, the IQ of the very best systems, is now reaching 150 IQ. |
| 1:53.2 | So we're getting into the genius level category. |
... |
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