Kate Kallot, AI founder: A global digital divide?
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 31 May 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“Historically, as a region, we’ve been extracted at two levels. If you look at the AI value chain, a lot of our youth, some who have studied computer science, are left at data labelling roles at the bottom of the value chain, where the least value is created. In a different way, a lot of our data is being extracted for free to train those systems. We want to make sure we don’t go into similar models that we had during colonisation.” Leanna Byrne speaks to Kate Kallot, founder of the Kenyan artificial intelligence company Amini, which is building AI infrastructure across Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America.
She warns that billions of people risk being left out of the artificial intelligence systems shaping modern life, with languages, cultures and knowledge from large parts of the world underrepresented in the technology being built today.
Kate argues that AI risks repeating old patterns of global inequality, with poorer countries supplying valuable data while richer nations reap the rewards.
She explains why the Global South should help shape the future of AI, rather than simply supply the data behind it.
The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Sundar Pichai and Julia Gillard.
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Presenter: Leanne Byrne Producer: Osman Iqbal Editor: Farhana Haider and Damon Rose
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(Image: Kate Kallot. Credit: Getty)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.5 | Hello, I'm BBC presenter, Leanna Byrne, |
| 0:08.7 | and this is the interview from the BBC World Service, |
| 0:12.8 | the best conversations coming out of the BBC, |
| 0:15.7 | people shaping our world from all over the world. |
| 0:20.2 | If you're not a little bit afraid, then you're not paying attention. |
| 0:25.0 | We have never seen a people so united. |
| 0:28.6 | Do not make that boat crossing. Do not make that journey. |
| 0:31.3 | Being born in America, feeling American, having people treat me like I'm not. |
| 0:35.4 | We're more popular than populism. |
| 0:38.0 | For this episode, I speak to Kate Callet, |
| 0:41.4 | founder of the Kenyan Artificial Intelligence Company, Amini, |
| 0:44.8 | which is building AI infrastructure across Africa, |
| 0:48.1 | the Caribbean and Latin America. |
| 0:50.9 | Since founding the Nairobi-based company in 2022, |
| 1:04.7 | she has expanded Amni into more than 25 countries, helping governments and businesses use AI to tackle challenges, ranging from agriculture to climate risk. |
| 1:12.6 | Kate warns that artificial intelligence risks repeating old patterns of global inequality, with poorer countries providing valuable data while richer nations reap the rewards. She tells us that by building computing |
| 1:18.5 | infrastructure locally, Amini is trying to ensure countries in the global south help shape the |
| 1:24.3 | AI boom rather than simply supplying the data behind it. |
| 1:28.8 | When it comes to historically, as a region, we've been extracted at two levels. |
| 1:34.1 | On one side, if you look at the AI value chain, a lot of our use, who is technology native, |
| 1:40.0 | who sometimes has studied computer science, is left at data labeling roles at the bottom of the value chain, |
... |
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