AI models are trained on hundreds of billions of words, yet less than one percent of that data originates from African sources, thereby entrenching biases and stereotypes about Africa, according to Mthabisi Bokete, CEO of Orion X.
This glaring digital inequality, Bokete explains, presents a set of consequences: it erases African languages and cultural logic, and it causes Western models to “hallucinate” when asked about Africa, presenting fiction as fact.
Enter Uhuru, an indigenous African language model conceived to push back at this digital colonialism and challenge existing AI power structures. “Uhuru places authentic African knowledge at the core of the model,” says Bokete, who is also an AI expert.
“We aim to unleash African imagination and use AI as fuel for the fastest leap in human development ever recorded—from bigger harvests and fairer micro-loans to personalised schooling for every child on the continent,” he says.
Uhuru, which means freedom in Kiswahili, stands for more than just a name. “It represents freedom of data, freedom of language, and ultimately, freedom of economic opportunity,” Bokete adds. “It signals our intent for Africa to write its own AI future instead of importing someone else’s assumptions.”
Unlike mainstream models like ChatGPT and DeepSeek, which are trained on datasets where African content makes up less than one percent, Uhuru is built on a corpus that is roughly 60 percent African. Its cultural-reasoning layer is developed in collaboration with African linguists, ethicists, and elders.
“This is where global models often default to global-north norms,” Bokete notes. In contrast, Uhuru includes a lightweight version called Uhuru Mini, which runs on a mid-range laptop or even via SMS, meaning there’s no need for expensive GPUs or high-speed fibre.
Privacy sovereignty is also baked into the model’s design. Uhuru uses country-level data centre deployments that keep sensitive information within national borders, avoiding default routes through servers in the U.S. or Europe.
According to Kgengwenyane, Chief AI Officer at Orion X, the model draws from over 40 African languages. But it also incorporates non-digitised knowledge: district-level spreadsheets sitting on civil servants’ laptops, NGO records, and even paper archives stored in ministry basements.
“We add oral histories from elders, community-radio transcripts, market-price updates, mobile-money patterns, and agronomy bulletins,” Kgengwenyane says. “Each fragment is reviewed by native speakers, verified with independent sources, and cleared by an ethics panel to ensure both authenticity and consent.”
Uhuru is already making waves. In education, the model powers Setswana-English homework help and dyslexia-friendly tutoring. In agriculture, farmers receive crop-disease triage and price forecasts via SMS.
In finance and insurance, mother-tongue chatbots help streamline KYC processes, draft micro-policies, and deliver plain-language explanations of social grants and health benefits.
“Imagine an AI system that understands a market vendor managing her tomato stall while transferring money via mobile,” Kgengwenyane explains. “One that grasps the logic of side hustles, the richness of African languages, and the wisdom in a grandmother’s proverb. That is the essence of Uhuru—to build AI that truly reflects and respects the full complexity of African life.”
Uhuru is accessible via WhatsApp, SMS, USSD, a lightweight web app, or a low-bandwidth mobile interface. A free tier is available for basic queries, while Uhuru Pro—which includes image generation, file uploads, and unlimited messaging—is priced at an affordable $7, P99, or R149 per month. “In short, it costs less than a weekly data bundle on most networks,” Bokete notes.
While Bokete says Botswana provided the entrepreneurial soil in which the Orion X team first took root, formal policy support and infrastructure have remained limited. Even so, Uhuru aims to bridge linguistic, infrastructural, economic, and cultural gaps that global AI models continue to overlook.
“Uhuru is not a local skin painted over a foreign brain,” says Kgengwenyane. “It is a home-grown intelligence—built with African voices and validated by African experiences—to help grow communities, businesses, and countries, unlocking opportunity in the process.”
Early users can sign up at orionx.xyz or explore advanced features through Uhuru Pro. A developer portal is available at docs.orionx.xyz, and community members are encouraged to join language-steward programs and micro-grant data services via community.uhuru.ai.
“We remain eager to collaborate,” Bokete adds, “and we continue to invite government, academia, and industry to co-shape this continental AI journey.”
