AI and Ubuntu: Can Ancient African Wisdom Fix Modern Technology? with Wakanyi Macharia-Hoffman

What if the ethical framework AI needs was coined thousands of years ago in Africa? Wakanyi Macharia-Hoffman is co-director of the Inclusive AI Lab at Utrecht University and founder of the African Folktales Project. She grew up near Ngong Forest in Kenya, where her primary school was literally inside the forest. Today she's on a mission to recover African indigenous knowledge and bring it into the spaces where it matters most: classrooms and technology labs. In this episode we explore: Ubuntu as relational intelligence: from self, to community, to planet The ulimi sana algorithm, designed at the University of Johannesburg, that optimizes AI for cooperation instead of competition How 17 African folktales mapped to the 17 SDGs are reshaping education for 21,000+ teachers worldwide Why AI is a mirror of humanity, and why the real question isn't what AI will become, but who we are becoming Whether you work in tech, education, sustainability or development, this conversation will change how you think about innovation, indigenous knowledge, and what it truly means to be human.