The first-ever Mozilla Festival House: Kenya will explore local approaches to AI and data governance; the event will take place September 21 – 22, 2023 at Nairobi’s Shamba House Cafe.
Mozilla Festival has announced that the MozFest House: Kenya event will feature keynote speaker and Facebook whistleblower, Daniel Motaung, along with over 30 sessions on AI and Africa. The sessions will seek to explore AI’s impact in Eastern and Southern Africa.
MozFest House events are regional adaptations of the annual Mozilla Festival exploring trustworthy AI and internet health from local perspectives. This is the first time the event will held in Kenya and will include conversations with community and opinion leaders on developing trends in the technology and innovation space in the region. In addition, it will also include side exhibitions, demos and practical sessions including workshops and a hackathon.
The Kenyan event debuts on September 21 and 22, 2023 at Nairobi’s Shamba House Café. It will seek to address challenges and explore solutions to issues such as digital extractivism; AI systems and training data governance; and local approaches to building AI for Africa.
Chenai Chair, Senior Program Officer, Africa Innovation Mradi, says: “MozFest House Kenya is an unapologetic regional convening to speak truth to power around digital safety, digital rights, tech accountability, and overall, trustworthy AI in Africa. The festival is the premier gathering for activists, artists, technologists, and educators in diverse global movements fighting for a more humane and healthier digital world.”
Roselyn Odoyo, Senior Program Officer (Kenya), says: “Often times, digital rights have been purported to appear as non-fundamental or disconnected from people’s realities. This is an opportunity to connect people with communities that are furthering digital rights and uplift those movements.”
MozFest House Kenya programming
The MozFest House Kenya programming announced today includes:
- Keynote speaker and Facebook whistleblower Daniel Motaung. Daniel Motaung is a former Facebook content moderator based in Kenya. He blew the whistle in 2022 for poor, unfair and unlawful conditions. Motaung also sued Meta for worker exploitation, neglect and union busting. His keynote is on Thursday, September 21 at 11:00 am.
- 30+ sessions at the intersection of AI and digital rights in Africa. These sessions will seek to explore local approaches to AI and data governance. Among the sessions are: What is the path towards inclusive digital identity? The digital ID movement, AI and the risk of digitizing discrimination by Grace Mutung’u, Mustafa Mahmoud Yousif and Muthuri Kathure.
- Data Futures Lab showcase. Mozilla’s Data Futures Lab will showcase local projects, organizations and initiatives experimenting with better models of data governance. Mozilla has announced it will award impact grants totaling $30,000 and an audience favorite for “greatest potential impact.”
Tickets to the MozFest House Kenya event are already sold out. However, you can still catch the live streams of much of the event online on LinkedIn or via the MozFest Plaza. You can browse the live schedule of sessions here.
