In this episode of ACM ByteCast, our special guest host Scott Hanselman (of The Hanselminutes Podcast) welcomes Kate Kallot, founder and CEO of Amini, an impact-driven AI company based in Nairobi, which focuses on the critical issue of data scarcity in Africa and its implications for AI development. Before Amini, her career spanned leadership positions at global tech companies, including NVIDIA, where she led global developer relations and expansion into emerging markets, and Arm, where she was a pivotal figure in the Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML) movement. At Intel, she led the development of the world’s first AI development kit in a USB form factor, the Neural Compute Stick, bringing computer vision and Al to IoT and edge devices to millions for the first time. Kate is a recognized expert and influencer in the AI field, advising international organizations and governments on the potential and challenges of AI for good. Her work has been recognized by TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI, the World Economic Forum as a Tech Pioneer, and One Young World as Entrepreneur of the Year 2024. A trusted voice in global AI policy and digital equity, Kate serves as Vice Chair of the ICC Global Environmental and Energy Commission and is a member of EY’s Global AI Advisory Council.
In the interview, Kate explains the barriers to AI adoption in Africa, stemming from challenges with digital and environmental data infrastructure. She shares her work collecting and validating data in key areas such as climate and agriculture through state-of-the-art technologies and partnerships with private companies, using a bottom-up approach. Kate and Scott also talk about Amini’s commitment to open source and community collaboration in areas such as geospatial data science, and the global applications of Amini’s work in Africa to other geographies with similar characteristics.
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