On the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Kenya signed two agreements with two American entities in the field of artificial intelligence, while its government is preparing rules to protect Kenyans who train these systems and review the content of the platforms, at a time when some of them are engaged in legal disputes with global technology companies.
On September 21, Kenyan Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi signed a five-year memorandum of understanding with Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, which includes the adoption of artificial intelligence to monitor the effects of the El Niño phenomenon.
The following day, Kenya's Secretary-General of Foreign Affairs, Korir Sengwe, and the US-based artificial intelligence company Anthropic signed a joint declaration of cooperation in skills development, research, public sector solutions, AI safety and assessment, education, and healthcare. the agreement aims to develop solutions "in collaboration with Kenyan institutions, adapt them to local needs, and deploy them in accordance with Kenyan law."
Earlier this month, John Tanui, the Kenyan State Department of Information and Communications Technology and Digital Economy Secretary-General, met with US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Frank Garcia on the sidelines of the US Chamber of Commerce Business Summit, and discussed cooperation in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure, and attracting US investment to data centers.
These partnerships coincide with the government's draft "AI and Other Emerging Technologies Policy 2026," which proposes rules to protect content moderators who remove harmful material from platforms, and data classification workers—those who meta-tagged images, texts, and sounds to train models like ChatGBT.
the proposals include written employment contracts, psychological support, and a requirement for employers to protect workers from prolonged exposure to traumatic materials. The website explained that this move comes after years of complaints from workers at intermediary companies serving OpenAI and Meta, some of whom reportedly earn between $1.46 and $3.74 per hour, compared to $21 to $27 for similar jobs in the United States.
A Kenyan court ruled in April in favor of 187 former Facebook content moderators in their lawsuit against Meta, accusing the company of exposing them to shocking material, poor working conditions, and unfair dismissal. The court ordered a Meta executive to appear for questioning, according to Capital FM. Meta responded that it was not directly responsible for hiring or firing the workers, claiming that a subcontracting company called Sama handled those tasks—a claim the workers dispute.
More than 35 Kenyan technical workers have filed a legal challenge demanding recognition that exposure to toxic content is an occupational hazard requiring specialized insurance and psychological care.
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