AI & African Music Pilot Receives Over 160 Applications

The Wits Innovation Centre, in partnership with the Machine Intelligence & Neural Discovery Institute at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa, has launched the pilot project AI & African Music, expanding AI datasets and applications into African contexts. Their call for proposals recently received over 160 proposals from 22 countries in Africa, all addressing uses of AI to co-create, perform, and teach music in African traditions; record and transcribe African musical works; and build AI tools that understand African sounds and languages. The pilot offers participants ZAR 30k/month to develop their proposal with AI engineers, culminating in a final presentation in April 2026. Learn more about the project here.