{"id":264663,"date":"2025-10-29T12:06:47","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T13:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/?p=264663"},"modified":"2025-10-29T16:08:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T16:08:32","slug":"google-invests-r49m-to-support-ai-skills-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/builder\/google-invests-r49m-to-support-ai-skills-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Google invests R49m to support AI skills development"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post<\/a> was originally published on this site<\/a><\/p>

<\/p>\n

Google has announced a R49 million funding through <\/span>Google.org<\/span><\/a> to support AI skills development, education, online safety and cybersecurity in South Africa. <\/span><\/p>\n

Google said in a statement on Wednesday that the announcement was made at <\/span>AI Expo Africa<\/span><\/a>, the continent\u2019s largest business-focused artificial intelligence and smart technology event, which brings together thousands of enterprise buyers, suppliers and innovators each year. <\/span><\/p>\n

The funding builds on Google\u2019s <\/span>AI skilling work<\/span><\/a> announced earlier this year and focuses on expanding the country\u2019s AI talent pipeline while strengthening community safety through support for leading non-profit organisations and academic institutions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kabelo Makwane, the country director for Google South Africa, said the funding reflects a long-term commitment to supporting the country\u2019s digital transformation. \u201cThis is about building capacity where it matters most, in our classrooms, our communities and our innovation spaces,\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBy backing organisations who are already doing impactful work, we can help develop the skills and resilience needed to build a more secure and inclusive digital future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A large part of the funding focuses on advanced AI education at university level. FATE Foundation and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences have received $1.5 million (R25.7m) to embed Google DeepMind\u2019s AI Research Foundations Curriculum into universities across South Africa. This initiative will give students and lecturers the skills and knowledge they need to drive innovation and research.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, Google said $350 000 will support the African Technology Forum AI Challenge, a programme designed to give young innovators hands-on experience in developing AI solutions for real-world problems in areas such as health and energy. This initiative aims to link students to real career opportunities, funding and networks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recognising that innovation must be built on a foundation of trust and safety, Google said it is also providing online safety and cybersecurity programmes. <\/span><\/p>\n

Junior Achievement Africa, one of the continent\u2019s largest youth economic empowerment organisations, will receive $500 000 to deliver culturally relevant online safety programmes. Using Google\u2019s Be Internet Awesome curriculum, JA Africa will support youth, teachers and caregivers to strengthen digital literacy and online safety awareness across key markets.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another $500 000 will go to the CyberSafe Foundation, which works to democratise access to cybersecurity and AI education. The funding will be used to provide training, technical support and critical security services to help protect community organisations from growing digital threats.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAI has extraordinary potential to transform economies, but the real power lies in ensuring more people can participate and benefit,\u201d Makwane said. \u201cBy supporting trusted organisations across education and civil society, we can help build an AI ecosystem in South Africa that is inclusive, secure and globally competitive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

BUSINESS REPORT<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google\u00a0has announced a R49 million funding through Google.org\u00a0to support AI skills development, education, online safety and cybersecurity in South Africa.\u00a0Google said in a statement on Wednesday that the announcement was made at AI Expo Africa, the continent\u2019s largest business-focused artificial intelligence and smart technology event, which brings together thousands of enterprise buyers, suppliers and innovators each year.\u00a0The funding builds on\u00a0Google\u2019s\u00a0AI skilling work\u00a0announced earlier this year and focuses on expanding the country\u2019s AI talent pipeline while strengthening community safety through support for leading non-profit organisations and academic institutions.Kabelo Makwane, the country director for\u00a0Google\u00a0South Africa, said the funding reflects a long-term commitment to supporting the country\u2019s digital transformation. \u201cThis is about building capacity where it matters most, in our classrooms, our communities and our innovation spaces,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cBy backing organisations who are already doing impactful work, we can help develop the skills and resilience needed to build a more secure and inclusive digital future.\u201dA large part of the funding focuses on advanced AI education at university level. FATE Foundation and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences have received $1.5 million (R25.7m) to embed\u00a0Google\u00a0DeepMind\u2019s AI Research Foundations Curriculum into universities across South Africa. This initiative will give students and lecturers the skills and knowledge they need to drive innovation and research.In addition, Google said $350 000 will support the African Technology Forum AI Challenge, a programme designed to give young innovators hands-on experience in developing AI solutions for real-world problems in areas such as health and energy. This initiative aims to link students to real career opportunities, funding and networks.Recognising that innovation must be built on a foundation of trust and safety,\u00a0Google said it is also providing online safety and cybersecurity programmes. Junior Achievement Africa, one of the continent\u2019s largest youth economic empowerment organisations, will receive $500 000 to deliver culturally relevant online safety programmes. Using Google\u2019s Be Internet Awesome curriculum, JA Africa will support youth, teachers and caregivers to strengthen digital literacy and online safety awareness across key markets.Another $500 000 will go to the CyberSafe Foundation, which works to democratise access to cybersecurity and AI education. The funding will be used to provide training, technical support and critical security services to help protect community organisations from growing digital threats.\u201cAI has extraordinary potential to transform economies, but the real power lies in ensuring more people can participate and benefit,\u201d Makwane said. \u201cBy supporting trusted organisations across education and civil society, we can help build an AI ecosystem in South Africa that is inclusive, secure and globally competitive.\u201dBUSINESS REPORT<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":196470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-264663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-builder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264664,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264663\/revisions\/264664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}