Deep Learning Indaba 2025: Africa’s biggest AI Community Gathers 1000 participants in Kigali, Rwanda to Shape the Future

KIGALI, RWANDA –July 14th, 2025– The Deep Learning Indaba (DLI), Africa’s premier machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) event, proudly announces its 7th edition, set to take place in Kigali, Rwanda, under the powerful theme “Urunana – Hand in Hand for AI in Africa”. This edition will build on the success of the previous editions in South Africa, Kenya, Tunisia, Ghana, and Sénégal.

The University of Rwanda’s Kigali Campus will host over 1,000 participants, including researchers, students, industry professionals, startups, and policymakers from Africa and beyond from August 17th to 22nd. This event aims to create a collaborative and inspiring environment for the continent’s dynamic AI community.

The Deep Learning Indaba is more than just an annual event; it’s a grassroots movement dedicated to empowering Africans to become active contributors and leaders in the advancement of AI, rather than just consumers. 

The edition remains committed to inclusivity and diversity, actively ensuring representation from across the African continent and beyond through travel and accommodation sponsorships, mentorship programs, and community engagement initiatives.

“By prioritising education, collaboration, and inclusivity, the Deep Learning Indaba has become a beacon of hope for Africa’s technological renaissance,” stated Bruno Ssekiwere, Tejumade Afonja, and Pierrette Mahoro Mastel, the 2025 Indaba General Chairs. “Hosting the Deep Learning Indaba 2025 in Kigali perfectly aligns with Rwanda’s vision to become Africa’s hub for inclusive, responsible, and homegrown AI innovation. As our community grows and evolves, we will continue to work together, to unlock new opportunities, inspire innovation, and solidify Africa’s place in the global AI landscape”.

Professor Kayihura Muganga Didas, Vice Chancellor, University of Rwanda expressed his enthusiasm: “Hosting the 2025 Deep Learning Indaba is both an honor and a testament to the University of Rwanda’s commitment to championing research, innovation, and collaboration across the continent. We are proud to welcome Africa’s AI community to our campus, and we look forward to working alongside the Deep Learning Indaba to inspire the next generation of scientists, technologists, and changemakers who will shape Africa’s digital future”.

Highlights of the 2025 Deep Learning Indaba will include:

  • Distinguished Keynote Speakers: The event will feature leading voices in AI, including Verena Rieser (Senior Staff Research Scientist at Google DeepMind), Max Welling (Research Chair in Machine Learning at the University of Amsterdam and Distinguished Scientist at MSR), Dina Machuve (Co-Founder and CTO of DevData Analytics), and Sanmi Koyejo (Assistant Professor at Stanford University and co-founder of Virtue AI).
    • Verena Rieser shared her anticipation: “The promise of AI’s transformative power demands a collective vision. For AI to truly serve all of humanity, its alignment must be forged not just by a few, but by the rich tapestry of human experience and wisdom. I’m thrilled to be at the Deep Learning Indaba in Rwanda, where we have the unparalleled opportunity to collaborate and ensure AI’s benefits reach everyone, everywhere. I look forward to connecting with the community”.
    • Sanmi Koyejo added: “I’m excited to join the Deep Learning Indaba community to discuss how we can transform AI evaluation from ad-hoc benchmarking into a rigorous measurement science. I look forward to exploring with fellow researchers how real-world applications and modern computational techniques can help us build the evaluation frameworks that the field truly needs”.
  • A Flagship “AI Policy in Africa” Panel: Featuring experts like Jane Munga (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), Vukosi Marivate (University of Pretoria), Rayid Ghani (Carnegie Mellon University), and Virginia Dignum (Umea University).
  • Engaging conversations: Panel discussions will revolve around critical areas such as Ethical AI, AI in Healthcare, Climate-Resilient AI Solutions, AI for Business and Finance in Africa, and Centring Data in African AI.
  • Engaging Workshops: In-depth sessions for collaboration and community building across a wide range of topics, including Trustworthy AI, Responsible AI, Robotics, Quantum ML, Data for African AI, Neuroscience, Natural Language Processing, and Compute.
  • A Comprehensive Program: The event will also include tutorials, a two-day African Research Symposium, mentorship sessions, paper presentations and more. You can find the full program here.

Building on the remarkable success of the Indaba 2024 in Dakar, Senegal, this year’s edition in Kigali is set to be even more impactful.  The 2024 event brought together over 700 participants, showcasing 150+ posters and 62 papers, and featured 90+ startups. It hosted 40+ speakers and guests, including Samy Bengio from Apple, and was supported by 30+ sponsors such such as Google DeepMind, InstaDeep, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Meta, Microsoft AI for Good Lab, and OpenAI. 

For a deeper understanding of past achievements, the full Deep Learning Indaba 2024 Impact Report is available here.

As a registered charity with over 100 dedicated organisers, DLI has been building a sustainable pan-African community of AI expertise since its inception in 2017. Through its annual event, the distributed IndabaX local chapters in 47 African countries, and its Excellence in Research and Community Awards, DLI aims to strengthen Africa’s AI ecosystem, foster learning, collaboration, and innovation, and recognise local leadership.

About the Deep Learning Indaba:

The Deep Learning Indaba is a grassroots movement, a culmination of the collective efforts of people across the continent working towards a common goal: to strengthen and empower the African AI community, ensuring Africans are contributors, shapers, and owners of the coming advances in machine learning. Founded in 2017 by a group of friends and collaborators, it has grown into a registered charity powered by volunteers who organise events, coordinate activities, and foster a community of passionate researchers and practitioners. DLI works in collaboration with other pan-African communities and is strengthened through international partnerships, continually fostering new research collaborations, incubating innovation projects, and opening career opportunities.

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