Owalo urges institutions to embrace AI in learnin

Deputy Chief of Staff in the office of the President, Eliud Owalo, has challenged tertiary institutions in the country to integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital literacy across all fields of study.

Owalo highlighted the importance of institutions promoting interdisciplinary research that would address real-world challenges, especially those affecting rural communities. 

“Universities are at the heart of this transformation. I call upon you to uphold ethical standards, ensuring fairness, transparency, and accountability in technological innovation,” the Deputy Chief of Staff said.

He encouraged institutions to foster innovation ecosystems that nurtured startups, entrepreneurial thinking, and community-driven solutions.

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Owalo was speaking at Rongo University on May 14, 2025 during the launch of the Rongo University International Multi-Disciplinary conference that would run for five days at the university’s grounds.

He challenged them to strengthen partnerships with government, industry, and civil society to accelerate the translation of research into a tangible, positive impact.

According to Owalo, if harnessed wisely, AI would offer enormous opportunities to revolutionize education, expand healthcare access, enhance climate resilience, power new waves of entrepreneurship, and reform public service delivery.

However, he cautioned that they must remain vigilant to ensure that AI bridges, rather than widen social divides.

The Deputy Chief of Staff stressed the need to protect data privacy, cybersecurity, and national sovereignty.

He highlighted the importance of citizens being empowered not just as users of technology, but as informed participants and decision makers in how AI shapes their lives.

“Kenya’s approach must always prioritize a human-centric, rights-based, and ethically anchored technological future. The future is not something we passively await. It is something we actively build, choice by choice and action by action,” Owalo remarked.

He urged researchers, educators, innovators, policymakers, and students to develop African-led AI solutions rooted in their realities and aspirations that would embed ethics, sustainability, and inclusion at the heart of innovation.

Rongo University’s Vice Chancellor, Samuel Gudu, highlighted steps the institution had taken in terms of adopting AI.

“At Rongo University, we are endeavouring to embrace new technologies, and we also want to be participants in those new technologies,” Prof. Gudu said.

According to Gudu, they were allowed to start an AI laboratory at the institution.

He highlighted that the lab was quite busy and that they were doing a lot of work in terms of AI and new technologies.

“We felt it was the right moment and this point and time to be able to access what we have acquired using the new artificial laboratory that was given to us,” Gudu stated.