Akili AI, a UK and Nairobi-based artificial intelligence company, has launched Akili Snapshot and Akili Assured — the first AI readiness and governance tools built specifically for enterprises in Kenya and the rest of Africa. Akili Snapshot is a free online service that enables organizations to test their AI readiness in minutes.
Its partner offering, Akili Assured, provides a complete AI compliance and governance framework for corporates, government departments and medium-sized businesses. The launch come a week after a defining moment in Africa’s AI governance history. On 12 May 2026, the Africa Forward Summit — co-hosted in Nairobi by President William Ruto and French President Emmanuel Macron and attended by over thirty Heads of State — adopted the Nairobi Declaration, committing participating nations to advance ethical and pro-innovation AI governance across the continent.
Section 6 of the Declaration commits signatories to strengthen digital sovereignty, support African-led ownership of data and AI systems, and advance responsible AI deployment guided by international frameworks. Akili Snapshot and Akili Assured are the practical tools that translate that commitment into action.
Kenya ranks first globally in ChatGPT adoption by internet user share — research published in 2025 found that 42.1% of Kenyan internet users aged sixteen and above had used the platform in a single month, a figure that surpasses the United States, Japan, and China. Yet the needed enterprise governance frameworks that should contain, manage, and account for that usage remain largely absent, exposing companies from large corporates to smaller SMEs to a range of AI and compliance risks, including misinformation and data loss.
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This gap between the limited AI that organizations believe they are using and the generally much more widespread AI that is actually operating inside their systems, is known as ‘Shadow AI’. According to Akili AI’s own assessments conducted ahead of the launch, the majority of enterprises who self-report they have not deployed AI tools reveal significant Shadow AI exposure when assessed independently.
Simon Bransfield-Garth, CEO, Akili AI, said in Kenya, informal AI use is rampant in business but often unrecognized and unmanaged, exposing businesses to risk. “Snapshot is the practical first step in building responsible AI controls — free, anonymous, and available to any organization in Kenya, Africa, and beyond today. If you have been delaying your AI adoption because you don’t know where you stand on AI readiness, now is the time to take the Snapshot step and find out,” said Bransfield-Garth.
The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) and the Kenya Data Protection Act 2019 have clear legal obligations around how personal and commercial data is handled. Research across Kenya’s banking sector quantifies the scale of unpreparedness: 80% of senior financial services executives believe AI will be transformative — and fewer than 20% of their organizations have well-developed plans for managing it.
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In many organizations, their data protection policies predate the wave of AI that is either being used by well-meaning employees wishing to save time or has been silently added to the tools already in regular use in business, in areas such as marketing, legal and HR.
The assessment takes approximately fifteen minutes, requires no registration, and produces a personalized maturity score and industry benchmark comparison. Users can then download a comprehensive governance assessment, outlining the key next steps to become compliant. Akili Snapshot also produces an AI Opportunity Map which highlights where AI can add the most commercial value in the organization’s specific sector, covering customer care automation, back-office efficiency and revenue growth opportunities.
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