Kenya has signed a landmark artificial intelligence partnership with American AI giant Anthropic. The Joint Declaration was signed in New York on September 22, 2026, by Foreign Affairs PS Korir Sing’Oei and Elizabeth Kelly, Head of Beneficial Deployments at Anthropic. The ceremony was witnessed by Anthropic’s Global Impact Lead, Amb. Courtney O’Donnell, and Kenya’s Special Envoy on Technology, Amb. Philip Thigo. This partnership underscores Kenya’s commitment to advancing Africa’s voice on digital transformation.
President William Ruto, leading Kenya’s delegation to the 81st United Nations General Assembly, has consistently emphasized the importance of regional and global partnerships in AI. He believes that Kenya and Africa must pool resources, talent, and infrastructure to capture value across the AI chain. The partnership with Anthropic is a significant step towards achieving this goal. The agreement covers AI skills and capacity building, research, responsible public-sector applications, AI safety and evaluation, and real-world applications in education and health.
The next phase of the partnership will focus on pilots, research initiatives, and training programs involving Kenyan institutions. The two parties will co-create initiatives, build local capacity, test AI applications, and scale successful programs in line with Kenyan law. The partnership aims to ensure that frontier AI technologies are developed and applied in ways that reflect Kenya’s institutions, languages, development priorities, and public interest. This collaboration is expected to drive responsible AI deployment and improve the human condition.
Ambassador Philip Thigo played a crucial role in driving the partnership with Anthropic. He began discussions with the company in June 2026, including calls with Elizabeth Kelly, before meeting CEO Dario Amodei in Silicon Valley. Thigo emphasized Kenya’s vision of responsible AI deployment and the need for co-creation, trust, safety by design, local capability, and a shared commitment to improving the human condition.
The partnership includes safeguards on data sovereignty, ensuring that any future program involving access to, processing of, or use of data is governed by Kenyan law. This includes data protection, cybersecurity, and public-sector requirements. The declaration does not affect Kenya’s authority over its public data or the obligations of government institutions to protect personal and sensitive information.
The agreement follows months of engagement between Kenya and Anthropic. On September 3, 2026, ICT and Digital Economy Principal Secretary Eng. John Tanui met with an Anthropic delegation led by O’Donnell to discuss AI skills for public servants, SMEs, cybersecurity, and pilot projects. The signing of the Joint Declaration is part of Kenya’s wider technology diplomacy agenda of striking strategic partnerships with global tech firms.
The coordination of the partnership will sit under the Office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary and the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs. The next phase will translate the framework into specific pilots, institutional partnerships, research initiatives, and capacity-building programs in collaboration with relevant government institutions. This partnership is expected to have a significant impact on Kenya’s AI landscape and its application in various sectors.
Key points
- The partnership between Kenya and Anthropic aims to advance artificial intelligence skills, research, and applications in education and health.
- The agreement includes safeguards on data sovereignty, ensuring that Kenyan law governs any future program involving access to, processing of, or use of data.
- The partnership will drive responsible AI deployment and improve the human condition, with a focus on co-creation, trust, safety by design, local capability, and a shared commitment to improving the human condition.
