Aldo talks to Pelonomi Moiloa, CEO and co-founder of Lelapa AI and discusses the importance of building language models for African languages and the challenges faced in using models built in other places. Pelonomi emphasizes the need to make AI accessible for everyone and explains how Lelapa AI is working towards that goal. Pelonomi shares her background and journey, as well as the challenges in growing the company. She also discusses the recognition and achievements of Lelapa AI as well as the future plans for the company. Takeaways

• Building language models for African languages is important for providing access to products, services, and information for people in Africa.
• Using models built in other places often fails to capture the context and nuances of African languages, highlighting the need for locally developed models.
• Lelapa AI aims to make AI accessible to everyone.
• The company is expanding to more African languages and domains, such as education, agriculture, and healthcare.

You can find out more about Pelonomi and the work of Lelapa AI here: https://lelapa.ai/about/the-team/ This Episode is made in partnership with: Cold Case Inc (use the code MESSY and get an exclusive 15% discount): https://bit.ly/3HN75PD Riverside (get a 20% discount by signing up via this link): https://bit.ly/3HCU4IC Preworn: Get a 25% discount using the code MESSY25: https://bit.ly/49bEXlD The Code Zone: https://bit.ly/3UlspmU