Silas Adekunle is the co-founder of Awarri, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) research lab startup. Alongside his partner, Eniola Edun, Adekunle established Awarri to ensure Africans have representation in the rapidly evolving field of AI.
Awarri was born out of the need to democratise access to AI and robotics technology across the continent. The startup uses MekaMon, an innovative gaming robot, as a tool to inspire young tech enthusiasts and spark interest in STEM fields.
MekaMon is a four-legged robot that moves like a real creature, bringing video games to life through robotics and augmented reality. An app developed alongside MekaMon allowed users to control the robot and enjoy an even richer gaming experience.
Last year, Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Communication, and Digital Economy, announced a partnership with Awarri to build Nigeria’s own large language model (LLM).
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“Awarri, along with nonprofit Data.org and two government bodies, will build an LLM trained in five low-resource languages and accented English,” the minister stated.
Before founding Awarri, Adekunle and Edun were more prominent in the gaming industry. Edun had launched Gamr Africa, a startup aimed at advancing gaming culture in Lagos, while Adekunle gained international recognition through Reach Robotics. Reach Robotics achieved a major milestone when it signed a deal with Apple for the distribution of MekaMon.
Awarri later acquired the rights to MekaMon, integrating the robot into Nigerian schools to teach children computer science and coding skills. “MekaMon has been a powerful tool in introducing students to technology in a hands-on and engaging way,” Edun noted.
Continuing its mission of fostering AI talent, Awarri launched a data annotation lab in Ikorodu, Lagos, in November 2023. The lab is designed to serve as an AI talent development hub, particularly for the densely populated suburban area.
In the same year, it launched LangEasy, a platform that allows anyone with a smartphone to help train the model through voice and text inputs. LangEasy gives users sentences to read aloud and asks them to save the audio on the app. The app will help crowdsource data for Awarri’s LLM.