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Artificial Intelligence is transforming Kenya's employment landscape, creating new opportunities while automating some roles. However, its rapid adoption has also led to a concerning surge in technology-facilitated gender-based violence against women.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping Kenya's job market, presenting both significant opportunities and challenges. While AI is poised to boost productivity and create new roles, particularly for higher-skilled workers, it also threatens to automate up to 65% of hard skills required for common jobs, according to a July 2025 BrighterMonday Kenya report. This shift necessitates urgent reskilling and upskilling initiatives to prepare Kenya's youthful workforce for the evolving digital economy.
AI tools are already being deployed across various sectors, including agriculture, healthcare, finance, and education, to streamline routine tasks such as crop monitoring, fraud detection, and medical diagnosis. Employers are increasingly optimistic about AI's potential to enhance efficiency and productivity. However, many workers express fear of job displacement, especially in sectors like manufacturing, banking, and customer service, where AI is likely to automate tasks predominantly held by women.
Despite the economic promise, the proliferation of AI has coincided with a disturbing rise in technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) against women in Kenya. A staggering 99.3% of women and girls reported experiencing some form of online abuse, including harassment, threats, exploitation, or emotional torture, according to a report by the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), UN Women, and the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA). This figure highlights a pervasive issue that extends beyond isolated incidents.
AI-generated content, such as deepfake videos and manipulated images, has become a weapon for harassment, humiliation, and intimidation. Women politicians, journalists, and public figures are increasingly targeted with AI-generated explicit content and manipulated images designed to undermine their credibility and dignity. These attacks are often coordinated, with AI chatbots like Grok being explicitly prompted to generate sexually explicit material. The datasets used to train generative AI models are frequently riddled with biases, leading to the production of caricatures that exaggerate racial stereotypes when generating images of Black African women.
Kenya is taking steps to address the complexities of AI through its National AI Strategy 2025-2030, launched by the Ministry of Information, Communications, and Technology (MICT) on Thursday, March 27, 2025. This strategy aims to position Kenya as a regional leader in AI research, innovation, and commercialisation, while also upholding ethical and responsible AI practices.
The strategy emphasizes ethical development, capacity building, and strategic alignment with continental objectives for sustainable growth. It outlines three key pillars: AI Digital Infrastructure, Data, and AI Research & Development and Innovation, supported by enablers such as talent development. While Kenya currently lacks specific AI legislation, existing laws like the Data Protection Act, 2019, and the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, 2018, provide some regulatory guidance.
The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) also published a Draft Code of Practice for Artificial Intelligence Applications, which was open for public consultation from April 8 to June 13, 2024. The National AI Strategy 2025-2030 explicitly commits to placing women, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized groups at the centre of the country's AI future, acknowledging that unchecked technological advancement could deepen social inequalities.
AI ethicist Mwende Mukwanyaga, co-convener of the AI Salon Kenya, notes a troubling increase in abuse towards women through the misuse of AI as of 2025. She highlights that access to AI is limited for many Kenyan women, particularly those in urban informal settlements, leading to a shallow uptake of the technology. This limited engagement, she warns, could allow AI to become another tool for perpetuating violence and control against women.
The digital divide in Kenya further exacerbates these issues. Computer usage is significantly higher in urban areas (20.9%) compared to rural areas (7.3%), and nationally, 13.1% of males use computers compared to 10.1% of females, according to the 2023/24 Kenya Housing Survey. Similarly, fewer than 30% of ICT roles in Kenya are occupied by women, and only 35% of women use mobile internet compared to 50% of men, as per the GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2024.
The uneven distribution of digital access and skills, coupled with inherent biases in AI training data, poses significant risks. Without inclusive design and equitable access, AI could entrench existing social inequalities and further marginalize vulnerable groups. The weaponization of AI for TFGBV can lead to severe real-life consequences, including stalking, threats, and physical violence, making it difficult for women to feel safe in any space.
The concentration of AI development in urban areas also risks leaving rural communities behind, exacerbating economic inequality. Furthermore, the potential for AI to displace jobs in sectors traditionally dominated by women could widen the gender gap in employment.
While Kenya has launched its National AI Strategy, a comprehensive, binding AI-specific regulatory framework is not yet in force. The effectiveness of existing cross-sector laws in fully addressing AI's complexities remains to be seen. There is also an ongoing need to ensure that AI policies and strategies are gender-inclusive, as evidenced by past rejections of draft bills due to a lack of women's representation.
Stakeholders should closely monitor the development of Kenya's AI regulatory framework and the implementation of the National AI Strategy. Particular attention should be paid to initiatives aimed at bridging the digital gender divide and ensuring inclusive access to AI education and opportunities. The effectiveness of measures to combat technology-facilitated gender-based violence, including the enforcement of existing laws and the development of new safeguards, will be crucial.
