In an inspiring conversation with The Guardian, Jamiu Idowu, a visionary AI innovator from Nigeria, shares his journey from building AI models as a hobby to spearheading transformative solutions in education and law. With a background in civil engineering and a Master’s in Artificial Intelligence from University College London, Idowu is the driving force behind Sahel AI, a platform revolutionizing legal workflows in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. His mission is bold yet grounded: to harness AI to empower teachers, streamline legal processes, and ensure every child has access to a personalized AI tutor. In this interview, Idowu discusses the challenges of integrating AI in developing economies, the importance of responsible innovation, and his dream of reshaping education globally.

Can you share a bit about your background and how it influenced your journey to work on AI?

I actually started building AI models just after my undergraduate – mostly for fun. Then, I did some work with an education consultancy in Dubai where we built education strategies for governments in the Middle East and Africa. After that, I worked as a country manager for HP, where we empowered teachers to become innovators using technology – during the COVID-19 pandemic when we needed to ensure learning could continue despite lockdowns.

I became convinced there are real problems we can solve with AI. I saw that professionals like teachers were spending a lot of time on repetitive tasks that could be automated. So even before I formally studied AI, I was already exploring ways it could be used to improve these workflows – and had already built and experimented with AI models for tasks like predicting accident severity on roads and classifying loan application outcomes. That early hands-on experience helped shape the perspective I brought into later roles, including the HP innovation work. That was the foundation of my AI journey, and I leaned towards applying AI to solve real world problems.

What was your academic journey like?
My Bachelor’s degree was in Civil Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University. Then, I got a Master’s degree with Distinction in Artificial Intelligence from University College London.

You’ve worked on applying AI to educational and legal systems. What challenges or gaps are you trying to solve in these fields with your work?
In education, especially in the developing world, the teacher-to-student ratio is very high. Teachers don’t have enough time to give personalized support to every child. But the truth is, like the former UK Prime Minister once said, personalized learning is the holy grail of education. Wealthy parents can afford private tutors, but many families can’t.

So, what if we could build an AI tutor for every child? A tutor that understands the child’s learning history and can adapt to their needs? That’s where AI becomes a game-changer. It’s not about replacing teachers – it’s about supporting them, freeing up their time, and making sure every child gets the help they deserve. With good analytics, teachers and school authorities can also make smarter decisions.

In the legal industry, there are two main issues we’re addressing. First, lawyers are overworked. I have a friend who regularly goes to bed at 2 a.m. because of the volume of work. If we can automate some of the repetitive legal tasks like contract review and drafting, it would improve their quality of life and the quality of their work. Second is access to justice. Legal services are expensive, and many people can’t afford lawyers. AI can step in by helping with simple legal queries or chasing debts – things that don’t always need a full legal team.

Does that mean AI will take jobs from professionals like lawyers and teachers?
The way I like to think about it is this: jobs and tasks are not the same. If you’re a lawyer and all you do is draft and review contracts, yes, those tasks might be automated. But that doesn’t mean you’re out of work. It means you now focus more on strategic thinking, complex advisory, or litigation.

In education, I don’t think AI will take away any jobs. Teaching involves mentorship, emotional support, and human connection. AI won’t replace that. In fact, I believe we’ll need more teachers because with better tools, they’ll be able to reach and support more students effectively.

Tell us your Sahel AI story.
At UCL, I took a course called Technology Entrepreneurship. Every week, we met people building real-world AI solutions. That gave me clarity: I decided to build AI tools for knowledge-intensive sectors like education and law, which aligned with the challenges I had already seen in the field.

We started with the legal sector and built a platform that automates legal workflows. It’s being used in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, fully integrated with Microsoft Word. We are a Microsoft Partner and we have achieved ISO 27001 certification. We also participated in the GoTime AI Accelerator by Resilience 17, and won the Best Idea Award at UCL’s SustainTech Pitch Competition.

How do you balance innovation with responsibility when building AI tools?
We prioritize user data privacy and security first. Every system we build centers on data protection. We also ensure that the AI never makes final decisions. It gives suggestions and highlights risks, and the user decides what to do.

We have put deliberate systems in place to minimize hallucinations.. For example, when drafting legal content, we use context-based input and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), so the AI always has verified data to work with. That way, it gives accurate results.

What barriers do AI innovators face in African countries, and how have you navigated these challenges?
There are a few big ones. Everything, hosting, APIs, tools, is charged in dollars. But we operate in an economy where you have to charge in local currency, and the minimum wage is low. That’s a serious gap.

There’s also limited access to capital. But I have learned to focus on building solutions that work and bring value. If you keep building and stay committed, eventually the sacrifices start to pay off.

How do you envision AI being more effectively integrated into higher education systems?
There are three main ways: learning, monitoring, and assessment. AI can support learning through intelligent tutoring systems. It can also help authorities monitor learning progress in real time. And it can support better and faster assessments. Together, those three could really improve the quality of higher education globally.

What legacy do you hope to leave in the AI industry, and where do you see your career in the next five years?
Ultimately, my goal is to build an AI tutor for every child. I want to see a future where every child, no matter their background, has access to a personalized AI tutor that supports their learning journey.