Kenyan’s Quest For AI Up By 150% On Google

It’s official. Artificial intelligence (AI) owns us. At least according to Google Search trends. Kenyans, like the rest of the world, are searching to learn more AI skills. AI searches have grown by 150 per cent in the period from 1 January to 1 July 2024 in contrast to the same period in 2023.

Search trends in Kenya related to AI continue – with searches for “How to use AI” nearly doubling (+90 per cent), while searches for “What is AI?” have increased by 60 per cent. With interest in AI growing, Kenyans are looking to build their AI skills and qualifications with searches for “AI Course” more than doubling and “AI Jobs” tripling.

This indicates Search interest in “AI” has reached a record high around the world and in Kenya. So much so, that Kenya now has the fourth-highest search interest in AI in Africa, ranking 13th globally.

Interest in AI is very specifically targeted towards career-building and creativity expansion. Trending Searches including “AI-Generated Images”, “AI Logo Maker”, “AI Text Chat Generator” and “Ask AI Questions” – all of which were ‘breakout’ searches in 2024, growing over 5,000 per cent in interest since this time last year.

Agnes Gathaiya, Country Director for Google East Africa said “AI has the potential to create opportunities – from the extraordinary to the everyday – for everyone: bringing new waves of innovation, social and economic progress. So it’s no surprise that the people of Kenya are already looking to make the most of this transformational technology – finding ways to learn more AI skills to boost their career, creativity, and society.”

The research also shows Kenyans are keen to grow their AI skills and qualifications. Searches for “AI Jobs” more than tripled (+230 per cent), while searches for “AI Course” more than doubled (+120 per cent). Top queries around AI and learning include “Where to learn AI and machine learning in Kenya”, “Learn Prompt Engineering”, and “What is needed to learn AI?” Searches for “AI and Business” increased by 60 per cent, while searches for “AI and Start-ups” increased by 70 per cent.

Search interest in cybersecurity and AI also doubled across Kenya (+110 per cent), while people showed a clear interest in the future of AI for science. Searches for AI and healthcare doubled (+100 per cent), while searches for AI and medicine and AI and healthcare increased by 50 per cent, while searches for AI and hospitals increased by 90 per cent.

All trends, unless stated otherwise, are measured from January 1 to July 15th 2024. All percentage increases are in comparison to January 1 – July 15th 2023.