The development of the Africa Bias Buster is timely as concern over algorithmic bias in AI is growing.

The AI Shop , in partnership with Africa No Filter, a non-profit organisation that aims to change existing narratives about Africa, has launched the Africa Bias Buster, an AI -powered tool designed to detect and eliminate bias in writing about Africa.

In a joint statement, the organisations say the solution addresses the persistent issue of stereotypical portrayals of Africa in media and analyses any type of text content, including news articles, blog posts, social media posts, corporate communications, and other written materials.

The development of the Africa Bias Buster comes at a time when concerns about algorithmic bias in AI have been widely discussed.

However, the tool addresses a different and more deeply rooted issue: the centuries-old stereotypes that have distorted representations of Africa and Africans, according to the AI Shop and Africa No Filter.

The Africa Bias Buster analyses text for both subtle and overt biases, assigns a score, and provides actionable suggestions for improvement in real-time.

The analysis leverages a comprehensive internal database containing diverse writing samples and documented stereotypes of varying degrees and contexts, which serves as a reference framework.

A language model evaluates the content against this framework, generating a bias score for the writing. It currently supports formats in DOXC, PDF, and TXT.

The tool targets anyone telling stories about Africa, including journalists, authors, content creators, writers, podcasters, and filmmakers.

The organisations say they have commenced rolling it out to storytelling communities, recently at the recent Africa Media Festival in Nairobi, Kenya.

There are plans to expand to with universities, journalism schools, and other learning institutions.

"We built the Africa Bias Buster to demonstrate how AI can be a positive force for change. By combining our expertise in AI with Africa No Filter's deep understanding of narrative biases, we have created a tool that offers immediate, practical assistance to anyone writing about Africa,” said Ekow Duker, co-founder of the AI Shop.

Moky Makura, executive director at Africa No Filter says the collaboration demonstrates how technology can advance the organisation’s mission to change outdated perceptions of the continent.

“The Africa Bias Buster is fully digital and completely free. Our priority is to equip storytellers who are passionate about shifting the African narrative with the skills to do so. The tool is accessible to anyone, whether on the continent or in the diaspora,” added Abimbola Ogundairo, advocacy and campaigns lead at Africa No Filter.