Unveiled on Monday, November 17, 2025, at The Atelier by Design in Kigali, Chidi is built on Anthropic's Claude model and provides inquiry-driven guidance, contextual understanding, and personalised feedback to help learners develop deeper problem-solving skills.
'This collaboration marks a bold step in redefining how African talent learns, works, and leads in the age of AI,' said Fred Swaniker, Founder and CEO of ALX. 'We are ensuring that Africa's youth are not just consumers of AI, but creators shaping the innovations that will define the global economy.'
The initiative follows a successful Phase 1 rollout of Chidi to ALX learners across Africa, which recorded over 1,100 conversations and 4,000 chats within just two days. Phase 2 expands the technology into Rwanda's public education system, including the Rwanda Coding Academy, allowing up to 2,000 educators and a select group of civil servants to participate in ALX's AI Career Essentials programme.
Participants gain hands-on experience using generative AI tools, including Claude Large Language Model, to enhance teaching methods, lesson planning, and workplace productivity. Graduates receive a year of access to Claude Pro, Claude Code, and Claude for Education, ensuring AI literacy continues to shape classrooms and workplaces beyond the program.
Chidi acts as a personalised tutor for students and a teaching partner for educators. It prompts curiosity, encourages critical thinking, and provides guidance without giving away direct answers.
A joint working group from ALX, Anthropic, and the Rwandan government will document insights from the pilot to inform national AI policy in education and develop future innovations, including Chidi for Schools and African language models.
Commitments for the initiative are shared among the partners, with Anthropic covering costs associated with the large language model and API access, ALX providing training, delivery, and implementation infrastructure, and the Government of Rwanda contributing policy guidance, institutional support, and access to schools, without any financial obligations.
The collaboration combines ALX's focus on nurturing African tech talent, Anthropic's expertise in safe and responsible AI development, and Rwanda's progressive approach to digital transformation. Together, the partners aim to provide Africa's youth with learning tools on par with those available in global tech hubs such as Silicon Valley, Beijing, and London. Plans are already underway to explore expansion to other parts of Rwanda and Africa.
During the ceremony, Swaniker highlighted Chidi's unique design for African learners, combining high-quality, scalable, and low-cost education with safeguards for reliability and cultural relevance.
'Chidi uses Claude as an ingredient, but we've wrapped it in 20+ years of African pedagogy and context. We have over 150 PhDs continuously researching, fine-tuning, and iterating with real African learners. We're not just consumers of AI, we're producers, adapting it to our realities,' he said.
Minister of ICT and Innovation Paula Ingabire highlighted Chidi's role in cultivating curiosity and critical thinking among Rwanda's youth.
'When my daughter was little, she would ask 'why?' about everything. As parents, we sometimes get tired of all the 'whys,' but that curiosity is how children truly learn and understand the world. Chidi is designed to do the same, to keep asking 'why,' to push our learners, and to help them learn from their mistakes instead of just handing them the answers,' she said.
Joseph Nsengimana, Minister of Education, represented at the ceremony by Pascal Gatabazi, Chief Technical Officer at the Ministry of Education, added that Chidi aligns with Rwanda's Education Sector Strategic Plan and National Strategy for Transformation, supporting teaching quality, enhancing digital literacy, and driving measurable improvements in student outcomes.
A panel discussion moderated by Nimie Chaylone, General Manager of ALX Rwanda and Kenya, explored the rationale for choosing Africa and Rwanda for the pilot. Drew Benton, who leads Education within Anthropic's Beneficial Deployments team, emphasised Africa's young population, talent ecosystem, and capacity for innovation.
'Over half of Africa's population is under 25, creating an enormous talent ecosystem and opportunity for innovation,' he said.
Early results from Chidi's use demonstrate significant engagement. Within two weeks of the pilot, learners exchanged 20,000 messages and processed approximately 80 million words of context, showing the platform's capacity to scale personalised, interactive, and critical-thinking-driven learning.
Learners participating in the pilot praised Chidi for enhancing self-learning and boosting confidence. Shyaka Caleb, a 22-year-old Software Engineering and AI Career Essentials graduate, described Chidi as a 'sidekick' that provides in-depth answers and allows learners to ask questions without hesitation.
Giselle Akuzwe, another learner, highlighted how Chidi turned vague project ideas into concrete solutions. 'Seeing Chidi rolled out across Rwanda and Africa, especially for girls in tech like me, will be incredibly empowering, not just technically but in bringing our ideas to life,' she remarked.
As Chidi begins its pilot in Rwanda, the initiative signals a new chapter in AI-powered education across Africa. By equipping learners, teachers, and public servants with advanced, safe, and contextually relevant AI tools, the partnership sets a precedent for scalable, transformative learning solutions developed in Africa and shared globally.
Wycliffe Nyamasege
