Baobab Tech

Why? - Risk comes from capability asymmetry between attackers and defenders. Open source is what every frontier lab already trains on so defenders get the same AI firepower as attackers. With proprietary code, you're on your own. The biggest risk is someone training on your obscure stack and attacking you when no public model exists to defend it. - AI can now read stripped binaries, so proprietary obscurity barely protects anyone anymore. Most legacy firmware and embedded code is closed, binary-only, and no longer maintained. A huge attack surface that just became legible to AI. - In a Mythos world, software security becomes a speed race: detection, verification, coordination, patch propagation. Closed-source systems are weaker at all four because they centralize knowledge and action inside a vendor, while open ecosystems distribute both. - In open source, the defender crowd is usually bigger than the attacker crowd. In closed source, it's the opposite. AI force-multiplication will amplify that imbalance. And when closed-source systems fail, the blast radius tends to be much larger. They sit behind centralized user, customer, and cloud data, while open source more often runs locally with less data concentration. Let's go open-source!

The growing AI backlash is largely a reaction to the lack of transparency from the companies developing and deploying this technology. An article released today by The Guardian highlights a moment that's emblematic of this opacity: in 2024, US tech companies (usually through trade groups) successfully pressured the European Commission to move away from publishing environmental metrics on individual data centers. The companies cited confidentiality to prevent this transparency, a justification we hear repeatedly at different levels of the AI value-chain (including models, hardware, infrastructure). The net effect is an information vacuum where estimates and misinformation creeps in - undermining the very growth they're trying to promote. If AI is going to scale to the levels that these companies envision, transparency is not optional.

OpenStreetMap is our free, open global map created by communities. Now is the time to join the OpenStreetMap Foundation and support the project ⭐ servers cost money ⭐ support local communities ⭐ help shape the decisions of the project. https://lnkd.in/eVMyZVKH Super affordbable donation to have impact #opendata #opensource #GIS #community #Geo #openmapping

The #WASH #data you need exist. It's just scattered across dozens of platforms, hard to find, and often underused. Project W changes that. 4,700+ water, sanitation, and hygiene datasets. One searchable platform. Early access is opening soon. Sign up: https://ow.ly/gPw850YIuWu Baobab Tech

‼️Humanitarian archives are disappearing, and most of us don't notice until it's too late‼️ As organisations restructure, budgets shrink, and digital infrastructure fails, decades of operational knowledge, beneficiary records, protection documentation, and institutional memory are being lost, often without any decision ever being made. The Humanitarian Archive Emergency (HAE) project led by HCRInstitute - university of manchester with Elrha is building an evidence base on the scale, nature, and consequences of archival risk in the sector. To this end, we, at Key Aid Consulting, Institute of Development Studies and the Archives & Digital Media Lab, are conducting a 5 minute global discovery survey to surface archives, records, and datasets that are not visible in existing repositories or formal initiatives, with particular attention to informal, decentralised, and locally held collections, especially in low and middle-income countries. If you manage, know of, or have worked with humanitarian collections that could be at risk or simply overlooked, we want to hear from you. The survey takes around 5 minutes. Entries can remain confidential where collections are sensitive or politically delicate. 💻Take the survey HERE: https://shorturl.at/H6MQx Please tag colleagues or organisations who should be part of this mapping. #HumanitarianArchives #DataPreservation #KnowledgeManagement #HumanitarianData #ArchiveEmergency #DigitalPreservation #InstitutionalMemory #DataLoss #GlobalDevelopment #HumanitarianSector #ResearchForImpact #EvidenceBased #DataProtection #InformationManagement #DevelopmentResearch #AidSector #NGOs #InternationalDevelopment #Archiving #DataResilience #OpenData #SurveyCall #CallToAction #ProtectData #DataForGood

Some great work by MsingiAI

Attending the ICT4D Conference this year? Or live in Nairobi? Join Varaidzo Faith M., Emeka Nwankwo and me for a free 2-day (face to face) bootcamp on AI+MERL. At the workshop, we'll cover two key aspects: 1) how to apply AI to support tasks along the MERL lifecycle 2) how to conduct MERL of AI-enabled efforts (such as chatbots in health or agriculture). You'll leave with hands-on experience using real AI tools, a sharper understanding of the risks, and a clear ethical framework to guide decisions. The workshop is particularly relevant for: - M&E officers, advisors, and managers seeking to understand AI’s practical relevance to their work - MERL leads and directors responsible for guiding organisational data and learning strategies  - programme staff who commission or use evaluation findings  - researchers and data analysts exploring AI-assisted approaches - consultants or independent evaluators wanting to stay ahead of sector trends More details and information about how to apply are at the link below. We've only got space for around 30 people, so apply now! The deadline for applications is Apr 30, but sooner is better :) https://lnkd.in/ePcVrViU

Dear Web Developers, Application Developers, Engineers, AI Engineers, Data Scientists and everyone in-between, 🤔 If you haven't seriously and deeply questioned the skills you need to add value in this era of AI powered everything, .... do it now! 🧪 If you haven't explored the role of AI in your role, as in, spent at least 2 or 3 hours a day testing and trying it (in your own time if your company doesn't allow), ... start now! ✍🏽 If you think that applying to developer/engineering jobs with a CV/Resume that looks the same as it did 6 months ago,.... scrap it and re-write it. 🧑🏻💻 If you believe that your ability to write all the lines of code yourself, using Stack overflow or google to troubleshoot is what makes you a good developer, ... you are living in the past. 📈 If you aren't at least 20-50x more productive in building software or processing/preparing data, yes, doing in 1 hr would have taken you 3 days last year, ... you aren't hireable. 💥 Sorry, not sorry, for the reality check. Hope this helps. Build your skills, you have all the tools you need to do so.

Baobab Tech is growing and we need someone to who can help lead our innovations and operations; a dynamic, fractional COO type who isn't afraid of complex technology and wants to strengthen AI for social impact; "small tech" over "big tech". https://lnkd.in/gAeP4J3W

💡 New Learning Event: Tools, Trade-Offs, and Takeaways: Exploring Practical Applications of AI for Water Security on Tuesday, April 14 from 9-10:30 am EDT/1-2:30 pm UTC 💧 Water security is about ensuring sustainable access to safe water and sanitation amid growing pressures from population growth, ecological degradation, aging infrastructure, and climate change. In this space, artificial intelligence (AI) can be a powerful tool to make water systems work smarter, faster, and be more adaptive. While many organizations and practitioners working in the sector recognize AI's potential, many are not yet sure how to apply it to their work. Convened by Millennium Water Alliance (MWA), The Water Project, World Resources Institute, Aquaya, and Baobab Tech, this event will explore practical case studies of how AI is being applied across the water security and resilience sectors. Through examples at different stages of development, from early design to tools already in use, speakers will share what it looks like to conceive, build, and launch AI-enabled solutions as well as the lessons and trade-offs that emerge along the way. The event will also include a panel discussion on the limitations of AI, where it works most effectively, and key ethical and environmental considerations. We hope you will join us for an insightful discussion. Click here for the full event description, agenda, and to register: https://lnkd.in/exFYapDg Keith Wright Darren Saywell Audrey Caprio Allison Fechter Gregory Spencer Bogle, PhD Peter Chasse Francesca Battistelli Tinebeb Yohannes G Liz Saccoccia Zablon Adane Rachel Peletz Dayna Hansberger Olivier Mills Solène P.