MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita becomes founding commissioner of AI for Good Global Commission

MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita has been appointed as a founding commissioner on the AI for Good Global Commission. The CEO will be working alongside other senior leaders such as the CEOs of Nvidia, Amazon and Salesforce. 

The initiative was launched on Thursday by the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to expand digital access, strengthen trust, and accelerate economic impact through responsible AI.

Reacting to the appointment, Mupita noted that current and future developments in AI have the potential to advance health, education, food security and industrial productivity. He added that AI must be safe, ethical and globally inclusive to be accessible to all. 

“It’s an honour to be one of the founding commissioners of the AI for Good Global Commission,” said MTN Group President, adding that the perspectives of the initiative align fully with the work of this Global Commission. 

The AI for Good Global Commission comprises more than 40 members, including leaders from government, business and international organisations to unlock AI’s potential. 

The initiative aligns with MTN’s Ambition 2030 strategy, which seeks to leverage AI for growth. The bulk of the operator’s plan is to target R30 billion ($1.8 billion) in value-creation opportunities over the next three to five years, as it looks to use AI to run about half of its operations. 

Also Read: Karl Toriola distances MTN Nigeria from xenophobic attacks, says it is a Nigerian company.

AI for Good: MTN Group CEO and a wealth of leaders 

The commission brings together some of the world’s most influential leaders in technology, government, and business. The AI for Good Global Commission is co-chaired by Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. 

The founding members include Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Microsoft president Brad Smith, Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark and Cohere co-founder Aidan Gomez.

Others are the presidents of Estonia and Iceland, ArcelorMittal executive chairman Lakshmi Mittal, African Union infrastructure commissioner Lerato Mataboge and policymakers from Kazakhstan, Namibia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Nigeria.

However, notable companies absent from the founding list include OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Meta.

A primary focus of the commission is to bridge the digital divide, as 2.2 billion people worldwide remain offline, showing that about a quarter of the world’s population is excluded from AI’s advances. To achieve this, the committee will build on the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, which helped shape global priorities for extending digital inclusion and economic development.

The first meeting of the AI for Good Global Commission will take place this week in Geneva, Switzerland.