• Have you ever heard of citizen journalism?

---

Although this term may sound unfamiliar to some people, many Tanzanians practise it daily through social media posts, videos, and online discussions. Smartphones and digital platforms have made it easier for both trained journalists and ordinary citizens to create and share information with audiences in real time.

As information continues to multiply across digital platforms, the challenge is no longer simply accessing news. It is finding reliable information, understanding its meaning, and using it to make informed decisions.

This is where artificial intelligence (AI) is creating new possibilities for how people discover and interact with information.

In Tanzania, Nukta AI, developed by Nukta Africa, seeks to make information more accessible by helping users discover relevant news, understand complex topics, and access practical information through technology.

Officially launched on April 29, 2026, the platform reflects Nukta Africa’s efforts to use technological innovation to improve access to information and make knowledge more accessible to Tanzanians.

Nukta Africa Chief Business Development Officer Daniel Mwingira emphasised the organisation’s commitment to use AI to expand access to reliable information.

“We are committed to ensuring that we use AI technology to transform access to accurate information, with the aim of enabling Tanzanians, particularly young people, to access knowledge that can transform their lives,” he says.

Bringing Tanzania’s information closer to its people

Unlike other AI tools that may struggle to interpret local contexts, Nukta AI is being developed with Tanzania and Africa in mind. Its focus on local information aims to help address gaps in how general-purpose AI systems understand the country’s social, economic, and cultural realities.

The platform converges together news and information from Nukta’s Habari newsroom and from other Tanzanian media outlets, helping users discover developments from different sources in one place. 

Mwingira says through prompts, users can explore topics of interest and receive concise summaries of news stories, making it easier to identify key developments without having to read every article in full.

This functionality can help readers follow national events, understand emerging issues, trends, and identify reports that require closer attention. 

“By making information easier to navigate, Nukta AI offers a practical way to reduce the time spent searching for relevant news,” insists Mwingira, who manages the platform. 

However, summaries are just a starting point for understanding an issue, not a replacement for original reporting. Reading the underlying articles remains important when users need full context, supporting evidence, and detailed explanations.

From news to everyday decisions

Nukta AI goes beyond news discovery by providing access to practical economic information. Its capabilities include information on share prices for companies listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE), agricultural commodity prices, and foreign exchange rates.

For a farmer seeking market information, a young entrepreneur exploring business opportunities, or a reader following currency movements, access to timely data can help them better understand changing economic conditions.

The platform also offers opportunities to make data easier to process and communicate. By simplifying complex figures and presenting information in more accessible formats, AI can help bridge the gap between raw data and public understanding.

Breaking language barriers through local languages

One of Nukta AI’s distinctive features is its use of language resources, including dictionaries for Tanzanian local languages from different tribes such as Kisukuma, Kihehe, and Kihaya, alongside other local languages.

“This approach creates opportunities to make information universal and easy to understand to people who may find formal Kiswahili or English difficult to follow,” Mwingira says. “It is relevant for rural communities, where language barriers can limit access to development information.” 

By supporting the communication of information in familiar local languages, Nukta AI has the potential to broaden access to knowledge beyond audiences who are comfortable with dominant languages.

The expansion of AI-generated content has created new opportunities to access information, but it has also raised concerns about fabricated claims, misleading summaries, and answers that lack local context. Nukta AI seeks to respond to these challenges by prioritising information relevant to Tanzania and making news and data easier to access. 

Nukta AI represents an effort to combine journalism, artificial intelligence, economic data, and local-language resources to improve how people access and understand information.

As the platform develops, its success will depend not only on how quickly it delivers answers, but also on the reliability of its sources, the accuracy of its summaries and translations, and its ability to serve people across different languages and communities.