As we ring in 2026, it’s time to look back at everything that happened in 2025. It was an incredible year of finding our place and path, in a landscape that is always changing and evolving.
We started the year with our Manifesto working group, six individuals with diverse expertise and backgrounds: Arthur Gwagwa, PhD., Bobina Zulfa, Malik Afegbua, Talal Rahwan, Tanya Dutt, Yasir Zaki, and Sameer Raina. Over the course of 3 sessions and a brainstorming workshop, they helped us articulate how our principles and values could become tangible and practical actions in the development of a community-centered AI. You can find the Manifesto here.
The Manifesto built off the Landscape Research Report, which we also published publicly in March. The research mapped existing digital heritage projects and leading individuals and companies in the fields of ethical AI and cultural heritage in Asia and Africa.
We launched the Manifesto at the Culture Summit in Abu Dhabi, where we also curated a panel “Transmission by Avatar,” with Martin Puchner, Federico Castanedo, Ph.D, Pelonomi Moiloa, and Suhair Khan as panelists. At the same time, we also launched the AAOO website and logo, with thoughtful design by Lakshay Kumar.
In April we welcomed two new members to the team, Tatenda Tavingeyi as Project Coordinator and Sadik Shahadu as Communications and Partnerships Coordinator. They worked with us throughout the year, bringing their own expertise and interest to help direct the next steps.
In the summer we received a grant from the Open Knowledge Foundation to work with the Open Data Editor. We started working with communities in East London South Africa and Cambodia to gather data for a pilot prototype, exploring what community-centered data collection and co-development actually means. We looked at plant-based indigenous knowledge systems in South Africa, and Ikat Weaving and Buddhist Smot chanting in Cambodia.
Throughout the fall, as data collection continued, we worked with graduate students at UCLA with Cindy Anh Nguyen to transform the data into working prototypes. We pondered what data protection looks like in our community-centered context and created our own data and model license. We also collaborated with Melon Rouge Agency to improve human-centered research and design, working towards a methodological framework for ethical data collection in a cultural heritage context.
Along the way, our team members attended conferences and kept the conversations going. We had the opportunity to curate a panel for ICCROM to share the learnings of the pilot project: entitled “Ctrl+S Culture: AI and Heritage in a Digital World,” it was moderated by Selin Nugent of Oxford Brookes University and our team member Tatenda, in conversation with Mutanu Kyanya from African Digital Heritage.
In December, we also organized an interactive webinar with our community and UNESCO, where the facilitator of the expert group on AI and culture for Mondiacult shared their report and findings.
Finally, we recently received a grant from Mozilla Foundation to provide culturally and contextually grounded contributions to the Common Voice Public API project in Khmer and Dagbani.
In 2026, we look forward to much more – such as preparing a toolkit based on the methodological framework for ethical data collection we’ve been developing, advancing the prototypes, and much more. If you’re interesting to connect with us, please do reach out here or via info@aaoo.ai!
FEATURED IMAGE: Project Coordinator Tatenda meets with community members in East London, South Africa, during field visits for data collection as well as to understand community perspectives on AI and heritage.
