Kenya IT expert creates AI driven app that understand Kenyan laws

When Naftal Obwoni was in school, he witnessed his father unceremoniously getting laid off, prompting a lengthy court battle against his employer.

Determined to bridge this knowledge gap, Obwoni, equipped with an IT background, embarked on a mission to empower ordinary mwananchi with comprehensive access to legal information and judicial systems.

Naftal Obwoni trained as an IT practitioner, and went on to develop several solutions, taking advantage of emerging technologies.

Naftal Obwoni explaining how he developed the "Wakili" app that is AI driven and understands all Kenyan laws. Photo/Courtesy — Naftal Obwoni explaining how he developed the “Wakili” app that is AI driven and understands all Kenyan laws. Photo/Courtesy

One of his innovations is Wakili, an Artificial Intelligence-powered super lawyer with the knowledge of all Kenyan laws and judicial systems.

“We try to democratise law, to democratise the legal fraternity. Democratisation here means, there was an opportunity in the world now about AI, then we said let’s be the first company that uses AI for social good.

So we’ve developed Wakili so that anybody can go there because it understands every other law in Kenya and even in the Commonwealth.

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We’ve been able to allow it understand all laws in Kenya in both English and fluent Swahili,” Obwoni says of his innovation.

All you need to do is access Wakili on your mobile or computer browser, type in your question either in Swahili, English, Spanish, French or Italian, and you have answers coming to you.

Obwoni says Wakili has been trained to respond in English, Swahili, Spanish, Italian, French and Mandarin.

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“So if today I have land issues I need to know what is my option, somebody has conned me, or you want a divorce, how do I go through the process? They just need to type there in Swahili or English.

This super lawyer, equipped with knowledge of all our country’s laws, will offer guidance, detail the legal ramifications, and even point to relevant constitutional clauses providing recourse.”

Wakili has been developed to target everyone interested in legal matters, from common Mwananchi to legal practitioners and even organisations looking to draft legal documents.