In this episode of Jijuze, Brian discusses an intriguing story from Kenya on how Safaricom, one of the country's leading telecom operators, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to combat money laundering in its popular M-Pesa ecosystem, a fraud disguised as betting activities. The AI system was able to detect a pattern of micro-loops and high-traffic betting APIs, revealing that wallets had become conduits for laundering billions of shillings, exploiting the speed of the M-Pesa ecosystem. However, Safaricom is now leveraging the same technology to disrupt these activities. This has led to a backlash from betting firms and resulted in tightened regulations by the authorities. This saga has highlighted how AI can simultaneously be a protector and disruptor, offering a fascinating look into the broader implications for Kenya's digital economy.
