A lecturer in computer science and a polytechnician by training, Dr. Olivier Lompo is a lecturer and researcher at the University of Franche-Comté in France and at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne in Switzerland. He teaches modules such as Data Mining, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Computer Vision, Internet of Things (IoT) and Wireless Sensor Networks, Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Cyber-Physical Systems, Cybersecurity and AI. His research focuses on the intelligent optimization of resource allocation and data transmission in wireless sensor networks using distributed AI. In this interview, he takes stock of the state of AI in the world and discusses the issues and challenges related to the development of AI in Africa. Through the Burkina Faso AI House, which he launched in July 2025, Dr. Olivier Lompo aims to help promote the use of AI in key sectors such as health, agriculture, education, cybersecurity, and cyberdefense.
Sidwaya (S): Today, AI is revolutionizing all sectors of activity. What role does AI play in the socioeconomic development of the world today?
Dr. Olivier Lompo (OL): It's important to note that AI is reshaping the structures of our society, and its influence extends far beyond simple automation. AI is profoundly transforming working methods and economic models. For example, when you look at human and animal health, we can perform early diagnoses, personalized medicine, and even surgery assisted by companion robots.
Modeling the 3-dimensional structure of a cell was made possible thanks to AI and clearly through the DINO v2 process. Genomics and gene therapies, stem cells, nanomedicine, restorative nanotechnologies, hybridization between man and machine are all technologies that will revolutionize all our relationships with the world in a few generations. It is also likely that life expectancy will increase at least during the 21st century. That's great! You see, in the field of finance, fraud detection, automated risk management is a major advance today, it may be trivial but ask yourself, if this were not controlled, what would have become of the colossal masses of financial data to be analyzed?
When discussing the role of AI in global economic development, it is important to remember that it has become a huge strategic lever for growth, competitiveness, and especially innovation. When you look at the countries that have adopted AI and made it their strategic ally, you will notice that the automation of repetitive tasks has freed up time for higher value-added activities.
We now know that thanks to AI, banking services can reach unbanked populations in the case of African countries. Social and economic gaps could be quickly observed and accentuated, especially by new professions in Tech. Other major advances we are experiencing are also in energy optimization, given the importance of energy today, mastery of climate forecasts, and most importantly, mastery in the management of our agricultural resources. States that quickly integrate AI into their public policies are also taking a step ahead in competitiveness and social performance. AI is no longer an option; it has become an essential lever for growth and sovereignty.
S: What is your assessment of the development of AI in Africa, in general, and in Burkina Faso, in particular?
OL: It should be noted that Africa is already in the process of revolution and has been involved for a decade in developing and deploying some Artificial Intelligence solutions for its population. What we must remember is the scope of African AI solutions; on the continent, we tend to think locally, to develop IT projects with a continental impact. In my opinion, I hope that AI engineers today can think a little more globally, globally, without straying from African AI engineering.
We have, for example, Copyly AI or even NextGit AI, to name just a few, which are African AIs developed by African engineers. It should be noted that we had more than a thousand African AI tools, but until then with little social or economic impact. In Burkina Faso, things are bubbling! Many AI projects, innovative solutions are being created. The government's effort in this direction is very beneficial when you look at the various AI research laboratories like LAMIBIO and CITADEL, we understand how much doctoral students and researchers are advancing AI projects. We also have the ecosystem of academics who design, develop, and test AI tools locally.
S: Can AI be an alternative to help Africa make up for its development delays in many areas?
OL: I would say a resounding "YES," considering the exciting projects underway on the continent. We know that AI can compensate for the lack of skilled human resources in certain areas, such as remote medical diagnosis, machine translation for African languages, and chatbots for public and banking services. This could enable governments and businesses to offer more services with less, by reducing associated costs and expanding access.
I take as an example the possibility of developing a tool to identify students with learning difficulties with the possibility of early detection of school dropouts. AI can also help in the fight against corruption for good governance. With the current security situation, it is a good ally that must be pampered, AI can be used to develop conflict prevention and even prediction software. This will clearly help in the control of conflicts and social and economic crises.
Africa can build its own AI model: ethical, frugal, inclusive, and rooted in its realities. We have Mistral and Claude with Europe, Open AI, Meta AI, or Gemini with the United States, Deep Seek with China, and where does Africa fit in? A revolutionary AI is coming in September 2025, and it's the one we developed at the AI Research Center of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and the ETH Zurich in Switzerland. It's a 100% Swiss, free language model with true openness to data.
S: AI doesn't just have its positive side; it also has its downside. With the advent of AI, many fear massive job losses, not to mention the ethical or moral questions that could arise from its use. As an expert on the subject, what's the reality? Is there a danger ahead?
OL: These fears are legitimate, but, in my opinion, misguided. AI could certainly eliminate jobs, but it transforms them profoundly, and it is in this process of change that new professions and jobs are created. We must therefore anticipate this change by training young people and workers in the skills of tomorrow. As for ethics, it is at the heart of our approach. We must define AI governance rooted in our African values, avoid algorithmic biases by opening up data, guarantee data protection through the Commission on Information Technology and Civil Liberties, and promote trustworthy AI. This is also the role of the Maison de l'AI: to train, supervise, and regulate.
S: Do you feel that in our tropics, there is a clear awareness of the importance of AI as an essential vector of change and socio-economic development on the continent?
OL: Awareness is emerging, but it remains elitist and concentrated in a few circles. We need to popularize, democratize, and raise awareness among decision-makers, young people, and even rural people. AI must be seen as a development tool. Through our upcoming programs starting this August, and our publications on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram, the Maison de l'AI is committed to making AI accessible to all Burkinabés.
S: What should Africa, Burkina Faso, do to make the most of AI in order to effectively respond to development challenges?
OL: Invest massively in training, create innovation hubs, promote and make available local data, promote technological entrepreneurship and, above all, establish a clear and effective regulatory framework. Burkina Faso must notably integrate AI into its national development strategy by creating a specially dedicated Artificial Intelligence and Digital Agency, promote applied research and encourage public-private partnerships.
Q: Burkina Faso is facing a security crisis. How can AI solutions help this country effectively fight the terrorist hydra?
OL: AI can strengthen territorial surveillance through image recognition (drones), analyze weak signals on social networks, anticipate suspicious movements using predictive models, and optimize military logistics. It can also facilitate the management of internally displaced persons, the prevention of radicalization, and the securing of sensitive sites. However, these solutions must be developed locally and respect our fundamental jurisdictions. It should be noted that the Maison de l'AI is currently working in partnership with ANSSI, BCLCC, DCSSIC, DGTI, and soon with CIL, to reflect on, train and raise awareness, develop, and deploy AI tools that could clearly help to gradually control insecurity linked to terrorism and internal security.
Q: As an AI teacher-researcher, what are your research areas or topics? What is the current state of AI research worldwide?
OL: AI research is dominated by major technological powers like the United States, which has the largest universities in the world, including Stanford, MIT,Berkeley, which leads fundamental research. We also know that Google, Apple, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft dominate language models with GPT, Gemini, and Claude, to name a few. Massive investments in deep learning, self-supervised learning, LLMs and LAMs, robotics, and embedded AI are being observed. China, for its part, remains the accelerated rise with massive state support to become a world leader by 2030. Leaders such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu are developing powerful models like Ernie and ChatGLM. Concretely, we are seeing a breakthrough in research that is now very advanced in computer vision, military AI, surveillance, and predictive modeling.
Europe is carrying out ethics-focused initiatives such as AI ACT, for which I worked within the European Commission with my research department FEMTO-ST. We are seeing a strong presence of European AI in cognitive robotics, digital health and much more in fundamental research. Some AI centers such as INRIA in France, TUM in Germany, or EPFL in Switzerland have very high-level productions. It should be noted that Canada also has a very high-level production through the Yoshua Bengio School, the same one who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in October 2024 with his MILA laboratory, a pioneer in responsible AI and fundamental AI.
Regarding Africa, we can notice the emergence of some research centers like CITADEL, AI4D, DSN. It should be noted that I work on the intelligent optimization of resource allocation and data transmission in wireless sensor networks using distributed artificial intelligence. This is an area where, within the FEMTO-ST laboratory, my team and I were able to work on how AI algorithms can be integrated into sensor nodes to improve energy efficiency while reducing communication latency. The whole point is to successfully optimize transmission routes in wireless communication systems.
Let's start with this concrete example: Imagine a 20-hectare farm equipped with LoRa sensors and connected weather stations. The system will predict a local drought 48 hours in advance, automatically activate irrigation in critical areas, and finally prioritize sending alerts to high-yield areas. There are just as many areas of application.
Q: What are the latest developments in AI or the latest research topics in AI?
OL: I would say that the trends today are for the foundation models GPT-4.5, Claude 3, Gemini Ultra, LLaMA 3 towards a convergence between NLP, multimodality, and artificial cognition. With generative AI, we can clearly succeed in creating text, images, sound, video, especially with the JEPA model, which is Joint Embedding Predictive Architecture. As for self-supervised learning, we will see the gradual replacement of supervised learning in many fields such as NLP. And the very latest tool is AlphaFold, the very one that allows quantum simulation and modeling of an environment and climate.
For engineers or researchers who want to have an international breakthrough, I would advise them to work on these few topics that have not yet been resolved, such as Large-Scale World Model Training, which refers to a process of training very large-scale artificial intelligence models, designed to model the real world or simulated environments. These models are capable of predicting, simulating and understanding the behavior of the physical or informational world from observational data, often in a self-supervised or reinforcement learning framework. The objective of World Model Training is to have an AI agent that reasons, imagines and anticipates a bit like a human being.
S: As a lecturer and researcher in AI at European universities, how do you plan to contribute your expertise to the promotion of AI in Burkina Faso?
OL: So, it is clear that having worked on the Gov GPT program, which is a Swiss generative AI essentially designed for members of the government, the creation of the House of Artificial Intelligence of Burkina Faso is for me the birth of a great dream. This experience in the process of developing this Swiss AI, which is therefore their largest open source language model. It should be noted that this project was developed and tested at the AI Search Center at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and Zurich, where I am a research engineer. Members of the government feed this AI with information up to the confidential level. It is in this sense that I thought of creating a place, a space, a platform for the expression of exchanges and co-creation on AI in Burkina Faso.
S: On July 22, you launched the AI House in Ouagadougou. What does this AI House concept entail (objectives, services offered, activities that will be carried out there, beneficiaries, access conditions, etc.)?
OL: The Burkina Faso Artificial Intelligence Center is designed to train, innovate, create, test, and deploy local AI solutions. There are continuing education and à la carte programs, an AI project incubator, a startup accelerator, and a collaborative research center currently being structured. The goal is to build bridges between research, businesses, and citizens.
The goal is to foster innovation and competitiveness and provide a framework for learning, experimentation, and co-creation. The Maison de l'AI aims to promote the use of AI in key sectors such as health, agriculture, education, cybersecurity, and cyberdefense. Offer tailor-made and certified training courses adapted to all levels. Participate in consultation and development frameworks on the ethical and responsible governance of AI. We will also work to understand cyber-malware and gradually move towards complete mastery of cybersecurity.
Clearly, we will support the State in better preparing major AI projects in order to lay the foundations for data governance policy and the use of AI in Burkina Faso. Our projects and programs are intended for all audiences. Everyone can contact the Maison de l'AI or otherwise find out about our news on our social networks and website. To access it, it's "come as you are," it's the Smile of the Maison. With the team, we had thought about annual subscription models and of course, free training will undoubtedly be offered.
S: What motivated you to set up this AI House project in Burkina Faso and not elsewhere?
OL: A dual observation: Africa's growing lag in strategic innovations and the enormous potential of our talents. We wanted to create a space so that Burkina Faso would not be a passive consumer, but rather become a key player in this digital era. The AI House was born from this desire for technological sovereignty and digital inclusion. Because we want to support the State and the private sector in their efforts to digitize services for the common good of Burkina Faso's people.
Q: Implementing such a project required the mobilization of significant financial, human, and technological resources. How much did the project cost, and how was this major project financed?
OL: It is estimated at nearly a hundred million, taking into account all social valuations of course.
Q: After the launch of the AI House, what are the next steps or challenges?
OL: Promote our training programs to the people of Burkina Faso. So far, the Maison de l'AI has hosted two conferences on AI, one at ULB for students and the second in Azalaï for startups and businesses. By the end of September, the Maison de l'AI's brand new research and development laboratory will be up and running, operational, and accessible for any work needed. To date, more than fifty public and private institutions are in partnership with the Maison de l'AI. The goal is to support them in developing and structuring their projects.
S: For the success of this project, do you have any particular expectations of the authorities and the Burkinabe public?
OL: The Burkina Faso authorities are already committed to the project; we were able to meet with several of them, and we are honored to do so. We hope for strong political support, administrative facilitation, integration of the project into national education and digital transformation strategies, as well as the involvement of the Ministries of Education, Economy, Digital Transition, Research, Security, and Defense, to name a few.
As for the general public, the campaign was launched and continues to be launched to inform about our monthly schedule and programs. I would simply ask the people of Burkina Faso to remain committed to this warm and welcoming spirit of ownership of the AI House. We entrust this project to them, and we hope that each of Burkina's tech engineers can identify with the philosophy of this house.
S: Do you have a particular message to send?
OL: Burkina Faso is on the artificial intelligence bandwagon. It's time to believe in our talents, build our solutions, and make technology a source of hope, employment, and social peace. With will, dedication, and vision, I believe Burkina Faso can quickly become a benchmark for inclusive and ethical AI in Africa. We're a hub for the majority of tech talent in Burkina Faso; it's like a tunnel of skills that every institution, or even individual, could draw on to tap into. Join us at the AI House to write this new chapter in our technological history together, because things are already bubbling.