--- description: Find out why Chinasa T. Okolo made TIME’s list of the most influential people in artificial intelligence. title: TIME100 AI 2024: Chinasa T. Okolo image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5619961d61dc0f76/698a5a9716d884a7b0c3f0d4/TIME100-AI-2024-THINKERS_Chinasa-T-Okolo-NEW.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 05, 2024 # Chinasa T. Okolo by [Andrew R. Chow](/author/andrew-r-chow/) ## Andrew R. Chow Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent  Photo-Illustration by TIME (Source: Courtesy of Chinasa T. Okolo) With so much AI development emerging from Silicon Valley, communities in the Global South risk getting left behind technologically, victimized by biased systems, or exploited for their data. Chinasa T. Okolo, a Nigerian-American computer scientist and a Brookings Institution fellow, is trying to mitigate those risks through policy advocacy, public speaking and releasing research papers. Okolo has recently contributed passages to the [International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced AI](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6655982fdc15efdddf1a842f/international%5Fscientific%5Freport%5Fon%5Fthe%5Fsafety%5Fof%5Fadvanced%5Fai%5Finterim%5Freport.pdf "undefined"), led by Yoshua Bengio; the [African Union’s strategy](https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20240617/african-ministers-adopt-landmark-continental-artificial-intelligence-strategy "undefined") for responsible AI adoption; and [Nigeria’s national AI strategy](https://x.com/ChinasaTOkolo/status/1820462435788374081?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet "undefined"). Through these endeavors and her own research, she is raising awareness about the benefits using AI could bring to countries across Africa—including detection of floods and crop diseases—as well as its potential harms, such as digitally-enabled harassment on microlending platforms. “I’m optimistic that AI could help fuel socioeconomic development that has been much needed in Africa for the last half-century,” she tells TIME. “But I’m also concerned that this competition could limit the autonomy of African countries and perpetuate neo-colonial practices that have negatively impacted their economies.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2024/7012894/chinasa-t-okolo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2024/7012894/chinasa-t-okolo/"},"headline":"Chinasa T. Okolo","datePublished":"2024-09-05T11:07:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T11:54:25.189Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2024/7012894/chinasa-t-okolo/","keywords":["Tech"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5619961d61dc0f76/698a5a9716d884a7b0c3f0d4/TIME100-AI-2024-THINKERS_Chinasa-T-Okolo-NEW.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Andrew R. Chow","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/andrew-r-chow/"}],"creator":"Andrew R. Chow","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5619961d61dc0f76/698a5a9716d884a7b0c3f0d4/TIME100-AI-2024-THINKERS_Chinasa-T-Okolo-NEW.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2024/7012894/chinasa-t-okolo/","name":"Chinasa T. Okolo"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See Everyone on the 2024 TIME100 AI List","description":"The 2024 TIME100 AI list features innovators, thinkers, shapers and leaders who are making the future of AI.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/kDTs1aRd/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2024-09-05T10:50:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kDTs1aRd.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2024/7012894/chinasa-t-okolo/","duration":"PT1M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2024/7012894/chinasa-t-okolo/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```