Technology
Trusted AI Needs Human at the Helm
By Linda Saunders
AI promises to make our jobs easier, our work more productive, and our businesses more valuable. New research from Slack finds that 80% of employees using generative AI tools are experiencing a boost in productivity — and that’s just the beginning.
And, with the introduction of AI assistants — including Salesforce’s own Einstein Copilot — the potential for businesses is only growing. AI assistants can already answer questions, generate content, and dynamically automate actions. And someday, these assistants will become digital sales and service agents, anticipating our needs and operating on our behalf.
But with each new AI advancement comes new ethical concerns. It’s one thing if an AI assistant offers a bad product recommendation, but if it takes misguided actions on real-world concerns like personal finances or medical information — the stakes suddenly become much higher.
As we enter this new era of human-AI interaction, how can we harness the power of AI without opening ourselves up to dangerous risks?
Keeping a human at the helm
The AI revolution is an evolution. We’re taking quantum leaps forward every day, but we can’t always explain why AI does the things that it does — or eliminate every instance of inaccuracy, toxicity, or misinformation.
For these reasons, it’s important that we keep humans firmly in control of AI systems. But as AI becomes more and more sophisticated, it can be hard to figure out how to layer in that human touch. We’ve all heard of keeping “humans in the loop,” but with this new generation of AI, it’s sometimes just not realistic for us to engage in every AI interaction or review every AI-generated output.
That’s why, at Salesforce, we believe trusted AI needs a human at the helm. Instead of asking humans to intervene in every individual AI interaction, we’re designing more powerful, system-wide controls that put humans at the helm of AI outcomes and enable them to focus on the high-judgement items that most need their attention. In other words, humans aren’t always rowing the boat — but we’re very much steering the ship.
With a human at the helm, we can design AI systems that leverage the best of human and machine intelligence. For example, we can unlock incredible efficiencies by tasking AI to review and summarise millions of customer profiles. At the same time, we can build trust by empowering humans to lean in and use their judgement in ways that AI can’t.
Making AI a copilot, not an autopilot
There’s a reason this generation of AI products are called copilots and not autopilots. As AI becomes more powerful and autonomous — making decisions and taking actions on individuals’ behalf — keeping a human at the helm becomes even more important. By combining the capabilities of AI with the strength of human judgment, we can make AI more effective and trustworthy.
Here are three ways we’re keeping humans at the helm of Salesforce AI:
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Prompt Builder Helps Us Automate in Authentic Ways: Prompts, or the instructions we send to generative AI models, are very powerful. A single, human-generated prompt can help guide millions of trusted outputs — but only if it’s constructed thoughtfully. With our newly announced Prompt Builder, we’re helping customers craft effective prompts by seeing the likely output in near real-time to help ensure they get the AI outcome they want. We’ve also added different edit modes within Prompt Builder that allow users to tune and revise their prompts to provide more helpful, accurate, and relevant results.
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Audit Trails Help Us Spot What We’ve Missed: Our Einstein Trust Layer offers a robust audit trail that allows customers to assess AI’s track record and pinpoint where their AI assistant may have gone wrong and where AI went right. These features help identify issues across large datasets that humans might not spot; and can empower us to use our judgement to make adjustments based on the needs of our organisation. For example, Audit Trail can alert us when an AI tool’s outputs are flagged as “thumbs down” a certain number of times — a sign that the AI-generated outputs might not be meeting the business goals. By aggregating implicit feedback signals, like how often users edit an output before using it, Audit Trail can give us a bird’s eye view of our systems, allowing us to identify trends and take action.
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Data Controls Help Us Better Guard Our Data: AI is nothing without data. That’s why we’ve designed robust controls in Data Cloud — our fast-growing platform that helps bring siloed customer data together in one place — to help businesses securely action their data. Data Cloud features help organizations harness data for AI-powered insights and intelligence. In contrast, longstanding Salesforce core data controls like permission sets, access controls, and data classification metadata fields empower humans and AI models alike to protect and manage sensitive data.
Pioneering a new approach for the AI era
As the AI era continues to unfold, both humans and technology must evolve along with it. The AI revolution is not just about technological innovation — it’s also about empowering humans to sit successfully at the helm of AI, and use it in ways that are trustworthy and effective.
Our approach is evolving, and we are committed to continued research, learning, and multi-stakeholder collaboration on this topic. But with a human at the helm, we believe we can combine the best of human and machine intelligence for this new AI era — leaning into AI’s capabilities and freeing up humans to do what they do best: be creative, exercise their judgement, and connect more deeply with one another.
With AI and humans working together, we can create more productive businesses, more empowered employees, and ultimately, more trustworthy AI.
Linda Saunders is the Salesforce Director for Solution Engineering Africa
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The first cohort of high-potential startups selected for the newly launched Cloud Accelerator Programme of MTN Nigeria has officially commenced.
The accelerator is designed to help founders overcome growth bottlenecks by refining their business models, improving their operational efficiency, and creating investor-ready pitches.
The small firms were chosen from across Nigeria and other African markets through a rigorous selection process for their bold ideas and proven traction in addressing key challenges across fintech, health tech, agritech, edtech, AI, and cybersecurity.
The selected companies will embark on a 12-week journey of mentorship, technical integrations, and funding opportunities, powered by MTN’s expansive ecosystem and cloud infrastructure.
In addition to technical support, startups will receive access to funding networks and exposure to key investors, policy-makers, and ecosystem leaders.
Over the course of the programme, the selected startups will participate in intensive workshops led by industry experts, one-on-one mentorship sessions with leaders in the African tech and venture ecosystem, and hands-on support integrating MTN’s cloud APIs into their platforms.
The programme will culminate in a high-profile Demo Day in December 2025, where participants will pitch their refined solutions to an audience of investors, industry executives, and policy leaders.
This event is expected to attract significant interest from local and international venture firms looking to back scalable African tech ventures.
The Demo Day is not just a pitch event, but a showcase of Africa’s capacity to innovate and create solutions that resonate beyond our borders.
“This cohort embodies the resilience, creativity, and ambition of Africa’s tech ecosystem. By providing access to mentorship, cloud technology, and go-to-market support, we are positioning these startups to compete globally while solving uniquely African problems,” the Chief Enterprise Business Officer of MTN Nigeria, Ms Lynda Saint-Nwafor, said.
She described the MTN Cloud Accelerator as “a unique blend of infrastructure and opportunity,” noting that, “By hosting this programme locally, supported by the state-of-the-art Sifiso Dabengwa Data Centre, we are demonstrating our commitment to strengthening Africa’s digital backbone.”
Ms Saint-Nwafor also said, “The future of African innovation will be written by founders who are supported with the right infrastructure and networks,” adding that, “With the Cloud Accelerator, MTN is helping to create that future today.”
Applications for the next cohort of the MTN Cloud Accelerator are expected to open in early 2026, signalling MTN’s long-term commitment to building a robust pipeline of African tech companies equipped to thrive globally.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has raised alarm over the increasing damage to telecommunications infrastructure nationwide, revealing that Nigeria currently records an average of 1,100 fibre cut incidents weekly.
The Executive Vice-Chairman of the NCC, Dr Aminu Maida, said during a Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) and Sustainability Conference in Lagos on Thursday that the commission also recorded 545 cases of access denial and 99 cases of theft on a weekly basis.
The event was organised by the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) in collaboration with the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) themed Critical National ICT Infrastructure and Industry Sustainability, Way Forward.
Mr Maida, who was represented by Mr Edoyemi Ogoh, Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity Department, NCC, said that these incidents threatened service delivery, operational stability, and national security.
“These are not just numbers. They reflect a national emergency. Every fibre cut, every theft, and every case of sabotage contributes to dropped calls, failed transactions, interrupted emergency services and economic losses.
He added that the damages had become a major barrier to sustaining the country’s digital economy, which relied heavily on resilient telecom infrastructure.
“We are ensuring Nigerians understand that damage to telecom infrastructure affects not just big companies, but ordinary people who depend on mobile services, ATMs, hospitals and security alerts,” Mr Maida said.
He added that collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) was key to aligning telecom infrastructure protection with the nation’s broader security architecture.
The NCC boss further identified access denial to base station sites as a growing challenge, noting that in many cases, operators were prevented from conducting essential maintenance and operations, thereby prolonging network outages.
He noted that the situation was further compounded by Right-of-Way (RoW) bottlenecks, complex and delayed permit processes, and the rising cost of operations due to heavy reliance on diesel-powered generators, stating, “The security situation in parts of the country also poses a real barrier to safe and timely maintenance of telecom sites.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
A significant milestone has been reached by the leading global platform for verifying contacts and blocking unwanted communications, Truecaller, as its monthly active users in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region have surpassed 100 million.
A statement from the organisation disclosed that the figures were 19 per cent more than its active monthly users in August 2024.
It was also stated that numbers are from its users who downloaded the Trucaller app on their Android and iOS devices.
Some of the largest markets in the MEA region for Truecaller are Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Algeria, Ghana, and Jordan.
Typically, Truecaller is used on 20-45 per cent of connected smartphones in these markets, reflecting its massive adoption for blocking unwanted communications.
Commenting on the this development, the chief executive of Trucaller, Mr Rishit Jhunjhunwala, said, “With the Middle East and Africa experiencing significant growth in smartphone adoption and mobile data adoption, we’re really happy that we’re able to solve communication problems for individuals and businesses in that region.
“MEA, like India and many other markets, are mobile first markets with your mobile number being the primary identifier and Truecaller has always grown organically in such markets.
“We’re continuing to strengthen our organization and our partnerships in the region, because we believe that the MEA is poised for significant growth for many years ahead.”
Trucaller, which has its headquarters in Sweden, was listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm in 2021, and has over 450 million active users, with more than a billion downloads since launch and close to 56 billion unwanted calls identified and blocked in 2024 alone.
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