Dear Partners and Friends of Viamo,
We are entering a new phase in how people access information.
For decades, access to information in development has largely been shaped by powerful institutions. Donors, implementers, and policymakers, including organizations like ours, defined the topics, the messages, and the limits of what people in low-income communities could access. This approach was well-intentioned and enabled scale, but it also constrained choice.
Generative AI (GenAI) has changed this dynamic, but not equally for everyone.
Most GenAI tools assume access to smartphones, data plans, and high levels of literacy. At Viamo, we are excited to be leading the charge to ensure this new technology is truly accessible to EVERYONE. By enabling an AI companion in local languages through a regular voice phone call there is the potential to put a ‘doctor’, an ‘agronomist’ and a ‘teacher’ in everyone’s pockets.
This is a complete game-changer in the world of access to information.
- Instead of waiting for your agricultural extension agent to visit your farm, you can get customized agronomy advice based on your farming goals, location and weather forecast;
- Instead of searching the internet for pros and cons of vaccinations, you can get recommendations from your AI health advisor;
- Instead of making family planning decisions based on rumors, you can ask intimate questions in the safety of your bedroom.
This shift transfers agency from institutions to users, an important human development milestone in itself. Further, voice-first GenAI is made available in the places where access is most constrained: in critical and fragile settings, where connectivity is unreliable, literacy barriers are high, and trusted sources are scarce.
Our vision is to scale our general purpose Voice-powered offline-AI Service “Ask Viamo Anything” or AVA, to the two billion people who either don’t own a smartphone or lack internet access.
With this reach comes responsibility. Expanding access to knowledge at scale only matters if it is safe, reliable, and grounded in local context. At Viamo, safety is not an afterthought. It is a core design principle. Independent research and evaluations, conducted in partnership with institutions including GSMA, and the Gates Foundation, have consistently focused on the accuracy, reliability, and safety of our models.
We could not be more energized by this movement. Making the world’s most powerful technologies accessible to the world’s poorest communities is both a technical and a business model challenge, but a moral imperative. We are proud to be on this journey with partners who believe that trusted access to information is foundational to human development – thank you and onwards!
Best Wishes
Independent Validation Of Viamo’s GenAI Solution
In 2025, an Independent research conducted by GSMA on Viamo’s Ask Viamo Anything highlighted several early learnings that reinforce why user-driven, voice-first GenAI has the potential to responsibly reshape access to information at scale.
- Voice-first GenAI expands access beyond smartphones and the internet
Combining IVR with GenAI removes barriers linked to literacy, data costs, and smartphone access, particularly for rural and low-connectivity populations. - Women engage more when access is private and safe
During this study, women asked more questions and engaged more frequently, especially on health, education, family, and governance topics. Privacy and trust emerged as enabling conditions for access. - Trust and safety determine whether scale has value
Users consistently cited accuracy, anonymity, and reliability as reasons for continued use. GSMA underscores the need for deliberate content moderation, cultural sensitivity, and clear safeguards.
