In a leafy Nairobi suburb, a Kenyan firm helps foreigners track shoplifters, monitor lung damage from Covid-19 and identify whales -- tapping into the outsourcing market's artificial intelligence-boosted boom.

Cloudfactory started in Kenya in 2014, initially doing simple tasks like transcription for overseas clients.

But since 2024, it has taken on a wide array of AI-powered business that is transforming the sector and raising hopes Africa could become a new hub for digital outsourcing.

Clients include Charles River Analytics, a US robotics firm that needed its AI trained to spot whales so its unmanned vessels would not collide with them.

For other firms, Cloudfactory analyses medical X-rays, helps insurers spot damaged roofs and measures forest cover to see whether carbon-offsetting projects live up to their hype -- employing 130 staff and 3,000 freelancers in the process.

"We still need people to tell machines what to do and verify what they produce," said Cloudfactory Kenya director Festus Kiragu. "And that is creating jobs -- lots of jobs."

Kenya certainly needs them. Roughly........

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