Rest of World profiles AI adoption among workers in Asia and Africa
A new report shows how ordinary people in Lagos, across Asia and Africa are using AI tools to solve everyday business problems, reshaping the global AI economy from the ground up.
What to know
- Rest of World profiled workers across Asia and Africa using AI tools like ChatGPT to solve everyday business problems, highlighting how grassroots adoption—not Silicon Valley—is driving the real economic impact of AI.
- A 24-year-old makeup artist in Lagos uses ChatGPT across multiple roles: hiring, social media management, sales coaching, and pricing calculations, treating it as her most reliable business partner.
- The reporting shows how access to cheap, powerful AI enables bootstrapped entrepreneurs with limited budgets to accomplish tasks that would normally require hiring staff or significant manual effort.
“It's proof the economic impact of AI is taking shape on a personal, local level as forces in Silicon Valley and China battle to command the global AI ecosystem.”
Rest of World · Rest of World ↗
Nureeyah Ogunmuyiwa 24-year-old makeup artist and entrepreneur in LagosRest of World Publication
How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts
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Report details how bootstrapped entrepreneurs leverage AI across multiple business functions
The article documents how Ogunmuyiwa uses ChatGPT as a social media manager, sales coach, and for pricing calculations—roles that would otherwise require hired staff or significant manual effort. It illustrates how AI access expands what individual entrepreneurs can accomplish with limited budgets.
“It saves me from punching each product in the calculator and then trying to do the mental work of arriving at a profitable price point.”
— Nureeyah Ogunmuyiwa -
background
Nureeyah Ogunmuyiwa uses ChatGPT to manage first hire at Lagos makeup business — A 24-year-old makeup artist in Lagos, Nigeria, used ChatGPT to create a complete hiring plan, interview questions, and evaluation checklist when hiring her first employee in early 2026—a task she had never performed before.
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background
Rest of World publishes profiles of AI-using workers across Asia and Africa — Rest of World released a feature documenting how workers in Asia and Africa are using AI tools to solve daily problems and build businesses, emphasizing grassroots adoption far from Silicon Valley hype.