RIN Access

GAIOS is an AI platform with modular tools for agriculture, health, education, energy and governance in Cameroon, initially building and piloting RIN AGRIC and RIN MEDIC with local users in Bamenda.

Project Details

What it does: GAIOS (Global Autonomous Intelligence Operating System) is an AI platform we are building to bring practical AI tools to sectors where Cameroon is far behind. It has separate modules for health (RIN MEDIC), agriculture (RIN AGRIC), education (RIN EDU), energy (RIN GRID) and governance (RIN GOV). Our first focus is RIN AGRIC and RIN MEDIC, which we plan to test with local farmers and a partner clinic in Bamenda.

Who is doing it: RIN AI is led by Rinwi Mark Bonzum (Founder), Nwiyoh Favour (Co-Founder) and Ndukong Norbert (Chief Technology Officer). Rinwi is a dual degree engineering student (Computer Engineering and Renewable Energy Engineering) at the University of Bamenda and works as a Junior IT Analyst. We are not yet a registered company, and we work with other part-time contributors on specific tasks.

Where it is up to: We are at an early prototype stage. The vision, working principles and a 30-day execution plan are written, our development environment is set up, and we have started building, including an early RIN MEDIC patient checker program. The project has been self-funded so far. We have not yet run any field pilots, and this funding would let us build the first working versions and test them with real users.

Theory of Impact

RIN AI's contribution to reducing catastrophic AI risk is indirect, and I want to be clear about that. It works through three steps.

1. Safe deployment practices in high-stakes settings. RIN MEDIC and RIN AGRIC are built with a human in the loop: the tool advises clinic staff and farmers, and people make the final decision. We will also log errors and near-misses during the pilots and review them. AI adoption in Cameroon is coming regardless, so it matters that the first tools people use were built with oversight, testing and accountability from the start.

2. Local technical capacity. Most of the world's AI development happens outside Africa. Training local engineers to build, evaluate and audit AI systems means more people in the region can take part in decisions about how AI is governed. That reduces the risk of powerful systems being designed without input from most of the people they will affect.

3. A replicable model. If the pilots show that safety-conscious, locally built AI can work in low-resource settings, the approach can be shared with other teams and regions.

We do not claim this is a primary route to reducing existential risk. It is a small, practical contribution to safer and more inclusive AI adoption, and we would be glad to hear whether this fund considers it in scope.

People

Rinwi Mark Bonzum

Team Member

Grants Received– no grants recorded

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Funding Asks

Funding ask

Open

Minimum

$10,000

Ideal

$15,290

How the money will be spent

Total requested: $15,290 for 6 months ($13,900 in costs plus a 10% contingency).

Contractors, about 27% ($4,200): Two part-time junior developers ($200/month each) and one part-time AI/ML engineer ($300/month) for 6 months. Rates are set to the local cost of living in Bamenda, not market salaries.

Compute and software, about 22% ($3,300): Cloud hosting ($1,800), AI API usage ($1,200) and developer tools such as GitHub and domain ($300), to host GAIOS and run AI features for pilot users.

Field pilots, about 20% ($3,000): $1,500 each for the RIN AGRIC pilot with a local farmer cooperative and the RIN MEDIC pilot with a partner clinic. This covers materials, participant support, staff training and on-site work.

Equipment, about 10% ($1,500): Two laptops ($900) and a small solar/inverter backup unit ($600) to keep development running through frequent power outages.

Connectivity, about 4% ($600): Data and internet for the team over 6 months.

Travel, legal and admin, outreach and other, about 8% ($1,300): Local travel to pilot sites ($400), business registration ($300), a simple website and outreach materials ($400), and small miscellaneous costs ($200).

Contingency, about 9% ($1,390): A 10% buffer for exchange-rate changes and possible underestimates of cloud and API usage.

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