The HERIntelligence AI Annual Summit 2026 takes place on October 23 in Jos, Plateau State, starting at 9:00 a.m., under the theme “Her Future in AI: Equipping Girls for the Digital Economy.” The organisers describe it as a space for girls and young women to understand AI, build with it and have a say in how it is used, rather than only living with its effects. Registration is open at herintelligence.org/2026-summit, and the flier also carries a QR code to register.
The case for the summit rests on a number from Gatefield’s February 2026 report on technology-facilitated abuse. It projects that by 2030, between 30 million and 40 million Nigerian women and girls could be directly targeted every year by AI deepfakes, impersonation and coordinated harassment. The headline figure Gatefield published is 30 million, with the wider range noted alongside it, and it is a projection rather than a count: it assumes Nigeria reaches about 200 million internet users by 2030 and that nearly half of the women online are exposed to AI-facilitated harm. The report also points to the present situation, finding that nearly half of Nigerian internet users already experience online harm and that women make up 58% of the victims. Among women targeted with non-consensual image sharing, it reports that nearly 90% experienced depression or suicidal thoughts. It notes that Nigeria currently has no AI-specific legislation and limited forensic capacity to respond, and recommends visible labelling of AI-generated content, removal of harmful material within 24 to 48 hours, algorithmic risk assessments and regular transparency reports.
That is the gap HERIntelligence says it wants to close from the other side, by equipping girls with the knowledge to recognise and resist those harms and the skills to build AI tools themselves. The summit’s page lists six confirmed speakers: Naomi Akpikie, founder of Auuxi; Theresa Nana Timothy, The Tech Translator; Nanfe Yarnap, an AI safety and governance researcher and founder of TeenTechTalk; Ruth Ki, a security intelligence analyst; Samaila, a data scientist; and Silvia Peter, a LinkedIn brand and content strategist. The line-up leans toward safety, security and data skills alongside career visibility, which fits the theme. The flier names NASCO, the Raspberry Pi Foundation, CoLab, Wentors, ZITI and Auuxi among its partners, with a longer logo strip, but it does not say what each partner is contributing.
HERIntelligence presents itself as a Jos-based organisation focused on the next generation of tech leaders. This is the first coverage this newsroom has found of the organisation or the summit, and the speaker and partner details come from its own materials, so they are not independently confirmed. The summit page also does not yet display the date, time or exact venue, which appear on the flier, so anyone planning to attend should confirm the venue through the registration form or the organisers’ contact details on the site.
Hosting this in Jos rather than Lagos or Abuja has its own value. Plateau State already runs a state ICT agency and has funded digital skills training for women, and an event that brings AI literacy and safety to girls outside the usual tech hubs reaches an audience those hubs rarely do. If it works, the real measure will be what happens after October 23: whether participants leave with skills they use, a network they can lean on, and the confidence to treat AI as something they help shape.
