RC cars {{ FIRSTNAME | there }}? Alphabet Inc recently admitted its Waymo (formerly Google) self-driving cars aren’t always autonomous. Sometimes a Filipino remote-driver just takes over. 🤭

In Today’s Open Letter

African music sees less than 1% of global music revenue, but AI music is a fast-growing sector – this tool is already helping South Africans unlock it (and make money)

If you ask a global AI model to create: "South African Amapiano hit," it will probably give you something that sounds like a generic elevator version of a log drum. 

But it’s not that the tech is trash. The problem is that the data is biased.

94% of generative music model training data is from Western music genres; less than 1% is from Africa. So, no wonder Africa’s at risk of being left out of the AI conversation.

It’s scandalous, though, ‘cos African music is taking off (here’s lookin' at you, Amapiano), as SA artist Tyla just brought home her 2nd Grammy and DJ Black Coffee is now a global household name.

Africa’s R47bn AI music opportunity

The traditional global music market is a R470bn game, and Africa sees just R5bn of it (1–2%). But the R9bn global AI music scene is set to quintuple to R47bn in 4 years, and it’ll be great if Africa can stake its (bigger) claim this time.

The problem? Most African musical history sits in analogue formats or physical hardware. It’s up to us to bridge the gap, which, fortunately, is what one SA startup is doing…

The local startup generating African music for the world stage

Auraa is a locally built AI-powered music engine that understands and generates authentic African genres.

How? It doesn't just spit out a single file; it generates up to 30 versions across various APIs and then "listens" to each one, selecting only those true to the authentic local context of African genres (16 so far, more coming).

We chatted to Auraa founder Gift Lubele recently, who says they’re currently training Auraa on West African Afrobeats, Ghanaian Highlife, Tanzanian Bongo Flava, and, of course, Amapiano from SA.

And it’s already changing lives…

Joburg kid becomes an overnight sensation

When Gift tested his own MVP, he released some tracks on Spotify, racking up 385’000 streams, without even being a professional musician (although you’d never tell giving SA’s first AI Amapiano Album a spin).

But it gets even better. 

Two months ago, Rea Gopane wasn't even a music artist. Using Auraa, he is now the most-listened-to AI artist in the country, pulling in nearly 1 million monthly listeners. His track suka didn't just trend; it changed his life, with Rea earning money from a career that didn't exist 68 days ago. 

And that’s streaming alone. Consider how a popular streaming artist could get requests for gigs, merch and appearances.

We’re watching this space…

Who still pulls nurses out of clinics for all-day training sessions?

South Africa’s health department is flipping that model completely with the 6MMD 10-minute WhatsApp micro-lessons programme that helps healthcare workers stay up to date on HIV, TB and other treatment changes — without leaving their posts.

But here’s what’s really clever:

✅ Short, case-based lessons run live on WhatsApp
✅ Training fits into real clinic life: no travel, no downtime
✅ 98% of surveyed nurses say they’d join weekly sessions

For busy clinics, this turns WhatsApp into a living guideline — helping nurses adjust doses, manage drug interactions and apply new policies in real time.

What would you build on WhatsApp today?

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⚡ Eskom’s Bitcoin, Baby. Hold the phone, Eskom is apparently getting into the Bitcoin mining business. But the real reason behind it is more surprising than you think, and could unlock loads of new business opportunities. See why Eskom’s really going Bitcoin mining.

💬 Discord’s Blanket Facial. With countries regulating teen social media access, Discord is making a preemptive strike with global enhanced safety features for teens and facial recognition. From early March, everyone will need to verify themselves and, if you’re under 16, content filters and bans on direct messaging will apply. Cool to see.

👁️ Ring’s Lost Dog Flop. Everyone’s up in arms over home surveillance company Ring’s Super Bowl ad that paints a new Search Party feature as a means to find lost pets. An AI tool would allow one Ring user to commandeer their entire neighbourhood’s cameras to look for the pet, but the internet quickly pointed out how this could be used for Big Brother-style surveillance. Creepazoid 5’000.

🌙 Musk’s Moon Meander. Elon Musk has said SpaceX will shift its priorities to building a self-growing city on the Moon, saying this is achievable within the next decade, compared to the 20+ years it would take to do something similar on Mars. Interesting.

🚀 NaaS Lands in SA. The Open Letter team has rebranded Stream to create SA’s first full-stack Newsletter as a Service (NaaS) product. It’s all-inclusive: Strategy, editorial, platform and growth – all in one package. Perfect for B2B techs that want to own their audience and build reliable distribution.*

* From our partners. Find all the best service providers for your business in our Founder Stack.

Yesterday, we told you about the SA companies bringing institutional blockchain ZARU to SA, asking what a R58bn per day fee saving will unlock. Most see growth…

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🚀 Faster business growth (35%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 👷 More jobs created (14%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ 💰 Higher profits locally (30%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🧠 Less money leaking offshore (21%)

Your 2 cents…

Very true, Hasani. The easier and more rewarding you make it for businesses, the more jobs you’ll create. 👷🏻‍♀️

Early-stage SA tech founders: Get R40k+ business-building tools, including data, cloud architecture support, legal and hiring vetting, 1-on-1 strategy and coaching sessions, plus free event tickets, Microsoft Marketplace access and more when you join The Founder Collab.

Blue economy startups: BlueInvest Africa 2026 lands in Cape Town — pitch to global ocean-impact investors. Apply by 13 Feb.

African startups: AfricaTech Award sends finalists to pitch at VivaTech Paris 2026 with global visibility. Apply by 16 Feb.

Win $1m? Startup World Cup Johannesburg finale takes place on 26 June — pitch your startup for a shot at the global finals. Applications open 13 Feb.

Cape Town youth (18–35): YouthStartCT Entrepreneurial Challenge supports ideas and small businesses creating jobs. Apply before 24 Feb.

Want to promote your event/programme here? Let us know.

💸 Tool to Try: Spatial Split helps you split the bill fairly (and make sure everyone pays up).

🌾 That’s Interesting: The Rice Hypothesis suggests rice-farming cultures in the East became more collectivist in nature, while wheat cultures in the West evolved more individualistic traits. Hmm…

🎧 Next Level: This Portuguese Catholic priest became a DJ — and now sells out stadiums.

🐕 Hack: A visual guide to dog breeds native to Africa.

🗣 Wow Site: Indo-European shows you how English, Spanish, Hindi and 400+ languages trace back to one ancestor language from over 6'000 years ago.