African Insurtech Curacel Adopts Chinese AI Models for Cost Savings

African Businesses Take Pragmatic Approach to AI Adoption

While the United States pushes for global alignment in its AI competition with China, African companies are charting their own course. Rather than choosing sides, businesses across the continent are selecting AI models based on performance and cost—regardless of origin.

Curacel, a Nigeria-based insurtech platform, exemplifies this pragmatic strategy. The company recently expanded its AI infrastructure to include GLM-5.3, a model developed by Beijing-based Zhipu AI, working alongside existing Western providers. Curacel delivers AI-powered claims processing and fraud-detection systems to African insurers and fintech companies.

Cost Advantages Drive Chinese Model Adoption

According to Henry Mascot, Curacel's chief executive and co-founder, Chinese AI models deliver comparable performance at significantly lower costs for high-volume operations. The company deploys these models for tasks including coding, data extraction, classification, and customer support.

"In our experience, the leading Chinese models have closed much of the performance gap," Mascot said, as first reported by the South China Morning Post.

However, Curacel maintains Western systems for the most demanding work requiring advanced reasoning capabilities and maximum reliability. This selective deployment allows the company to optimize both quality and cost across different workload types.

Multi-Model Strategy Avoids Vendor Lock-In

Curacel's approach centers on flexibility rather than exclusive partnerships. The company's infrastructure routes specific workloads to GLM-5.3 based on suitability, while keeping other models available for different requirements.

"We can route suitable workloads to it based on quality and cost without moving the entire stack or locking ourselves into one vendor," Mascot explained. The company has also deployed lower-cost Chinese models within client implementations.

This multi-vendor strategy represents a departure from the binary choice framework promoted by some Western policymakers. For African businesses operating with tighter margins and different infrastructure constraints than their Western counterparts, cost efficiency often takes priority over geopolitical considerations.

Why It Matters

African adoption of Chinese AI models signals that geopolitical pressure campaigns may have limited effectiveness in markets where price-performance ratios drive technology decisions. As Chinese AI developers continue closing capability gaps with Western competitors, emerging markets represent a crucial battleground for global AI influence—one where pragmatic business considerations may outweigh diplomatic preferences.

These details were first reported by the South China Morning Post.