Frugal

Key Resources

Overview

COL is advancing Frugal AI for education across the Commonwealth. We believe AI can strengthen teaching and learning, but only if it is inclusive, equitable and governed responsibly. Our approach is multilateral and values driven. Frugal aligns AI with open education as a public good, ethically grounded, focused on capacity-building, and designed to create long-term value for Commonwealth Member Countries, their institutions, educators and learners.

Trusted in Technology and AI

COL’s work in educational technology has always been guided by a frugal, ethical, context-sensitive approach. From the evolution of Aptus, COL’s open source hardware that enables learning in remote communities without the need for grid electricity or Internet access, to early Teacher-in-the-Loop pilots during the emergence of GenAI, we have focused on empowering educators and institutions, not replacing them. As part of Frugal AI, we are working with diverse country stakeholders within the Commonwealth to build new capacities and adaptive tools to deploy GenAI with guardrails and data sovereignty.

Empowering a Growing Alliance

COL is building a growing alliance of Commonwealth partners within a framework that combines a frugal approach with trusted governance and capacity development. With Frugal AI, we are creating a shared value, as demonstrated by the Gaborone Statement, which established a commitment by Commonwealth stakeholders to teacher-centred digital innovation. At the India AI Impact Summit 2026, COL will translate that commitment into technical reality.

We are enabling a shift away from high-cost, cloud-based dependent technology models towards teacher-led, localised, and frugal models that strengthen innovation and equity, prioritising digital public goods over proprietary dependency. Our work will contribute to a scalable architecture for the Commonwealth Digital Skills Alliance, supporting youth empowerment, particularly in Small Island Developing States and Low and Middle-Income Countries.

The Frugal Approach

Frugal AI reframes artificial intelligence as a durable institutional infrastructure rather than an externally sourced service. It is designed to operate within national constraints, align with regulatory obligations and build local capability over time. It prioritises efficiency, sovereignty and local ownership.

Conventional cloud-based AI models centralise control outside national systems. This can create structural dependency, rising and unpredictable costs, bandwidth vulnerability, and governance risks related to data and other sensitive information. Frugal AI offers a different path, one that strengthens national systems while managing cost, mitigating risk, staying local and protecting sovereignty through a sustainable approach.

Endorsement of the Compact

At the India AI Impact Summit 2026, leaders will have the opportunity to endorse the Gaborone to Delhi Compact on teacher-led, localised AI. COL’s presentation of the Compact at the Summit invites signatories to work within the Commonwealth alliance towards a framework for deploying a local, open-source approach to AI that respects data sovereignty and national priorities in teaching and learning.