AI in Africa for Africa: Contextualizing the Evolution of the African AI Ecosystem

Summary

Mapping the evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Africa looks at a detailed examination of the changing landscape of AI in Africa. It explores the continent’s current AI context, bringing out the extent of AI readiness adoption, AI utilization, and the challenges and opportunities in adopting AI technologies, highlighting the importance of ethical AI governance. Contextualizing the AI ecosystem notes the inception of regulatory structures from a regional and national perspective, highlighting the initiatives of countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya in formulating national AI strategies and the African Union’s endeavours to utilize AI for advancing socio-economic development. The prevalence of foreign AI technologies in Africa emphasizes the importance of enhancing local AI capabilities through governmental backing and policies. Underscoring the crucial role of ethical guidelines in steering AI development and deployment to generate positive societal outcomes and foster public trust in AI technologies, the observations demonstrate Africa’s increasing momentum in leveraging AI to tackle challenges, propel socio-economic progress, and influence the discourse on AI within the region.

The African AI Landscape.

Artificial Intelligence(AI) in Africa can disrupt and transform socio-economic activities across industries. While businesses and governments worldwide are positioning themselves to maximise the benefits of AI, there is a disparity in preparedness between countries in the Global North and those in the Global South.¹ The notable gap in preparedness is characterised by a lack of governance structures, institutional capacity, and awareness of AI despite the growing number of AI systems deployed in the continent and the lack of local investment power to create a conducive environment for AI development in Africa.²

A problem-driven approach is often used to contextualise African AI development and deployment.³ This has influenced the sectors and industries that have seen an influx in AI systems and applications. Research on AI mapping in Africa conducted by the Center for Intellectual Property and Information Technology (CIPIT) highlights the top five areas in which AI is used: corporate services, health, education, farming, and finance. The mapping further shows that the African AI landscape primarily leverages AI in E-learning tools (34%), data analytics tools (36%), chatbots(23%), decision support tools(13%) and diagnostic tools(9%).⁴ Although these percentages reflect a degree of AI deployment in the continent, it must be noted that AI deployment in Africa is still significantly limited.

Researchers have developed indices through which the developmental readiness of AI in Africa can be tracked. For instance, the Government AI Readiness Index, annually produced by Oxford Insights, aims to score governments on their readiness to implement AI in delivering public services, focusing on each continent. The 2023 Government AI Readiness Index The report provided insights into AI readiness in Africa, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting Sub-Saharan Africa as having the lowest average score of any world region in the index; this is reflected to be as a result of serious challenges to government AI adoption in the region. However, there is a note of an increase in national AI strategies, with countries like Senegal and Rwanda publishing their strategy and more countries expressing interest and commitment towards developing national AI strategies. At least 32 countries have implemented data protection laws, which are essential foundations for AI readiness.⁵

The CISCO AI Readiness Index, which looks at organizational readiness in the adoption of AI

across six key pillars, i.e. Strategy, Infrastructure, Data, Governance, Talent, and Culture, categorizes organizational readiness into four levels – Pacesetters(fully prepared), Chasers (moderately prepared), Followers (limited preparedness), and Laggers (unprepared). According to the index, Africa faces challenges in thoroughly preparing for AI adoption and integration. The data suggests that African organisations may have limited deployment or no deployment of AI technologies in critical areas such as IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, sustainability management, customer experience, supply chain management, and various other industries. These statistics somewhat represent the mapping exercise above, which noted the limited deployment of AI across different regions.⁶

Defining African AI

“African AI has been described as a growing and thriving sector with promising potential for the continent. Furthermore, the emergence of the AI ecosystem in Africa is characterised by establishing local and international AI research hubs, startup companies specialising in AI, and initiatives promoting gender inclusivity in AI development, reflecting the dynamic and evolving nature of African AI. The developmental and solution-based concept within which African AI is described is essential to consider a description of the African AI through characteristics of AI applications in African contexts, emphasizing the need for inclusive and culturally relevant AI ecosystems.⁷

Researchers have described African AI as the application and development of AI technologies within the context of the African continent. This encompasses using AI tools, algorithms, and systems to address challenges, drive innovation, and promote socio-economic development in African countries.⁸ As such, African AI initiatives must aim to leverage the power of AI to tackle issues specific to the African context, such as healthcare delivery, agriculture optimization, financial inclusion, and infrastructure development, which are reflected in the mapping exercise identifying key sectors within which AI is leveraged.⁹ Additionally, African AI involves building local capacity in AI research, education, and entrepreneurship to ensure regional participation in AI development and deployment whilst harnessing the benefits of AI yet addressing and mitigating the potential risks and harms of AI technologies.¹⁰

AI investment in Africa

There is a growing interest in AI technologies across the continent. Estimates suggest that AI could contribute $1.2 billion to Africa’s GDP by 2030 if the continent captures a modest 10% share of the global AI market.¹¹ Additionally, a significant number of startups specializing in AI in Africa, with 41% of them being startups. The data suggests a growing interest and investment in AI technologies within the African startup ecosystem. The emergence of an AI ecosystem in Africa is attributed to the establishment of local and international AI research hubs on the continent, with South Africa leading in AI adoption and having a robust ecosystem.¹²

However, there is still a significant gap in AI investment between Africa and other parts of the world, indicating a funding gap in AI adoption in Africa compared to global standards.¹³ Nonetheless, the increasing presence of big tech companies like IBM, Microsoft and Google in Africa indicates a growing interest and investment from major players in the tech industry in the continent’s development.¹⁴ Foreign companies and governments continue to shape the AI landscape in Africa, with countries like China being significant players in exporting AI-driven technologies to Africa.¹⁵ China has expanded its African AI presence through initiatives like the Belt and Road and Digital Silk Road. Reports show 40 out of 54 African countries had, by May 2021, signed Belt and Road Initiative agreements providing intelligent city infrastructure, 5G networks, surveillance cameras, cloud computing, and e-commerce to many African cities.¹⁶

Notably, the African region is more dominated by foreign AI technologies, raising fears about the viability of the Startup ecosystem and the saturation of technologies that may not align with local priorities.¹⁷ This highlights the need to prioritize local AI capabilities and capacities through strategies such as government investment and support in local talent and local tech industry not only financially but also through policies that promote innovation, entrepreneurship, and digital infrastructure development, creating an enabling environment for tech companies to thrive and contribute to economic growth.¹⁸

AI Governance: Responsible and Ethical AI.

The influx in development and deployment of AI technologies has influenced a focus on the need for policies on the regulation of AI, coupled with the global drive towards developing responsible AI and responsible and ethical AI policy. Policy responses are being shaped to build on national digital agendas and ensure equitable access to digital infrastructure.¹⁹ Countries like Egypt and Mauritius have been at the forefront of developing a national strategy on AI, followed by Senegal and Rwanda, which recently published their strategies. Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya are equally in the process of creating their national strategy. Regionally, the African Union recognises the need to understand and harness the benefits of leveraging AI in realising Agenda 2063 and enhancing the region’s socioeconomic development. With respect to governance, the AU adopted Resolution 473 and has adopted and published the AU -AI Continental Strategy. Prior to this, the AU launched the Continental Strategy Road Map for Africa and a white paper, Regulation and Responsible Adoption of AI in Africa Towards Achievement of AU Agenda 2063, on 29 February 2024. ²⁰ Core to AI regulation includes responsible and ethical guidelines in developing and deploying AI, as seen through the OECD AI Principles and the UNESCO Recommendations on the Ethics of AI. The critical role of ethical guidelines in guiding the development, deployment, and use of AI technologies in Africa must be considered. These guidelines ensure that AI systems are developed and utilized responsibly, transparently, and ethically to promote positive societal impact and address ethical considerations in AI adoption.

Additionally, they serve as a foundation for fostering public trust in AI technologies, emphasizing the importance of accountability mechanisms in AI development and use, and establishing frameworks for responsible AI practices.²¹ Consequently, these considerations will inform ethical and responsible AI policy development. This must be aligned with an understanding of what responsible and ethical AI is described as within the context of the African AI ecosystem.

Conclusion

Africa presents an evolving AI landscape with a number of challenges, such as limited deployment and foreign influence, alongside growth, innovation, and socio-economic development opportunities through responsible AI governance and strategic national initiatives. Prioritizing local AI capabilities through government support and policies to counter the dominance of foreign AI technologies in the region will determine how well localized AI technologies can thrive and whether the continent can have ownership of its technological development. Africa’s growing momentum in harnessing AI to address challenges drives socio-economic progress, and it is already set to inform how it will shape the evolutionary narrative on AI within the continent.

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