n 2024, the African Union Executive Council unveiled its Continental AI Strategy, emphasizing the need for an African–centric AI development strategy. The Continental AI Strategy focuses on ethically and sustainably developing AI to mitigate the risks of the developing technology while relying on the collaboration of African Union members. Through this strategic development of AI, the African Union hopes to achieve the goals outlined in Agenda 2063—a framework to establish Africa as “the global powerhouse for the future”—while also meeting the Sustainable Development Goals created by the UN.
Countries in Africa have already implemented AI in impactful ways. In 2023, Google’s Flood Hub AI began including African countries in its data sources to address the increased risk of flooding from the climate crisis. Thus far, the AI’s predictions of flooding have had “remarkably high accuracy.” In 2024, the PlantVillage App offered Zambian farmers the opportunity to begin mitigating the impact of the climate crisis on critical produce in Zambia. The app uses AI to identify different pests and diseases afflicting crops, creating a massive database to facilitate solutions to ensure food security. The free app encourages users to keep expanding the database.
Perhaps most notably for the development of AI, African countries like Nigeria and Rwanda have been developing AI with digitized language models to include different local languages in AI data sets. African languages are not often included in global AI models, and including this data is essential for African citizens to use AI effectively.
The creation of the AI Hub for Sustainable Development Startup Accelerator Pilot also highlights Africa’s ability to develop AI technology further, as the program connects AI–focused startups across Africa with investors. The partnerships created by this platform will be instrumental in implementing the Continental AI Strategy.
With the Continental AI Strategy, the African Union wants to further focus on African–centric development of AI, utilizing the technology to strengthen African Union states’ economies, create more job opportunities, and improve health and education while prioritizing sustainability and addressing the climate crisis. The strategy plans to utilize AI to improve the lives of African people while “leaving no one and no place behind.” Fortunately, Africa already has a climate ready to embrace AI, with countries like Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Kenya already established as technological innovation hubs with tech–savvy populations ready to foster technological development. And as part of the action plan, the African Union states will begin investing in the necessary infrastructure to successfully establish and maintain startup AI ecosystems.
The Continental AI Strategy also emphasizes the need for African Union states to collaborate on developing AI, including investing in and implementing AI in both the public and private sectors. By fostering AI development through innovative startups on a regional and national level, the African Union states will be able to integrate AI with areas of focus in Agenda 2063, such as healthcare, education, agriculture, and sustainability.
The final step of the strategy’s action plan is to expand these AI partnerships worldwide, further improving Africa’s position on the global stage.
Still, the Continental AI Strategy acknowledges the risks that come with the development of AI: a lack of diversity and bias in data, concern around cybersecurity, potential privacy infringement, and potential spread of misinformation. The first step of the action plan is to develop regional and national AI governance and regulation levels to address these concerns. By making AI development African–centric, the strategy also addresses the lack of diversity that often hinders other AI models—the action plan includes the need to expand models to include women, migrants, people with disabilities, and communities with different sets of values. The action plan also emphasizes the need for AI models to prioritize human rights and dignity above all else.
The successful implementation of the Continental AI Strategy would have enormous benefits for African Union states’ economies and populations. And through the steps outlined, the plan would encourage the creation of regulations and improve the focus on ethical and sustainable usage of AI globally.
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The African Union has a strategy to make Africa a global leader in AI
Nairobi, Kenya’s skyline. Kenya is among several African countries with well–educated populations ready to take advantage of AI. Photo courtesy of Lmwangi, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0
January 8, 2025
The African Union has a strategy that, if successful, could help African states develop AI tools designed to their needs—and perhaps help the continent become a global leader in AI, writes Stephanie Gull.
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n 2024, the African Union Executive Council unveiled its Continental AI Strategy, emphasizing the need for an African–centric AI development strategy. The Continental AI Strategy focuses on ethically and sustainably developing AI to mitigate the risks of the developing technology while relying on the collaboration of African Union members. Through this strategic development of AI, the African Union hopes to achieve the goals outlined in Agenda 2063—a framework to establish Africa as “the global powerhouse for the future”—while also meeting the Sustainable Development Goals created by the UN.
Countries in Africa have already implemented AI in impactful ways. In 2023, Google’s Flood Hub AI began including African countries in its data sources to address the increased risk of flooding from the climate crisis. Thus far, the AI’s predictions of flooding have had “remarkably high accuracy.” In 2024, the PlantVillage App offered Zambian farmers the opportunity to begin mitigating the impact of the climate crisis on critical produce in Zambia. The app uses AI to identify different pests and diseases afflicting crops, creating a massive database to facilitate solutions to ensure food security. The free app encourages users to keep expanding the database.
Perhaps most notably for the development of AI, African countries like Nigeria and Rwanda have been developing AI with digitized language models to include different local languages in AI data sets. African languages are not often included in global AI models, and including this data is essential for African citizens to use AI effectively.
The creation of the AI Hub for Sustainable Development Startup Accelerator Pilot also highlights Africa’s ability to develop AI technology further, as the program connects AI–focused startups across Africa with investors. The partnerships created by this platform will be instrumental in implementing the Continental AI Strategy.
With the Continental AI Strategy, the African Union wants to further focus on African–centric development of AI, utilizing the technology to strengthen African Union states’ economies, create more job opportunities, and improve health and education while prioritizing sustainability and addressing the climate crisis. The strategy plans to utilize AI to improve the lives of African people while “leaving no one and no place behind.” Fortunately, Africa already has a climate ready to embrace AI, with countries like Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Kenya already established as technological innovation hubs with tech–savvy populations ready to foster technological development. And as part of the action plan, the African Union states will begin investing in the necessary infrastructure to successfully establish and maintain startup AI ecosystems.
The Continental AI Strategy also emphasizes the need for African Union states to collaborate on developing AI, including investing in and implementing AI in both the public and private sectors. By fostering AI development through innovative startups on a regional and national level, the African Union states will be able to integrate AI with areas of focus in Agenda 2063, such as healthcare, education, agriculture, and sustainability.
The final step of the strategy’s action plan is to expand these AI partnerships worldwide, further improving Africa’s position on the global stage.
Still, the Continental AI Strategy acknowledges the risks that come with the development of AI: a lack of diversity and bias in data, concern around cybersecurity, potential privacy infringement, and potential spread of misinformation. The first step of the action plan is to develop regional and national AI governance and regulation levels to address these concerns. By making AI development African–centric, the strategy also addresses the lack of diversity that often hinders other AI models—the action plan includes the need to expand models to include women, migrants, people with disabilities, and communities with different sets of values. The action plan also emphasizes the need for AI models to prioritize human rights and dignity above all else.
The successful implementation of the Continental AI Strategy would have enormous benefits for African Union states’ economies and populations. And through the steps outlined, the plan would encourage the creation of regulations and improve the focus on ethical and sustainable usage of AI globally.
