2063Now

AI: For an African AI ecosystem that promotes prosperity and good governance

In the wake of the latest international summit on artificial intelligence (India AI Impact Summit), held in New Delhi from February 16 to 20 and attended by some 20 heads of state, leading figures from the technology sector, and representatives of civil society, 2063Now examines the topic of AI in Africa and its potential role as a driver of economic development and good governance.

The age of artificial intelligence (AI) represents a major anthropological shift, the likes of which humanity has rarely seen in its history. Indeed, the almost infinite applications of AI could ultimately change the way we think, communicate, work, and live together.

Despite fragile socio-economic fundamentals, limited fiscal resources, and lower technology penetration rates than in other regions of the world (internet, smartphones, computing power), African countries, in all their diversity, must adopt ambitious artificial intelligence policies (at the crossroads of state capitalism, industrial policy, and training) and invest heavily in public digital infrastructure in order to address the socio-economic and environmental challenges of our century. They must also be able to articulate a strategic vision for digital sovereignty and defend their interests at dedicated international conferences, in the face of the interests of China, the United States, and the European Union, each of which is attempting to impose its own narrative on these issues.

As the saying goes: "If you're not invited to the table, you're on the menu."

Digital infrastructure and energy: cornerstones of the AI revolution in Africa

The 21st century will be the century of data and computing power. In just a few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has established itself worldwide as the new technological and industrial frontier, capable of revolutionizing all human activities. If African economies can capture a significant share of the global AI market and potential, it could add up to $1.5 trillion to the continent's GDP by 2030.

The foundations for the development and implementation of AI are based on three main elements: infrastructure, data, and applications.

In terms of digital infrastructure, African countries, in line with efforts to improve mobile and internet connectivity (submarine cables, smartphone accessibility, antennas, 5G deployment, etc.), are investing in public digital infrastructure dedicated to AI, but still lag behind other regions of the world. In 2025, the continent had 282 data centers, representing nearly 2% of global infrastructure, with significant disparities between countries on the continent and a concentration in the top five countries (South Africa – 61, Nigeria – 25, Kenya – 20, Morocco – 14, Egypt – 13), which together account for more than 47% of the total number of data centers in Africa [2]. Furthermore, Morocco is currently the only African country with a supercomputer that ranks among the most powerful in the world [3]. The construction of an African digital infrastructure is essential to any ambition of digital sovereignty. Indeed, the ability to store, process, protect, and monetize Africans' data requires the development of data centers on the continent.

The deployment of data centers is intrinsically linked to the energy issue. Without abundant and accessible energy, it will be impossible to deploy infrastructure capable of meeting the challenges, which will hamper African countries' ambitions in this area and undermine their digital sovereignty. African countries have immense energy potential (60% of the world's solar potential), but it remains underfunded (3% of global funding) and overly focused on individual connections. While momentum at the continental level finally seems to be building (Mission 300), public authorities must now accelerate and innovate to structure the financing and regulatory frameworks necessary to transform this potential into efficient systems capable of creating value for Africans.

Fortunately, the era of AI offers a unique opportunity to mobilize public and private, African and international funding to simultaneously address the continent's energy and connectivity issues through massive investments in energy and digital infrastructure (including transmission lines and data centers). According to Infrastructure Investor, 2025 was a record year for asset managers raising funds for infrastructure projects, particularly data centers, with nearly $300 billion raised [4]. It is up to African public and private actors to strategically leverage this financial windfall, in addition to domestic African capital—particularly that of institutional investors with long-term mandates. The Africa Finance Corporation estimates that total domestic capital on the continent exceeds $4 trillion [5] — in order to develop the infrastructure expected by African populations and businesses through bankable projects with national and regional ambitions.

Thinking about complete artificial intelligence value chains to ensure strategic autonomy and digital sovereignty

Beyond the infrastructure needed to deploy AI, the value creation associated with these technologies depends on mastering the value chain in a fragmented world, where control of value chains is now used as an economic weapon. AI will not solve all of the continent's employment problems, quite the contrary, but it can offer sectoral opportunities and promote the creation of economic and industrial sectors linked to the local transformation of the continent's natural resources.

Some African countries are richly endowed with critical metals and natural resources needed for the global energy transition and the deployment of AI. The continent is estimated to hold 30% of the world's mineral reserves needed for the energy transition [6]. The world's electrification depends on copper and zinc, with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia being key players in global copper production. The DRC also has the world's largest reserves of coltan and cobalt (estimated at 70%), which are needed to manufacture batteries [7]. Lithium, gold, silver, platinum, dysprosium, and neodymium are strategic resources and critical metals that are essential to the value chains linked to the deployment of AI and related technologies, particularly the manufacture of semiconductors, and which certain countries are richly endowed with (South Africa, Ghana, Guinea, Zimbabwe, etc.).

The Africa Finance Corporation has mapped critical metals in Africa so that each country can define appropriate public policies to ensure its economic security, industrialization, gradual decarbonization, and the adoption of artificial intelligence and digital economies [8].

Consequently, it is up to governments to create the conditions conducive to the construction of industrial parks that are favorable to the establishment of tech giants, the creation of mining champions and local subcontractors, the transfer of skills, the development of workers' know-how, the emergence of dynamic ecosystems and moving up the value chain, as was the case in Shenzhen, China, in the 1980s with the electronics industry [9].

Investing means choosing the world of tomorrow. The global AI revolution will not be driven solely by private actors, but also by state capitalism, which is planning-oriented, capable of coordinating industrial, research, and training policies, guaranteeing strategic autonomy, and limiting dependencies [10].

A holistic vision to promote a truly African vision of AI aligned with the Kigali Declaration

In a global context marked by technological and geopolitical competition around AI issues between the United States, China, and the European Union, African countries are demonstrating diplomatic agility by leveraging multiple partnerships (bilateral and with private groups present in Africa such as Ericsson, Siemens, Alcatel, Huawei, ZTE, etc.) between these three main players [11], while considering opportunities for pooling resources and cooperation at the continental level within the framework of the "African Continental Strategy on Artificial Intelligence" published in 2024 and Agenda 2063 [12].

The Global AI Summit on Africa was held in April 2025 in Kigali, bringing together numerous heads of state and industry players with the stated ambition of making the continent a world leader in the adoption of ethical, reliable, and inclusive AI, thereby boosting innovation and competitiveness in African economies and improving the well-being of their populations [13], in line with the work carried out by Smart Africa since 2013 at the initiative of the Rwandan government. While the youthfulness of African populations is an asset for the rapid uptake of AI, these technologies can only become real levers for value creation if people are trained to develop new uses and applications in the real economy.

The AI economy in Africa is worth around $5 billion, or 2.5% of the global market [14]. Nearly 29 African countries have already adopted a national strategy dedicated to AI, and countries such as Rwanda [15] and Ethiopia [16] have announced the creation of investment hubs dedicated to AI in 2025. According to the Government AI Readiness Index 2025, a multidimensional indicator (six pillars—policy capacity, infrastructure, governance, public sector adoption, development and dissemination, resilience) that annually assesses public policies and investments implemented by governments to promote the development and adoption of AI, South Africa, Mauritius, Kenya, Nigeria, and Rwanda occupy the top five African spots in the 2025 ranking, at 65th, 67th, 68th, 70th, and 74th place (out of 194 countries), respectively [17].

Despite continental awareness of the importance of AI, funding remains concentrated in a limited number of countries. South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Egypt account for more than 80% of continental technology investment and funding allocated to AI startups. For example, in 2024, the Kenyan start-up Genome secured nearly $638 million in funding, representing nearly 29% of the capital raised by the entire African ecosystem that same year [18]. The potential is immense, and use cases are multiplying thanks to the innovation of researchers and entrepreneurs. In the fields of agriculture (yield and crop health analysis), health (medical imaging diagnosis and analysis), education (personalized learning), culture (translation and preservation of heritage), climate action (mapping carbon sinks, detecting methane leaks), and public administration (land registry, e-government solutions, tax processing), solutions are multiplying to improve people's living conditions and the productivity of economies.

Beyond governments and businesses, African civil societies have taken their rightful place in discussions on AI and the creation of an African ecosystem through platforms, think tanks, and research centers. The Deep Learning Indaba initiative brings together thousands of African AI professionals, engineers, and researchers across the continent each year to create a continental community, strengthen and deepen the pool of African talent, and bring an African voice to the adoption and future of AI in Africa and around the world. In a different approach, the Global Center on AI Governance andthe African Observatory on Responsible AI focus more on public policy, governance, and the potential inequalities that the adoption of AI could generate.

These initiatives are essential to support the global momentum around AI and ensure that African populations stand alongside governments in a concerted approach to defining public policies and strategic priorities. It is also fundamental that African researchers be able to participate in designing the AI of tomorrow through an open research approach, so that new solutions limit bias against African populations.

Examining the societal and environmental risks inherent in the widespread adoption of AI

Finally, it seems important for each country to engage in philosophical reflection on the societal and environmental implications of the widespread adoption of AI. In his essay "The Adolescence of Technology," Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, identifies five existential risks that could arise from the widespread adoption, in the future, of a new generation of super-powerful LLM models with multiple functions and interfaces, capable of performing tasks autonomously [19]. According to him, misuse for hegemonic or destabilization purposes by terrorists and autocrats, mass unemployment, radical concentration of wealth, manipulation of opinions, and psychological dependence are all real threats arising from the potential emergence of "super AI."

Added to this, of course, is the threat to the environment and biodiversity. Data centers consume enormous amounts of energy and water. These needs compete with those of local populations, which can exacerbate poverty and social tensions. Similarly, the AI value chain, particularly the processing of rare earths, can be particularly polluting. Securing supplies of raw materials can also generate fierce competition between countries and, ultimately, conflicts.

African countries are particularly vulnerable to all of these threats. Democracy has never been so weak in Africa, echoing the authoritarian tendencies observed around the world. While democracies are also capable of using technology against their populations, autocracies and dictatorships are more likely to take the plunge for the purposes of surveillance, opinion manipulation, and wealth capture, without encountering political obstacles. In terms of unemployment, African countries are already failing to create enough jobs to absorb the growing number of workers entering the labor market. The democratization of AI could lead to massive job losses, particularly in the service sector, fueling social tensions and intra- and extra-African migratory pressures.

In terms of climate and the environment, although the continent has the lowest carbon footprint, both annually and historically, it remains one of the regions of the world that will suffer most from the consequences of climate change. Digital infrastructure can exacerbate water stress in many countries. Water scarcity and soil degradation will accelerate population displacement and weaken African food systems that are already under strain. These factors will be increased sources of conflict in the coming decades.

Without a strategic vision and pragmatic adoption, AI will only exacerbate Africa's vulnerabilities.

In just a few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has established itself worldwide as the new technological and industrial frontier, capable of revolutionizing all human activities.

Faced with this technological revolution, unprecedented since the advent of the internet, African countries must invest in AI (infrastructure and training) as a strategic lever to address the many challenges of development and governance. They must also adopt regulatory frameworks that promote the emergence of African innovation, while protecting populations and their data, and guarding against foreign interests that could compromise their digital sovereignty.

However, without a clear vision shared by governments and civil societies, without pragmatic adoption, and without concrete responses to the existential threats mentioned above, the AI revolution and its potentially unlimited applications risk exacerbating the political, economic, and social fragilities of African states rather than resolving them [20].

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