AI Policy blueprint for Africa

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) can deliver extraordinary productivity and development gains for African economies and firms, streamline and scale government service delivery, and help African economies attract foreign investment. Recognizing this, in June 2024, African ICT and Communications Ministers endorsed a landmark Continental Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy and African Digital Compact.

However, AI use and AI policies are still quite nascent in Africa. To date, only a handful of African countries have developed national AI strategies and guidelines, and the adoption of key policies conducive to AI such as data privacy and transfer, consumer protection, fair use copyright rules, and national AI skilling is still wanting across the continent. African firms and other stakeholders reveal considerable gains from AI, but also share concerns about data privacy and cybersecurity challenges and the specter of data localization.

Google’s 2024 AI Sprinters report underscores the pivotal role of AI and digital policies in driving AI adoption across African firms, agencies, and economies. The purpose of this report, supported by Google, is to build on the AI Sprinters and develop an AI Policy Blueprint for Africa (French version here), aimed to promote thinking on policies conducive to the adoption and use of AI in Africa.

Based on survey data with 2,000 African firms, students, and other stakeholders and an analysis of 50 African countries’ adoption of policies conducive to the use of AI, this Blueprint calls for:

Infrastructure: Investing in high-speed, reliable digital connectivity and data centers, including through promoting digital and energy infrastructures and cloud-first policies among government agencies and firms.

People: Making all Africans AI-ready, including through AI skilling initiatives, bolstered STEM education, and AI-related capacity-building for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Technological innovation: Promoting R&D and adoption of AI technologies, such as through AI sandboxes and living labs, national AI R&D and startup investments, and cross-border data transfer policies.

Policies to promote responsible use of AI, such as through risk-based AI policies, use of internationally acceptable AI standards among firms and organizations, and responsible use of AI by government agencies

At the regional level, the AI Policy Blueprint proposes aligning Africa’s AI policies with international AI policy and governance principles; promoting internationally interoperable AI standards in Africa; and building and pooling regional AI resources and capabilities, for example to establish regional AI development centers that attract both local and global companies to create AI applications.

In terms of the processes to promote AI adoption and use in Africa, the report proposes three approaches:

Promoting continental strategies, regional policymaking, and national implementation. One way to think about scaling of AI in Africa is for the African Union to set a continental policy direction on AI, and for regional economic communities (RECs) to translate strategies into policies that countries then implement. At the national level, AI promotion mandates need to come from the highest levels of government and involve all relevant agencies.

Multistakeholder dialogues to future proof AI. Policies and ideas to take advantage of AI evolve over time as AI itself evolves, skills and capabilities to use it improve, new use cases come into sight, and the suitability of AI policy and regulatory frameworks are tested. On their AI journey, African policy- makers should future-proof AI policies by regularly consulting on AI-related issues with industry, civil society, and academia.

Measuring progress on AI adoption. To chart their path to AI development, African governments should establish specific AI-related targets and track progress in meeting them, for example through an African AI Readiness dashboard. Setting clear, measurable goals will allow governments to concentrate efforts and resources on critical areas where AI can drive development, such as healthcare, education, agriculture, and infrastructure, and where there are market failures that need to be bridged, such as with underserved populations’ access to AI.

This report is expected to be a living document that will be updated to reflect policy changes and AI adoption gains in Africa, and promote the latest thinking on AI policy to the continent.