Missing in Action: Where is Africa in the AI Race?
Without Bold Policies, Africa Risks Becoming Mere Victims of an Unknown AI-Driven Fate
Following up on my recent article:
I want to focus to Africa, particularly its future and place in the AI revolution.
Too often, discussions about technology, not just AI, in Africa revolve around its potential to address development challenges. This rudimentary framing is neither bad nor accidental; it reflects a long-standing expectation that African innovation must be tied to aid, poverty alleviation, or "solving" Africa – a synonym of problems. On the contrary, African entrepreneurs can think beyond this box and find novel solutions and ideas, such as Calendly, that serve everyone – not just Africans.
The global race to secure capital is brutal. Therefore, sometimes, to tout legitimacy or raise money, African startups, particularly in Kenya, engage in what is now dubbed “Mzungu as a Service”—bringing in a white co-founder to increase the likelihood of securing venture capital and validate their work to a global audience. Whether this is due to racism or deeper structural issues, you be the judge.
My concern isn’t just about individual entrepreneurs navigating global biases. It’s about the broader and more troubling reality: African governments and policymakers are largely absent from the AI conversation. Only Rwanda has a standing AI policy, while the rest remain in the dark in a continent of 55 countries.
The AI Revolution Is Here—And Africa Isn’t at the Starting Line
Africa’s potential is undeniable, but I often compare its governments to an athlete still in bed while competitors are already 18 miles into a marathon. Leadership isn’t just missing, it’s absent. The existing limited tech initiatives are often focused on fixing basic and subsistent problems. It doesn’t mean they don’t warrant concern, but they should have been solved long ago – say, access to clean drinking water.
Isn’t it a shame that Africa is the wealthiest continent in resources, with 60% of the world’s arable land, yet also home to some of the most persistent poverty that globalization and climate change are only making worse? In most African countries, poverty isn’t some abstract Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to feel remorseful about or romanticize. It’s something you can see, smell, and touch. And it’s ugly.
The silence of African governments in shaping AI policy isn’t just a missed opportunity; it’s a looming crisis. AI has the potential to define how we trade, learn, and live with huge potential for non-state actors like terror groups to use to advance their goals. If we don’t act now, we not only risk being passive consumers of AI, but victims of an unknown fate. And the bottom line is that it is going to get uglier unless we elect to change course.
What Can Be Done?
Instead of reacting to AI’s impact or waiting for “direction,” African policymakers should proactively take deliberate steps to position the continent competitively. Here are three simple but critical actions they can take:
Provide Tax Breaks for AI Startups
Encourage AI entrepreneurship by reducing regulatory and financial barriers for AI startups. This would create an environment where computer scientists and innovators can build without being stifled by immediate legal compliance pressures. There are already powerful open-source large language models (LLMs) out there—let’s give local developers the incentives to build on them. And yes, the African youth have the skill, Kenya has been instrumental in training AI chatbots for companies such as OpenAI.Make Computer Studies Mandatory in Secondary Schools
The world is on the verge of the AI and Quantum Computing revolution, and Africans must be future-ready. We missed the agricultural revolution. We missed the industrial and information revolutions. We cannot afford to miss this one. Countries that dominate AI today—China and the U.S.—are shaping it in their own image. If we want AI to reflect African perspectives, we must be part of its creation. To realize this, we must start disseminating compulsory digital and computer literacy through the public education curriculum – borrow a leaf from Ghana.Support Homegrown AI Models
There is a need to develop homegrown LLMs that reflect the African languages, cultures, and aspirations. InkubaLM, for example, is an emerging model that prioritizes African languages, including Swahili and Yoruba, which are often overlooked in mainstream AI models like ChatGPT. Governments should encourage investment in and promote such initiatives to ensure Africa has a stake in the AI ecosystem.
A Wake-Up Call for Policymakers
Without fear of any contradiction, I would like to appeal to African policymakers and governments to wake up from their slumber and ask three fundamental questions:
Where are we in the AI race?
What can we do to get a place on the table?
If AI is the new industrial policy, do we have one?
If we fail to act, we will remain victims—consumers rather than creators—in an AI-driven revolution. Our voices are missing in this conversation, and we cannot allow AI discussions to be reduced to debates about inclusion or development aid. I understand the urge and positionality of Africanness in those spheres, but we also have brilliant ideas that can shape the world's future.
Now, the question is: Will African leadership rise to the occation?