Africa’s Continental AI Strategy

Abstract The African Union’s Continental AI Strategy presents AI as a promising, transformative tool for development. While the strategy acknowledges the potential impacts of AI on related socioeconomic challenges, such as poverty, inequality, and armed conflict, it does not adequately address how these challenges might affect AI impacts on people’s livelihoods across the continent. AI has the potential to bring about equitable development, yet it can also deepen economic dependency, facilitate the exploitation of African labor, and undermine various dimensions of autonomy (economic, financial, technological, and data-driven). While African governments have expressed their commitment to supporting local AI for equitable development, a mismatch remains in governance capacities to understand the impacts of AI and enforce regulations regarding AI. This article reflects on the capacity gaps in regulating and enforcing AI legislation, as presented in the Continental Strategy. It does this by examining the current state of affairs in African states, specifically in terms of educational levels, internet coverage, and state capacity. This article argues that without necessary adjustments to better ground the strategy’s aspirations, AI will not reach the development aspirations sought by the Continental Strategy. The article proposes that, alongside developing clearer understandings of AI and involving diverse actors in the discussions associated with the regulation of AI (legislators, policy implementers, development specialists), making explicit the connection between development AI and development outcomes, in addition to devoted capacity building efforts for AI public servants, will enhance the capacity to effectively steer national AI development dividends around the continent.