Understanding Africa’s AI Governance Landscape: Insights From Policy Practice and Dialogue
Artificial intelligence (AI) is shaping the lives of individuals, economies, and countries worldwide. Innovations associated with AI are advancing across sectors such as health, transportation, and agriculture, transforming economies and entire business models and practices. In Africa, AI has the potential to grow the continent’s economy by an estimated $2.9 to 4.8 billion by 2030. In recognition of the AI promise, African stakeholders are increasingly positioning themselves to expedite AI adoption and realize its benefits.
This is most evident through their pursuit of AI innovations, infrastructure development, governance, and convenings like the prominent inaugural Global AI Summit on Africa in Rwanda on April 3–4, 2025. This summit in Kigali was hailed as a momentous occasion for the continent, as it brought together policy leaders, private sector representatives, and other stakeholders from across the continent to forge a collective pathway on shaping Africa’s role in the global AI economy.
The gathering resulted in the Africa Declaration on Artificial Intelligence, which received endorsements from forty-nine African countries, the African Union, and Smart Africa. The declaration affirms the continent’s vision on AI, as outlined in the African Union (AU) Continental AI Strategy released in 2024. It makes commitments to grow seven key areas: talent, data, infrastructure, market, investment, governance, and institutional cooperation. The declaration also announced the creation of a $60 billion Africa AI Fund and an Africa AI Council.
Global Context of AI Governance
Globally, countries are engaging in AI governance due to both the rapid growth and transformative potential of the technology as well as concerns about societal implications. As AI systems become more pervasive, leaders have called for greater international cooperation to govern the systems’ development and deployment. Examples of this cooperation include the United Nations High-Level Advisory Body on AI, which developed the “Governing AI for Humanity” report; a series of AI safety summits; and the International AI Safety Report.
However, there is no universal model for AI governance. A World Bank report details four current approaches: industry self-governance, soft law (such as strategies, policies, and standards), hard law (such as the European Union AI Act), and regulatory sandboxes.
Africa’s Evolving AI Governance Landscape
In examining Africa’s evolving landscape of AI governance, there is significant evidence of AI soft law, particularly through the development of national AI strategies and policies. Research conducted by the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, through the Africa Technology Policy Tracker (AfTech) tool, reveals that African countries are at different phases of AI governance, evolving through the formulation of national AI strategies or policies.
There are fifteen national and two continental AI strategies and policies published to date. Among the national documents published, there is a distinction between AI strategies and AI policies. Currently, there are twelve national AI strategies and three national AI policies. While all these documents show country direction for AI development, there is a notable preference for AI strategies. An AI strategy typically aims to establish direction and answer the “how” by providing a roadmap to harness AI for socioeconomic gain, whereas a policy usually establishes more specific guidelines and principles for technological developments.
The continental policy frameworks include the AU Continental AI Strategy and Smart Africa’s AI Blueprint. The AU strategy is regarded as the anchor AI document, as it provides a singular vision for the union’s fifty-five member countries. It identifies fifteen recommendations including the development of national AI strategies and policies, calling them “important starting points for governing AI.”
AI for Digital Transformation
African AI strategies and policies have been developed to help drive the continent’s digital transformation. For example, the AU Continental AI Strategy positions AI as an enabler of socioeconomic growth and aligns it with the aspirations of the AU’s Agenda 2063, aiming for inclusive and sustainable socioeconomic development for all Africans.
This framing is also reflected in national documents. African countries have designed national strategies and policies that identify priority areas for AI application to provide socioeconomic benefits. Analysis reveals several common priority sectors of AI application, including agriculture, government, and health services.
Building AI Enablers
Alongside identifying potential sectors for AI adoption, African policy practice identifies the necessary enablers or capabilities required to develop AI applications. AI enablers represent the essential inputs or foundational infrastructure required to foster and facilitate AI development and adoption. Governance and talent are fundamental enablers common across all African countries, followed by data, research and innovation, and digital infrastructure.
Insights From Policymakers
To further explore and understand Africa’s evolving policy landscape, a ministerial dialogue was organized at the Global AI Summit on Africa. This dialogue yielded significant insights that supported the above findings on policy practice and introduced fresh perspectives on Africa’s AI policy.
African policymakers aim to ensure that AI development is aligned with the continent’s needs. A key concern is that AI technologies in Africa are predominantly imported, meaning they may not address the unique needs and contexts of the continent. A distinct message emerged: Africa must take charge of its AI journey through policy frameworks that provide clear and actionable road maps.
AI for Good
AI governance in Africa is designed to provide socioeconomic benefits to Africans, especially to address challenges such as unemployment among the youth. Participants emphasized that Africa’s AI moment must offer its youth an opportunity to rewrite their story, with tangible digital dividends through policy interventions that harness their creative abilities.
Developing AI Enablers
Participants highlighted the importance of advancing talent, data, governance, research and innovation, and digital infrastructure. There is a shortfall in all five areas, which hinders the continent’s capacity to develop localized AI. Talent investment is crucial, as only 3 percent of the global AI talent pool resides in Africa, despite its large youth population.
Data serves as the foundation for AI innovation, and there are critical issues regarding data ownership and bias. Local datasets that incorporate African languages are seen as a priority. The absence of African data has significantly contributed to AI bias, necessitating the development of localized data sets.
Governance and Research
AI governance in Africa is in its early stages; however, the formulation of strategies and policies represents a deliberate attempt to leverage the advantages of the technology while addressing potential risks. Key issues identified in AI governance include regional harmonization, safety, sovereign AI, and an innovation enabling environment.
Regarding harmonization, it is essential for countries to align their AI policy practice with the AU Continental AI strategy. On safety, governance should facilitate safe, inclusive, and responsible advancement of AI through a multisector approach. Sovereign AI involves developing local models along with necessary infrastructure.
Financing AI: Collaboration and Partnerships
Participants called for holistic and innovative strategies, including public-private partnerships and collaboration with the African Diaspora. An example of collaboration emerged during the Kigali summit where Cassava Technologies will invest up to $720 million to build the first “Africa AI Factory,” providing AI infrastructure to multiple African countries.
Conclusion
Africa stands at a pivotal juncture in shaping its AI future. Significant gains have been made in its policy posture, but more needs to be done, especially in policy action. To achieve the vision of “AI for Africa by Africa,” African governments and stakeholders must move decisively—from strategy to implementation, from vision to innovation, and from dialogue to measurable impact.
The insights from both policy practice and dialogue underscore a clear imperative: AI governance in Africa is bold and purpose-driven, prioritizing building national AI capabilities, growing AI applications, and fostering inclusion and sovereignty.
