The international system is currently undergoing profound transformations that go beyond the technical sphere to affect political, economic, and institutional structures, driven by the rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, which have become a central pillar in reshaping global maps of power and influence. Amid intensifying strategic competition between the United States, China, and the European Union, AI is no longer merely a technological tool; it has become a new arena of geopolitical rivalry and a key axis in the redistribution of roles among major powers. This competition is not limited to political influence alone, but is grounded in striking economic realities: AI is expected to contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030. Within this massive growth, Africa could capture up to $1.5 trillion in economic opportunities if it invests wisely in AI and develops advanced digital infrastructure—nearly half of its current GDP—making the bet on this technology an existential issue for the continent’s economic future.
This changing equation, with its geopolitical and economic dimensions, has prompted the United Nations and several international organizations to issue repeated calls for the establishment of effective frameworks for AI governance, ensuring the responsible use of this powerful technology and limiting its cross-border negative impacts. Within this complex global landscape, Africa faces a set of structural challenges exacerbated by weak digital infrastructure, a widening technological gap, and growing dependence on foreign platforms and technical capabilities. Today, Africa is home to approximately 1.4 billion people—about 17% of the world’s population—yet it hosts less than 1% of global data centers and contributes only around 3% of global AI talent. The continent is directly affected by competition among major powers, along with associated risks related to cybersecurity, data protection, algorithmic fairness, and the use of AI in ways that could threaten social and economic stability within African states.
A Continental Ambition
In July 2024, the African Union adopted its Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy, a historic document and the first of its kind at the continental level, establishing a comprehensive framework for the development of AI in Africa. This strategy is the result of an extensive consultative process involving all member states, as well as development partners and international organizations—most notably UNESCO, which played an active role in shaping the ethical frameworks of the strategy.
The strategy is grounded in an ambitious vision of a prosperous and integrated Africa, where responsible and ethical AI enables inclusive and sustainable growth for African peoples. Its mission is to harness AI to achieve socio-economic transformation and cultural renaissance while mitigating potential risks. It identifies five key focus areas that form the pillars of continental action:
- leveraging the benefits of AI for socio-economic development and cultural renaissance;
- reducing AI-related risks and protecting African peoples, societies, and environments;
- building capacity in infrastructure, data sets, computing, skills and education, research, and innovation;
- strengthening regional and international cooperation and partnerships;
- stimulating public and private investment in AI at national and regional levels.
The strategy also sets out fifteen ethical principles rooted in human rights and the traditional African values of Ubuntu, which embody solidarity and responsibility, emphasize the interconnectedness of individuals and their communities, and are reflected in the development of fair and inclusive technologies. It further proposes a multi-level governance model to ensure effective implementation.
In April 2025, Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, witnessed a historic event with the signing of the “African Declaration on Artificial Intelligence” by 49 African countries. This declaration serves as a comprehensive continental roadmap and reflects a strong political will for unified African leadership. It defines seven core areas of commitment representing continental priorities, including talent development, the creation of open data sets, the deployment of sovereign computing infrastructure, the establishment of a continental market, the creation of an AI fund, the adoption of innovative governance policies, and the strengthening of institutional cooperation.
Among the most notable outcomes of the declaration was the announcement of the establishment of the “Africa Artificial Intelligence Fund” with a value of $60 billion—a financing mechanism combining public, private, and philanthropic capital to fund infrastructure, institutions, and research. The declaration also endorsed the creation of the “Africa Artificial Intelligence Council,” co-chaired by the African Union Commission and the International Telecommunication Union, to ensure strategic alignment.
Structural Challenges
Despite the ambitious vision reflected in continental documents, structural challenges remain immense. Africa can be described as a “digital desert,” lacking essential infrastructure despite possessing rare minerals, vast resources, and investment initiatives by regional powers seeking to enhance their influence on the continent. Microsoft’s 2025 AI adoption report confirms this structural gap, showing that no African country has yet surpassed a 20% AI adoption rate. Five core gaps hinder adoption: access to electricity, data centers, internet connectivity, digital skills, and language barriers. In contrast, countries such as the United Arab Emirates (59.4%), Singapore (58.6%), and Norway (45.3%) record the highest adoption rates globally—highlighting the depth of the challenge Africa faces.
These challenges are not limited to technical aspects; they extend to political and security stability. Large areas of the continent, particularly the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, experience unrest, instability, and armed conflict that undermine sustainable investment in technological infrastructure and make it difficult to protect digital assets. Added to this is the stark economic disparity among African countries themselves: while economic powers such as Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, and Morocco possess initial capabilities and resources to move forward, other states suffer from economic and institutional fragility that prevents them from allocating budgets for digital transformation. This threatens to create a “double digital divide” within the same continent, further isolating less developed countries.
These figures and realities are reflected in a tangible situation: Africa faces a severe shortage of talent (fewer than 25,000 specialized graduates annually compared to an estimated need of 300,000), weak digital infrastructure, and a major data sovereignty issue, as foreign companies control the majority of African data. Despite the announcement of the $60 billion fund, implementation details remain unclear in light of the enormous actual needs required to bridge these multidimensional gaps.
At the heart of Africa’s structural divide lies another battle no less fierce than the struggle over infrastructure: the battle for data sovereignty. While AI is often described as the “oil of the 21st century,” Africa faces a real risk of repeating historical patterns of extraction—this time through what is termed “digital colonialism.” Global foundational AI models (such as ChatGPT and Gemini) rely almost entirely on data collected, processed, and stored outside the African continent, typically on servers located in the United States or Europe. This reality places Africa’s “digital memory” under foreign jurisdictions, depriving African governments of the ability to protect their citizens’ privacy or to derive economic value from their raw data.
Moreover, this heavy reliance raises the issue of cultural and linguistic bias. Models trained primarily on Western content often lack an understanding of the complex social and cultural contexts of African societies, which encompass more than 2,000 local languages and dialects. This shortcoming not only marginalizes African identity in the digital space but also renders AI applications in critical sectors such as health, education, and justice inaccurate—or even harmful—if deployed without local adaptation. For example, medical diagnostic algorithms trained on Western population data may fail to detect skin diseases that manifest differently on darker skin tones, turning technology from a life-saving tool into one of unintended discrimination.
Accordingly, the African Union’s ambition goes beyond merely “consuming” technology to seeking the development of “local innovation ecosystems.” Promising initiatives are emerging in countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, where local entrepreneurs and developers are building small language models (SLMs) trained on local data to address specific societal challenges. The success of the African Union’s strategy depends on its ability to protect these emerging initiatives from being absorbed by tech giants and to establish “data sanctuaries” that ensure value creation within the digital economy remains inside the continent. This makes the activation of the Digital Trade Protocol of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) an urgent necessity for integrating Africa’s digital market.
Possible Pathways
Against this complex backdrop—marked by tension between “institutional ambition” led by the African Union and a fragile “structural reality”—several possible pathways emerge for the future of digital governance in Africa.
The first scenario is that of “effective governance and digital sovereignty,” in which the African Union succeeds in transforming the Africa Artificial Intelligence Council from a theoretical framework into a binding executive body and manages to mobilize the financing of the $60 billion fund by compelling international partners to contribute through clear technology transfer standards. In this pathway, continental political will overcomes structural obstacles, leading to harmonized legislative frameworks, the establishment of sovereign regional data centers, increased adoption rates, and ultimately the achievement of digital sovereignty and substantial economic returns.
The second scenario is “institutional paralysis and fragmentation,” where the Kigali Declaration and the continental strategy remain largely symbolic due to the absence of enforcement mechanisms and weak coordination among member states facing political instability. Here, structural realities prevail over ambition, the five key gaps (energy, data, internet, skills, and language) remain unresolved, adoption rates stay below 20%, and the continent fragments into isolated digital islands fully dependent on external actors, with continued brain and data drain.
The third scenario is that of “alternative governance and corporate dominance,” in which regulatory vacuum emerges due to the slow pace of African Union implementation compared to the rapid evolution of technology. Major technology companies (Big Tech) fill this vacuum, and their terms of service effectively become the law governing Africa’s digital space. These companies build infrastructure in exchange for control over data, leading to an erosion of state sovereignty and a diminished role for the African Union in favor of transnational corporate influence.
Overall, the African Union’s efforts to govern artificial intelligence represent a historic and significant step toward achieving continental digital sovereignty and laying the foundations for sustainable development. Through the adoption of its continental strategy and the Kigali Declaration, the African Union has established a comprehensive framework reflecting African priorities and seeking to capture the substantial anticipated economic gains. However, turning these ambitions into reality requires overcoming major structural challenges highlighted by international reports—most notably infrastructure gaps, political and security instability, and sharp economic disparities. Africa’s future in the age of artificial intelligence will not be built through policy documents alone, but through strong political will, adequate financing, and effective policy implementation, enabling the continent to transform from a passive consumer into an active producer within the global technological
