The future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact on Africa’s business environment is overwhelmingly intriguing yet concerning. The past decade has seen AI adoption accelerated on an unimaginable scale, with use cases diversifying more than any other technological evolution in recent years. The University World News report suggests that AI technology could increase Africa’s economy by a remarkable $1.5 trillion, which equals half of the continent’s current GDP. It would be possible for Africa to capture 10% of the global AI market of $150 trillion by 2030; however, it is still an uphill task.
The question is whether Africa is ready for the AI challenges and market opportunities. The African Union Executive Council only endorsed the Continental AI Strategy during its 45th Ordinary Session, which occurred from July 18 to 19, 2024, in Accra, Ghana. The strategy has a developmental focus and an Africa-centric approach to AI. It aims to position Africa as a leader, promoting ethical, responsible, and equitable practices that support Africa’s interest in the emerging AI world. However, despite the increasing implementation of AI technologies across the continent, Africa cannot be seen as ready for the AI technology revolution, as only 7 of the 54 African countries (Benin, Egypt, Ghana, Mauritius, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tunisia) have drafted national AI strategies. None have implemented AI regulations, indicating that more efforts are required to advance the AI regulatory framework on the continent.
Africa, with the youngest population in the world, can leverage its youthful demography to drive the continent’s sustainable AI strategy and workforce development. Research by Brookings has shown that by the end of 2030, one in five world consumers will reside in Africa, which means vast opportunities for AI-powered goods and service providers. African nations can and should position themselves as leaders and a significant player in the AI economic value chain rather than remaining mere consumers. There is already a rising widespread application of AI technology solutions and services in Africa, significantly impacting the healthcare, agriculture, finance, transportation, and education sectors.
AI has shown a far-reaching economic impact across virtually all aspects of our lives, vigorously reshaping our world, economies and geopolitics. For Africa, AI plays a pivotal role in achieving the continental Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), especially in healthcare, education, agriculture and finance. In Ghana and Rwanda, AI-powered diagnostic solutions are successfully deployed to improve diagnostic imaging analysis, significantly contributing to the early detection of tuberculosis and breast cancer cases. We have also seen the use of AI to enhance drone delivery routes for medical supplies, which has led to early diagnostics and treatment of patients.
In the agricultural sector, start-up companies in Nigeria and Kenya, such as Ujuzikilimo and Farmcrowdy, for example, are using AI to analyse soil and weather data to provide farmers with personalised advice on crop cultivation and enable them to make specialised and data-driven decisions that improve crop yield and enhance food security.
Innovative AI solutions have been significantly applied in smart city development in South Africa for the past ten years. Local government eThekwini Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal has leveraged AI to become a data-driven smart city that provides pragmatic and innovative water for sanitation services to its growing population, which other municipalities have started to emulate.
AI’s role in financial inclusion in Africa. M-Pesa, a leading mobile banking platform in East Africa, notably Tanzania and Kenya, is leveraging AI to optimise the credit scoring process and microloans services. This AI innovation assesses customers’ creditworthiness by analysing their transaction data to enable a broader range of individual and MSME businesses to access financial services, thereby fostering more profound economic growth, stability and financial inclusion.
Robust regulatory policy frameworks are critical to meet the future challenges of AI practices in Africa. The continent needs a unified multilateral and integrated policy framework that supports the development of AI in the member states. This will ensure that exploring the vast AI potential is conducted with the utmost responsibility, accountability, and professional ethics and will provide an enabling environment for local players to thrive. AI practices on the continent must consider our unique socio-economic and cultural context to ensure data protection and minimise biases as much as possible. It is also high time we began to consider inclusion in our development of the AI economy. So much focus has been on the formal sector, leaving behind the informal sector and contributing more to our African socio-economic activities. AI innovators can significantly impact society by building solutions that address the informal economy, which remains largely untapped in Africa.
A clear roadmap for the development of AI is urgently needed. The various governments must deliberately assess the AI value chain and identify their areas of strength to build capacity and marketable values for domestic and international consumers. Some countries have relatively more mature infrastructure within the continent, which they can offer as a service to the rest (IAAS and PAAS). In contrast, others may have more workforce and technical skills availability advantages, which can benefit others (PAAS and SAAS). There are numerous opportunities in the AI business value chain in various domains – Infrastructure As A Service (IAAS), Platform As A Service (PAAS), and Software As A Service (SAAS).
The current and next generation of African innovators should take advantage of the youthful demographic population to champion AI evolutions and build for the future. The government and policymakers must design a comprehensive AI developmental strategy, roadmap and measurable support structures for its realisation. A clear vision must be defined, and SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) strategies must be articulated to achieve the goals within a set benefit realisation plan. An enabling environment and adequate structures must be established to support the execution of the strategy. There must also be a monitoring system to measure progress and identify challenges, leading to continuous improvement in the processes and approaches to support the execution.
The intervention should consider reviewing and revamping our educational curriculum to upgrade its contents and incentivise private sector stakeholders to collaborate in AI development programmes. We should have deliberate AI programmes infused into our academic curriculum at every level to create the awareness and culture required for organic growth. There should be some tax breaks to attract and support private investors in AI development programmes. We also need to see more PPP (Public Private Partnership) collaborative initiatives to support the vision. All hands must be on deck to ensure we Africans do not lose another window of opportunity to provide technological leadership. It is not a question of whether AI will define or influence our future but if we will be dragged along instead of leading the pack.
https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2024/01/28/governing-ai-in-africa-policy-framework/
Written by:
Henry Ogbu
Head of Delivery, Fintech
