The following are the outputs of the captioning taken during an IGF intervention. Although it is largely accurate, in some cases it may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
***
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Good afternoon. Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. I'll also say good morning, good evening, and good day. Considering there are participants joining us online from different time zones. Welcome to the session on AI Readiness in Africa in a Shifting Geopolitical Landscape.
This session is hosted by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, BMZ. Together with its partners on stage. I'm very honored to be moderating this very timely discussion. My name is Ashana Kalemera. I am programs manager at CIPESA. CIPESA is the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa.
I'm sure you'll all agree with me that there's huge potential in AI in society from innovation to social economic development. However, there are also significant risks. This includes inadequate governance frameworks. Which risks deepening inequality, weakening democracy and reinforcing technological dependencies.
In Africa, particularly, countries are striving to build AI ecosystems in this fast‑evolving geopolitical landscape. This landscape is marked by shifting alliances, intensifying technological rivalry and growing economic pressure. There are various stakeholders engaged in these issues. The continent remains underrepresented in global AI development as well as discourse.
Locally driven solutions are constrained by limited investment in research, regulatory gaps and the dominance of multi‑national tech companies. Meanwhile concerns about digital exploitation and economic disparities when it comes to data processing, training of models and low‑wage labor markets in Africa also prevail. The risk of AI‑driven colonialism is growing.
As powers compete for influence, Africa must strengthen its position to ensure AI solves local needs. Rather than external interests. African nations, at the moment, have a unique opportunity to establish AI governance models that are rooted in fairness, in transparency, and inclusion. These AI frameworks also have the potential to align with local realities and normative considerations. These frameworks, hopefully, are able to foster innovation, uphold democracy and human rights.
Our speakers today represent a very broad spectrum of stakeholder groups. Who will highlight the challenges and opportunities for securing an AI future that benefits Africa. The speaker lineup includes Shikoh Gitau. Who is joining us virtually. She's the CEO of Qhala, private sector in Kenya.
We have Mr. Lacina Kone, Director General and CEO of Smart Africa.
[ Speaking non‑English ]
Matchiane Bekkar Ahmed, special envoy of the Mauritanian Ministry of Digital Transformation and Public Administration Modernization for the government of Mauritania. We have Mlindi Mashologu, the deputy director general of the Department of Communications & Digital Technologies. And to my immediate left, a very old and good friend, Neema Iyer, the founder and executive director of Pollicy. An organization based in my home country of Uganda. Our online moderation is being done by Daniel Brumund, adviser of global project and digital transformation, GIZ.
Welcome, once again. And we will start the conversation with a lightning round. Which is a one‑sentence response I expect from the speakers here. The question is, what must be done today to ensure that AI strengthens rather than undermines democratic governance in Africa? I'll start to my left to you, Neema.
>> NEEMA IYER: Thank you so much for the question. I'm very pleased to be here.
[ Speaker muted ]
>> NEEMA IYER: I'll start again. Hi, everyone. I'm very pleased to be here. Apologies for the mic malfunction. So I was saying that AI is already undermining governance in Africa. We're seeing this through automated disinformation campaigns. The eroding public trust. Manipulation of political discourse. And surveillance tools that are used to stifle voices at scale.
These harms are often gendered. And a lot of our work is looking at a feminist perspective on new technological tools. And these harms are magnified in context of weak data protection and limited digital literacy. Which really opens the door to abuse. As such, I would say we need AI that is based on accountability, trust, and a big component of public education.
And this will include, for example, impact assessments, regional coalitions. Investment in ethical and open source alternatives that work within our context. And are based on our realities. And that are focused on care and justice. Rather than control and extraction. Thank you, Ashana. Back to you.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thanks, Neema. Same question to you, Mr. Mlindi. What must be done to ensure that AI strengthens, rather than undermines democratic governance on the continent?
>> MLINDI MASHOLOGU: Thank you. Thank you, moderator. I think on my side, I would just like to say what is important is that we need to institutionalize the transparent, inclusive AI governance frameworks that are (?) of public participation. To ensure that AI supports (?) deliver social justice as well as democratic (?).
But also some of the areas I would like to highlight is the issue of removing bias from the datasets that are used to train the AI systems. Because if we are not removing these biases and also not including, you know, the large pool of, you know, demographic of datasets, you'll find that you're going to have, you know, the challenges. You know, which will then undermine, you know, democratic governance.
But I think also the last one that I want to highlight is the (?) AI. Whereby we would like to advocate. To say that whatever decisions that are taken by the AI systems, they need to be explainable. And they need to be based on, you know, some human oversight, you know.
I think there are some areas that I would like to try to emphasize. Thank you.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thank you very much. Moving to my right. Mr. Kone?
>> LACINA KONE: Thank you very much for inviting me and Smart Africa. And, of course, our partner, GIZ. Can you hear me?
What you just mentioned, the impact is worse than all of this. We talked about the bias of the AI. Don't forget. Today even if you have a Ph.D. degree, you can still be ignorant in terms of AI. Okay. If we go based on a foundation, that is not enough to go to school or you have to adapt to AI. And we all know that the inclusion definitions in Africa is completely different from the inclusion definitions in the west.
Because we believe that the AI will be the equalizer. Be able to include people who do not speak any other language. Remember, we have more than 2,000 languages in Africa. So if we allow those languages to be trained on the AI system, but not trained by us, it basically means indigenous people will be impacted by any cultural bias using AI.
Therefore, all what my predecessor has just mentioned is very true. What do we do about it? We cannot be passively ‑‑ we can no longer be passively optimistic. We have to be deliberately intentional.
That's why Smart Africa put together last April Africa council ‑‑ AI council for Africa. What does that actually mean? The Africa ‑‑ AI council for Africa will look at five different things. One, computing power. Collectively, today, more than 50 countries on our continent do we have a necessary power and computing power to be able to train our data.
Two, it's going to look at a dataset. No matter what other people said, Africa today is the number one frontier in terms of availability of data to train AI. Number three is going to look at the algorithm. Algorithm which is (?) to cultural bias. What goes into the AI to be able to respond to people.
And number four is the AI governance. The AI governance side today, there are about 19 countries in Africa, who have already developed their national AI strategy. It's our role in Smart Africa, to be able to be aligned to exactly what the high level of the U.N. commissioners came out together with the AI governance. As well as looking into what European has put together in terms of safeguarding.
Of course, all of this has to be aligned with the AI strategy development African union. Number five is the market. I think what is happening today ‑‑ what has happened happened. What do we need to be doing about it? We need to be doing these things intentionally. It's actually worse than you think.
Currently in Africa, on our continent, there are over 1,000 startups who are downloading on a daily basis open AI frontier model as well as the DeepSeek, which is the Chinese. But training those models. Those models are not located on our continent. They're located outside the continent.
AI system, once you train the server, you can never get the information back again. So what do we do about it? It goes to look at the foundational model with our partners in Europe. What do we do?
If you look in North America, everything is based on the private sector base. Which is at the heart of capitalism. When you look, it's based on control of government. Africa wants to go with the user‑centric approach for everything.
So, we could actually be able to look at AI. Not the most powerful one. But the most useful one. By looking and preserving our language. To be able to create opportunity. Not for few, but for the many. Thank you.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thank you very much, Mr. Kone. Over to you, Madam Ahmed.
>> MATCHIANE SOUEID AHMED: Thank you very much, moderator. I fully agree with what my colleagues have mentioned so far. I would like to summarize it. To make sure that AI makes governance stronger in Africa.
We must now invest in increased AI policy frameworkers that are co‑created with African voices. This frameworkers must be (?) humanized and supported by strong civic oversight. Thank you very much.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thank you, all, for the very quick lightning round. We'll now deep dive into specific questions per sector, by experience, by expertise. I'll start with you, Madam Ahmed. Mauritania was among the first African countries to launch national AI strategies.
What key challenges have you faced in translating this strategy into tangible actions? How are you addressing coordinated institutional ownership and inclusivity? To ensure a democratic and locally rooted AI in Africa?
>> MATCHIANE SOUEID AHMED: Thank you very much for this important question. Yes, Mauritania has developed an AI strategy with the support of the general cooperation through the BMZ and GIZ. To implement that strategy, we are facing some challenge.
Let me first start by infrastructure of our ability (?). Mauritania has a huge surface. There are about one‑square‑kilometer surface. And there is a lot of small villages. Far away from each other. That makes it difficult to serve more than 20% of population living in this area.
So, we are facing this reality. But we hope to address it as soon as possible with the support of government partners. Government German cooperation through (?).
Another challenge is limited capacity and technical expertise. Which slowed this strategy implementation. To address this, we are investing in partnerships with universities and international organization to build skills and technologies. We face a so‑called coordination problem across government and sector.
To tackle this, we established a ministry to ensure alignment between the AI strategy and the national development (?) with regular consultation among stakeholders. We are also aware that ownership and inclusivity are crucial. That's why our approach has focused on creating a participatory process. Engaging local tech communities and youth in shaping policies and pilot projects.
This will ensure that our AI applications are relevant, trusted, and focus on our local needs. Our goal is to build the AI model in Africa that reflects our values and development priorities. And increases (?) on local level. Thank you very much.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thank you very much, Miss Ahmed. I'll come back to you, Mr. Kone. Being an intergovernmental organization, from your experience, how can Smart Africa help its members build AI models that protect national sovereignty? While also advancing democratic values and public interests? As Miss Ahmed has pointed out?
>> LACINA KONE: Thank you very much for the question. In a geopolitical situation ‑‑ and I like to say this all the time ‑‑ the multi‑stakeholder, multilateralism is a choice. We're living in multiple polarity, political moment. The only things that bind us together are our differences.
That's why Smart Africa is here. It means we're not looking for a national AI policy. It's like cookie cutter. One size should fit all. But all size should fit together. By preserving the human right and the digital right.
This is all drawn from the U.N. high level. If you look at the AI governance at the U.N. high level. They are structural. They are basically regulatory issue. They are national issue.
The national AI governance may be a little bit different. But if you look at the common denominator, based on the ethical, inclusion and sustainability, it has to be included in a national strategy. However, by saying that today, Africa ‑‑ no single nation will be able to build an AI system alone.
My sister just mentioned about infrastructure. But, you see, we need to understand. Some people said, Africa, you might be so behind. Because you only have 40% of your population covered with internet use. Then why are you talking about AI? That's not the question.
Africa is not looking for the most powerful AI. It's looking for the most useful one. It's looking at the agriculture. Looking at the healthcare. And looking at the education. Why?
Because if you don't know the history, for the past 45 years, since 1980, African continent has gained 1 billion people and 50. In 45 years, if you gain 1 billion, has number of schools increased to that rate? No. Has the hospital increased to that rate? No. Has the school and the financial sector bank, have they grown to that rate? No.
It means, for us, digital transformation ‑‑ when we look at the AI, it is the evolution within the ecosystem of digital economy. But it's a revolution within itself. Which means AI allows us today to actually reach indigenous people in the rural area to educate them in their own language. So they become tech savvy. Like anyone who has been to university.
We will be doing that through Smart Africa. We do have a council of ICT. We have a council of African regulator. Council of African IT agency. And we have also the board member who are the head of the (?) himself.
That's why we created AI council. To be able to address this systemically in the way we align and mutualize our resources. To be able to face this revolution. Which is AI. Thank you.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thank you. I don't know about the audience. But I'm here, nodding, and taking notes frantically. We had hoped to have private sector perspective complement the government and intergovernmental ones. Unfortunately, our speaker, Shikoh, has not been able to join us.
[ Speaker off mic ]
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Please, go ahead.
>> LACINA KONE: When we talk about private perspective, I want you, ladies and gentlemen, all of you, to remember. Today, when any nation talks about AI, they talk about a frontier model. We've seen the Americans talk about a frontier model open AI. Llama, Grok 3. When we hear different people talking, they are behind the mistrial. When we hear Chinese talking about AI, they are talking about DeepSeek.
All these people are private sector. Which means the government in Africa knows they should be creating a conducive environment for private sector to have a blended finer thing. We talk about finer thing, America will declare about $500 billion. French will declare $200 billion. What will Africa declare? This fund should be and will be blended.
Don't forget. We have over half dozen MNO. Which is the mobile network operator. Operating on our continent. Who owns data center.
It is existential for them to be able to get into AI. At the end of the day, it's about making money. So even if our final (?) we should be taking that into account. That's where the role of the private sector comes in. Thank you.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thank you very much, Mr. Kone. Shikoh has joined us online. But before we move to him, we'll first hear from civil society and additional perspective from government. So, Neema, civil society is crucial for ensuring that AI serves the public good. What contributions can civil society make in this space? What kinds of coalitions are needed to support effective oversight and inclusive participation?
>> NEEMA IYER: Thanks so much for the question. Of course, civil society is extremely crucial to the entire process. I'm not just biased in saying that. We play a role as watchdogs, advocates, storytellers. And shaping the entire narrative about AI on the continent. We're also there to question the political, the economic, and the social logic on why we're actually deploying AI.
So, there is also a narrative of the fact that AI is neutral progress. Or AI is always progress, for example. But I want to put forth a few questions that we should really ask ourselves as individuals, as countries, as Civil Society.
And a very basic question. Why is this AI actually being deployed? Who is funding it? Who benefits from it? What harms does it create? Who gets left behind when these forms of AI are introduced?
Was community consulted when AI policies or AI technologies are brought in? And is the impact of these instruments measured over time? And if it is measured over time, how is it measured? So going back to the fact that, you know, just like how tech platforms have rules about what kind of content you can post. And these rules are often based on the political and moral ideology of whoever owns that platform.
I believe, too, these different ‑‑ especially private sector ‑‑ AI tools become embedded with incentives and power relations that are dependent on humans who are often in other contexts. I believe Civil Society has a very strong role in a couple of things. I'll just list them.
For example, Civil Society should play a role in the procurement process. And we need to resist this quiet import of, oftentimes, tools such as excessive surveillance or predictive tech. So much good can come from AI. But there's also a lot of harms.
We should have a very balanced view of both. We can't just be on the side of, you know, AI is harmful. Or AI is beneficial. But really having that balanced view. To think critically about why we're bringing AI in.
The second one that's really important is to track the funding. To understand who is funding what in the African context. And what are these different foreign interests of all these players, all tech giants, in shaping our AI agenda. I think we need to be very critical about that as well.
The third one, I would say, is that we need to document the lived experiences. Both of the benefits and the harms. Especially to marginalized communities. Yeah, we can do tech audits, of course. But I think Civil Society is uniquely placed to address these harms and benefits.
And to document them. And tell these stories. So they then go back and inform the policies. The fourth one is we need to democratize digital literacy.
We're in Oslo here, having this conversation that doesn't apply to most people living on the continent. There's a need to take these conversations to a grassroot level. It is extremely important for us to be represented at these high‑level, multi‑stakeholder meetings. That doesn't mean we do it at the cost of not involving local communities at different levels in this conversation.
And, yeah, I think the education needs to be accessible. It needs to be forward‑looking. It needs to be for common people. For leaders. In local languages. We need to use creative ways of talking about it.
We can't always use these huge data governance languages. And then, you know, people's eyes glaze over. Because they don't know what you're saying. We need to make it accessible. I think that is a very urgent need.
The fifth one I would say is that we also need to get back to making things. And, yes, I agree with the point. We do not have the investment of that value. But it tonight mean that we don't do anything. I want to propose that we have alternative design of products, of AI products that are based on different incentives. And that are really tailored to our needs.
Moving to the question of what sort of frameworks we would need. I would say we should really have mandatory public interest assessment. I touched on that earlier. It would be lovely if, before an AI system is deployed, that we do assessments of what it can impact. Who it will impact. And throughout the process of having it, we continue to do these assessments.
And we understand how it impacts, you know, social, economic, gender, environmental impacts of these AI systems. The next one, I think we need regional, civic coalition. So it's amazing to bring governments together to talk about AI. But what other groups are we leaving out?
What silos are we creating when we bring these groups together? Who is missing at this conversation? At this table, for example. Women's rights organizations, trade unions, journalists, researchers. Can we all come together to shape these policies? And that they're not just done at a very high, government level.
Going to my colleague's point, is funding. We need better frameworks for how we're going to fund AI on the continent. We need to come up with our own funding models for innovation. In a way that is sustainable. In a way we bring young people in. To actually create products.
I feel like that is quite a bit of a missing link. And then the last one, I think is, yeah, just bringing as many stakeholders into the conversation as possible. And then just questioning, how are we going to operationalize all these beautiful policies and frameworks we're talking about? How do we take it from this table here, actually putting it on the ground? And actually seeing it in action. So, thank you so much.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thanks, Neema. What you're saying resonates a lot with me, coming from civil society. But absolutely what was said from the government and intergovernmental perspective. Mlindi, I'll move over to you.
In anticipation of South Africa's G20 presidency, which has a very strong focus on digital governance, how can AI assessments be leveraged to strengthen context‑specific governance across Africa? And a sub question to that, what role does institution readiness, democratic safeguards and inclusive policy making play?
>> MLINDI MASHOLOGU: Thank you. Thank you for that question. As the country of South Africa, we assume the G20 presidency, and it is important to note that (?) sustainability and equality. We are presented with a unique opportunity to lead in the digital continents. Not only for ourselves, but also for the community at large.
It's important to note that one of the powerful tools that we can use is the assessments. There is one that we did work with the GIZ in terms of South Africa. Which you participated on. And one of the areas we picked up is that they allow us, as governments, to recognize the strength, you know. Identify the gaps. But also generate clear pathways for the responsible adoption.
But also it's important to note that they are not just (?). They are important (?) instruments. If we apply them with (?), we will find they cannot try to be transformative in nature. And I think they can try to assist in terms of the African‑led government framework.
Now if I can also look on to how we can anchor them into the African (?), we'll find that too often the benchmarks are imported (?) benchmarks. Which are not fitting for the government's challenges. Limited computing infrastructure. Fragmented data and (?) diversity.
These are some of the things that are very critical to when you look at the African continent. So then the South African continent, we are advocating to localize these tools. To reflect our developmental priorities. Which then include inclusive service at the public sector information as well as (?).
But also it's important to recognize that digital readiness is the cornerstone for any AI governance framework. We do understand, as policymakers, policy alone sometimes is not enough. But we need some of the institutions that are equipped for (?) and operationally agile.
So, one of the areas we are currently doing as a country is the development of an AI policy for the country. The policy, you know, it does have broad statements that we are looking into. And I must say that we have been quite behind in terms of that. But at least we are in the final stages.
And again, just to highlight a few areas we are looking on as a country. It is an area of (?) development. Where we are looking to strengthen the AI needed education. These are some of the things that also came from when we are unpacking, you know, the policy frameworks that we looked unto.
But also we look in the areas of AI for economy transformation. We are looking in terms of AI as public service. But also supporting the startups. As well as (?) sand boxes.
The area we're looking on is the area of responsible governance. So we are locating where these bodies need to be established. AI ethics board, AI commission. And the AI regulator authority. We feel some of the regulators we've got may not be up to peoples in terms of regulating AI.
But in terms of ethical inclusive AI. Where we look at ethical standards. But also cultural preservation in international declaration. But as well as human‑centered approach. In all these aspects, you'll find that some of the work that the colleagues are saying, it also aligns to that.
You'll find that, you know, while we're developing these policies, you'll find that there are some challenges that are (?) to our society. Which includes now currently ‑‑ if you look on digital divide, you'll find we still have digital decide as a continent. Which need to address. To make sure AI ‑‑ whenever we put in these frameworks, they can address that.
But also looking at the capabilities, you'll find we still don't have capabilities in the continent. That's one of the things we need to make sure that we address significantly in the frameworks. I also want to add another area. We also need to embed the democratic safeguards into every area of AI development and deployment.
Because we see without robust mechanisms for transparency, public accountability, as well as end recourse, AI can (?) exclusion or (?) bias or even erode civil liberties. So democratic governance in this age of AI means placing human rights and (?) at the center. From the procurement processes to the algorithmic.
The last point I want to add critically is the role of policy making. Governance cannot just be a technological role. But it needs to be, you know, brought into broader society. With all players at the center.
We need to make sure we have participation from society. Youth innovators. Private sectors. As well as (?) communities. As a country, we are trained to lead by example. And hosting the multi‑stakeholder forums and platforms.
Also embedding (?) by design. And ensuring that these voices help shape the future of AI. It's one of the areas we're going to be doing more so in terms of the AI for Africa initiative. Which is an initiative coming from our AI task force. It's going to be in South Africa in September. End of September.
Some of the colleagues here will attend that session. We would like, as a continent, to look broadly in terms of AI. And how we can drive AI innovation and putting in the governance thereof. Thank you.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thank you very much, Mlindi. We are looking very keenly and proudly at South Africa, as it steers the G20 presidency. And these issues that will be driven during its tenure.
Our speaker online, Shikoh Gitau, was able to join us. I would like to put the question on private sector role back to him. From your experience, what governance frameworks are necessary to ensure this innovation aligns with democratic values? And how can the private sector contribute to trust, transparency, and accountability of AI? Which have been resounding issues from all the speakers here.
>> SHIKOH GITAU: Thank you so much for having me. Can you hear me?
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Yes, we can.
>> SHIKOH GITAU: Awesome. Thank you. I'm joining in from very cold and rainy Nairobi. Thank you for having me here. Apologies for joining in late.
The question around private sector and what private sector can do starts with enabling environment. A couple of months ago, I was speaking to policymakers and government, asking, what do you need? We just need governments to, A, understand the potential of the space we are in.
AI is not a passing fad. It is not a fad that is going away. It is a consequential technology for our generation. I was hearing the interventions from my Engineer Kone. And from the representative from South Africa. And they are quite interesting.
But how do we then move that from paper to pavement? How do we do that? Is it incentivizing private sector to come in and I hear the compute around talent development. What does that actually mean in actual sense?
I'll give an example. We have been working with a number of, like, governments on one hand. But also startups. And trying to understand, what do you need to succeed? There's so many pilots that are happening with the African continent. They're not getting any traction.
You soon realize we are viewing all these things in the AI space. But our market does not understand AI. Does not know what AI is. And the potential that AI has.
And what's the difference between what we're doing right now and what we were doing five years ago with mobile internet. And being able to concretize that to our market base, our customer base, our user base is critical. And while it is the work of the government to educate the populous, it is the work of the private sector to actually create massive awareness. If the government comes into interrupt, that's a challenge.
This week, we are running AI awareness fluency and literacy campaign across the continent. In six markets. In six countries. And what we are targeting is teachers. You're not going through the normal ‑‑ going through Ministries of ICT or Ministries of Education.
We're working with teachers directly. Through their associations. Through their communities. To train them. And last week ‑‑ this week, the demand is very different.
We did a study around fear of AI. What you are fearing right now is can we continuously do this training over the next six months? What is the incentives that had the governments you're working with have done given us free space to create this programming. Once you're done with the pilot ‑‑ we're calling it a pilot ‑‑ send us a report.
This is a concrete way of ensuring private sector ‑‑ we, as government, don't know what actually need to be done. But if you can pilot and give us results, you can be able to scale whatever you're doing. We will be able to create even more space for you. It's similar to investment in the startup sector in compute.
Inevitably, private sector to invest in computers does not mean hindering what government can do. I agree with Engineer Kone, saying funding for Africa has to be a blended instrument. And it means that private sector will have to invest in some of this facility. Some of it will be extremely expensive.
But on the other hand, government and organizations have to invest in the early stages of this compute. We need to be able to have researchers and startups building. They cannot be able to afford the enterprise‑grade computing that will be sold to them by enterprise. So it is bringing this blended thinking. And creating the enabling environment.
From a democratic point of view, every time I hear democratizing this and democratizing that, what is the definition of democracy you're talking about? To me democratizing means it's enabling everybody, everywhere, to have access to the same opportunities and resources. Yeah? And if you're going to be able to bring that democratic tendency to AI, it means even the policies we are making are not being prescribed to Africa. Yeah?
So what we have seen is we need policies and policy frameworks, as rightfully said by South Africa, enabling the ecosystem. But who is drafting these policies? What agenda do they have? Do they have Africa at heart when they are doing this?
Those are the questions that should be asking. And who is doing this? Enabling young Africans to be able to contribute to this conversation. For example, one of the things we are doing with support from Smart Africa is this panel that is calling to young Africans. Both in had the continent and in Diaspora.
To enable and support their governments, and governments across the continent. In drafting some of this conversation. Some of this framework that you've spoken about. But beyond drafting and writing them out is bringing them to life.
For example there's a compute project and benchmark project being run by 35 doctors across the world with African heritage. To look at this model for healthcare. Responding to African needs and African reality.
That's what democratizing means. Creating the enabling environment. Getting out of the way. But also then starting to resource and accepting help from the democratized environment. Thank you so much.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thank you very much, Shikoh. The clock, I tell you, is moving much faster than it should. So we need to speed this up a little bit. Because we're here to learn and exchange, I would like to give an opportunity to our participants. To share any comments or reactions to the five speakers.
There are microphones on either side of the room there. Please feel free to walk over. Introduce yourself. And share your comment, reaction, or question.
As those in the room make their way to the microphone, I will check with our online moderator. To see if there are any questions from the online participants. No questions from the online participants. I see one participant walking to the microphone. The floor is yours, Sir.
>> PARTICIPANT: Okay. Good afternoon. Thank you very much. I'm a little bit tall. Good afternoon, everybody. My name is (?). And the question actually I have is with all, it seems like each African ‑‑ or most of them are on the path of creating their own policy.
I'm trying to find out from Smart Africa in particular, how can you bring these all to the table? There must be a convergence web we can actually have a policy that can be used all across the country. Like we had in the African Union Coalition on participation.
Can we have something that goes across the continent? Instead of everybody being in silos? Again it's going to take a very long time before that is done. I want to ask Mr. Kone, to see if they can bring everybody to the table. And try to have a more common platform. Thank you.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thank you very much. We have a second question. We will take that before coming back to the speakers.
>> PARTICIPANT: Good evening, everyone. Is it ‑‑ okay. My name is (?) from Ghana. Looking at the team up there, AI readiness in Africa in the shifting geopolitical landscape ‑‑ yes, it's true. But we need those kinds of policies that will create the enabled environment.
That will bring trust in the Africa society. What's currently ‑‑ Africa is one of the youngest populations we have in the world. And the youth has a challenge. Whether AI is coming to take over their jobs.
So we, as policymakers, need to build that trust. I want to find out, what are we doing to bring back trust among the youth in Africa? Thank you.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thank you very much. Yes, Sir. If you walk a little bit quicker to the microphone, we'll take your question.
>> PARTICIPANT: Thank you, everyone. My name is Petr (?) from Liberia. There are four key areas we talk about in Africa now. What are we looking at, a lot of paperwork on policies. We're looking at the issue of literacy and infrastructure. Once we are looking at readiness, this should come to the fore. To the panel, thank you so much for the nice presentation.
Can you help us to understand better from Africa what are the realistic steps that governments can do to ensure this is a reality? In terms of being ready. To ensure that youth is (?) and is real in the African youth population. These are challenges we're looking at.
What opportunities can be leveraged for the youth to use it? We are looking at ‑‑ we are always using it to open AI to ChatGPT is (?) to Africa. Where do we go from here? Thank you so much.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thank you very much, Petr King. We have 11 minutes before the end of the session. We're going to do a crash course in closing remarks, answers to questions and final thoughts all in one goal. I invite Mr. Kone to take the question that was directed specifically at you.
For the rest of the speakers, we'll reflect on the questions and issues around trust and realistic steps that have come from the floor. While at the same time, sharing concluding remarks on what the future should look like five years from now. So, Mr. Kone first.
>> LACINA KONE: Thank you very much for the questions regarding policy and harmonization on the national AI strategy. As I said before, what really matters is not, like, one size should fit all. Because each country has a sovereignty you have to take into account. But we have to make sure that each size should fit together.
So what we have engaged in since April, we've actually scanned our continent. We find close to 18 countries who are already developing ‑‑ including, of course, night year gentleman, including Mauritania ‑‑ who have developed already national AI strategy. What we did was take all these national AI strategies. And we look into the AI governance regulatory environment to develop high level of the United Nations what it entails exactly.
And we actually look also into the African Union AI strategy. We try to do a comparison. To come up with a benchmarking. What are the countries saying? Are they addressing exactly what is required from the United Nations?
How does this compare to compare? How does this compare also to the African Union? We're coming up with a response. Part of the work we're doing for AI Council for Africa. Starting this July, of course, we're going to be having a council of ICT ministers.
We'll be sharing with them. If you look at the AI strategy of Nigeria, what was the best lesson learned from that? Compared to what Egypt has? You might see Egypt, for example, is skewed toward more startup action, startup hubs and creations.
While you will see that Nigeria is focused on something else. We've compiled all of this. Of course, we're not actually talking. We're actually walking our talk. What I'm saying exactly is this will be shared with our council of ICT ministers. From there it goes to the regulator.
It's very true. So far, we have about 19 countries who have a different AI strategy. But we need to remember something. If you look at the fundamentals, which are the common denominator. Looking at ethical use of AI. Looking at inclusion of the AI. The inclusivity. And also sustainability.
90% of those AI national strategies address it. However, you may elaborate the best AI national strategy. But is it conducive for private sector investment? That is the one question we need to ask.
Because at the end of the day, governments should be creating law and regulation. To create a conducive environment for private sector to be able to chip in. Thank you.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thank you very much, Mr. Kone. Still on my right, Miss Ahmed. Reactions to the questions from the floor as well as concluding remarks on what the future of AI in the continent looks like.
>> MATCHIANE SOUEID AHMED: Thank you very much. I want to comment on the reaction of the audience. I totally agree with that. (?) will not solve the problem. But at least we need to look after ‑‑ between different initiative.
The important information is how. As you know, the context of each country is different. And even the context of the region in Africa is different. So we need to think out of the box. To find solution that is suitable for everyone's context.
So about the future of Africa AI, as we shape African AI, we must lead with principle. Data must remain, in my understanding, data must remain in African hands. Because, as you know, in the era of digital, and especially in the era of AI, sovereignty is not just territorial but also digital.
Second conclusion that I can mention, that equitable and democratic AI is only possible if policies, power, local communities protect citizen rights and foster home‑grown innovation. Thank you very much.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thank you very much, Matchiane. I see Shikoh on my screen in front of me. Shikoh, reactions to the questions from the floor. As well as concluding remarks on AI's future on the continent to ensure sovereignty, equity and democracy.
>> SHIKOH GITAU: Thank you very much. I want to respond to the question that the gentleman from The Gambia asked. For the past year and a half, we are looking into doing (?) what is the right governance framework for Africa. And what we conclude is that not everybody needs a strategy.
A strategy needs to be thought through. But what are the instruments that need to be placed for you, as a government, to be able to start on this AI journey? So what we have developed and what was launched in April was the African AI governance toolkit. If you go to qbit.Africa, you should be able to see it.
And it enables any government official, regulator or ministry to be able to see, should I just have, like, AI principles that are guiding our work around AI? Should we have a policy framework? Should we have a strategy? And a simple cheat sheet you can walk through and work through. To help you develop the principles of safety, ethics and such, to develop a principle, guideline or strategy. That will help you on this AI journey.
We recognize not every country is able to invest in having an AI strategy. It's a little bit premature. Several countries you're working in within central Africa where they're starting with a digital strategy. Not even an AI strategy. They need to start working on AI. A simple framework is what we're trying to work with them to be able to start on the journey.
On the second one ‑‑ I love the second question from Ghana. It's a very critical question. I only say that you cannot work on what you cannot measure. So we're talking about talent, maturity. All these questions.
Does anyone know where you stand? Does Ghana know where they stand in terms of AI maturity in the African continent or in the world? Or where you stand about your talent readiness. So there's an instrument we worked on ‑‑ again, as Minister Kone ‑‑ I mean Engineer Kone mentioned, around the AI maturity index.
It's a live document ‑‑ live tool, not a document. It's a live tool that's constantly being updated as different policies are being put in place. So if you go to data wall, D‑A‑T‑A, WALL, W‑A‑L‑L, dot Africa, you will see the maturity. And it's broken down to very simple measures.
It's broken down to teaching stem in our country. It's very granular. To help you realize, as you're solving for this AI, maybe we should start introducing more stem courses. Not even AI courses, in our country.
The second one is the talent index.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: I'm sorry to interrupt you.
>> SHIKOH GITAU: This is my last one.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Go ahead.
>> SHIKOH GITAU: Just measuring what talent actually means. And what you need to put in place. Again, it's been very actionable. What should Africa do?
I'm very bullish about Africa. If you hear me speaking, I always say African, Africa can. And we can win the AI race. Because we're defining what the race is about. We're not following other people's rules. Thank you very much.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thank you so much, Shikoh. Mlindi and then Neema. The race is on. One minute each.
>> MLINDI MASHOLOGU: Thank you. I wanted to touch on the questions raised and the issue of public trust. One of the areas that I feel, as policymakers, we need to do is the area of public participation. I know that most of the time, our youth are not understanding, you know, of what we do as policymakers. And what the policy making process involves.
So, I think it's one of the areas that we need to focus on significantly. But the area of digital transparency ‑‑ one of the things we're trying to do as a country in South Africa is trying to look on how we can change the curriculum. The curriculum was ‑‑ if you keep putting in more interventions, they are not assisting as much. Yes, you are doing training interventions. But they don't assist much.
If you can change the curriculum significantly so they can reflect the current (?). In closing remarks, I just wanted to say we do understand that data is the foundation for AI. We have to ensure that African nations do have control of our data that's collected, stored and accessed. And also is used and is essential to protect our sovereignty. Drive development. As well as uphold democratic legitimacy.
So without strong digital governance and frameworks, you'll find that the AI systems cannot enforce dependency. Thank you.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thank you, Mlindi. Neema?
>> NEEMA IYER: I just want to answer really quickly the question on trust and education. I think they actually go together in terms of the future of young African people. And my position is that the entire ‑‑ I'm going to quote my colleague. The entire curriculum needs to change.
From primary school. We inherited colonial systems of education. They no longer serve us. And they no longer are preparing young Africans for the future. We have to re‑question how we are teaching this factory method of teaching in classrooms. Where you move in that manner, first of all.
And also, how are we assessing people? Everyone is submitting ‑‑ where I'm doing my Ph.D., a lot of students are submitting AI assessments. What are you grading as a teacher? The whole way we even assess skills needs to completely change.
In terms of my closing remarks, I think we need to continue to have radical and critical questions about AI. Always, always, always question everything. What are the harms? What are the benefits? How is it serving our future? How is it serving the future of our youth?
Thank you so much for having me.
>> ASHANA KALEMERA: Thank you. 28 seconds for me to wrap up this very rich, rich discussion. Quite clearly, it's not yet (?) for AI in Africa. Given what's been discussed here, with the right investments, the continent stands to benefit significantly.
I think the areas for prioritizations that have come through include pushing for accountability, public education, transparency, inclusion. From a language perspective. From a gender perspective. Ensuring co‑creation. Infrastructure investments. Multi‑stakeholder consultation and participation.
Impact assessments. That was a very, very good one. Funding. Procurement. And ensuring that policies are not just prescriptions. But actually live up to reality.
Thank you so much. We appreciate the perspectives that have been shared from all over the world. From Mauritania, from the floor, from The Gambia, from South Africa, as well as Uganda. Thank you to the organizers.
We appreciate the conversation. And ensuring discourse about AI readiness on the continent is making it to the global stage. Thank you very much. We wish you all a very good evening. Thank you, all, for attending the session.
