By Lillian Nalwoga |
As artificial intelligence reshapes economies and everyday life, the essential question for African countries is not simply whether AI will be safe. It is whether African societies will have the power, infrastructure, skills, resources, and representation to shape how AI is built and used.
The Inaugural UN Global Dialogue on AI, held in July 2026, among its priorities called for the need for “safe and inclusive AI” among others. However, the message from African delegates pointed to a broader concern. Safety without sovereignty and agency is not enough. Delegates pointed to limiting factors such as the lack of access to computing power, locally relevant data, technical expertise, financing, and meaningful influence over global AI rules. The speed of AI development intensifies these challenges. The preliminary report of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI rightly warns that technological advances are moving faster than governments’ ability to adapt. This could create risks that can be severe, further worsening existing inequalities and undermine digital rights. The report further notes that steps to close these gaps do exist, but they require sustained investment in Member States’ capacity to shape, evaluate, and deploy AI.
Many African countries are now developing AI strategies and policies with the goal to harvest opportunities and mitigate AI risks. However, regulating alone without the necessary infrastructure, data, and human capacity are unlikely to deliver the desired outcomes. Moreover, as noted in the preliminary report, current global AI systems often overlook indigenous languages and cultures resulting in inaccurate outputs and systems that are poorly suited to local realities.
The need to protect data sovereignty was another issue that emerged clearly from the dialogue. Africa member states emphasized the need to have control over how their data is used, while ensuring that cross-border data arrangements are fair and mutually beneficial. For this to manifest, African countries would require access to computing capacity, high-quality data, skilled talent, sustainable financing, reliable electricity, and robust digital infrastructure to support meaningful AI development.
These concerns were further highlighted by the governments of Rwanda and Uganda, who noted that more than half of the world’s data centers are located in just a handful of wealthy countries, while Africa possesses less than 1 percent of global AI computing capacity. This systemic inequality risks entrenching dependence on foreign platforms, cloud providers, and AI models that are not designed for African contexts. Despite its significant contribution to the global AI economy in terms of critical mineral resources and social data, Africa is still too often positioned as a consumer rather than a shaper of AI technologies, standards, and governance.
This imbalance cannot be solved by ethical principles alone. From an African perspective, AI governance is not only a regulatory exercise; it is an infrastructure, development, and justice agenda. African member states at the Dialogue reinforced this message. Government delegates from Rwanda and Kenya for instance highlighted the need to expand access to infrastructure and financing, invest in skills and talent, reduce regulatory fragmentation, and build on regional initiatives such as the Africa Declaration on Artificial Intelligence. Other delegates similarly stressed that AI must be transparent, accountable, and subject to meaningful human oversight. The protection of underrepresented languages, cultures, and data, as well as concrete forms of international cooperation, was also highlighted.
The priorities identified by African stakeholders. This distinction should define the future of the Dialogue. Unlike what was seen at the India AI Summit, the UNGDIA drew many high-level African government delegations, who clearly voiced the continent’s priorities for advancing AI. African participation and that of the Global South must go beyond consultation after key decisions have been made. Stakeholders from the Global South should play a leading role in setting priorities, developing standards, and monitoring AI implementation. The challenge for the Dialogue is therefore not only to identify risks but also to ensure that countries have the capacity to prevent them and to benefit from AI on fair and equitable terms. The choice should not be between innovation and rights. The Dialogue must ensure that AI advances development without compromising dignity, privacy, equality, or democratic participation. This is also anchored in calls by civic actors from the Global South, who have long called for not merely inclusion in global AI discussions but also a South-led rights-based AI paradigm grounded in planetary limits, democratic participation, and intergenerational justice. Additionally, CIPESA’s research on AI impact in Africa has highlighted the need for a human-rights approach to AI regulation and the adoption of a human- centred AI governance in Africa, through deliberated and inclusive approaches.
Moreover, the UN Global Dialogue on AI can make a meaningful contribution by moving from issuing broad statements to practical, measurable actions anchored in Africa’s sovereignty, agency, and capacity to shape its own digital future. As the dialogue moves into its intersessional phase, it must shift from discussion to action. Global South governments and civil society are demanding equal footing in AI governance, and the UN must listen. One way to do this would be for the UN to champion a consolidated fund for AI development and capacity building in the Global South. The UN Secretary-General suggested creating a Global Fund on AI with a target of $3 billion to facilitate building basic AI capacity in developing countries. According to him, this is “less than one per cent of the annual revenue of a single tech company.” If successfully adopted, it could help launch AI development initiatives in many Global South countries. However, relying solely on tech companies is unlikely to address Africa’s and the wider Global South’s AI challenges. That is why African countries are calling for a holistic approach to AI investment. The 2025 Africa Declaration on Artificial Intelligence proposes the creation of a $60 billion Africa AI Fund financed by public, private, and philanthropic capital. The fund will support AI infrastructure, African AI businesses, workforce development, and domestic research capacity. It still remains unclear when these funds will take effect.
Nonetheless, more efforts are still needed to create public awareness on the ethical use of AI while also strengthening civil society voices in advocating for human rights respecting AI development.