Building beneficial AI systems in Africa

This article highlights the growing role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Africa, focusing on its transformative potential in sectors like agriculture, finance, and education. Although AI adoption is limited, Africa has the chance to accelerate its use and address local needs. Key challenges include a lack of machine-readable datasets, particularly for African languages, which limits customization and risks reinforcing biases. The article advocates for improved data governance, multi-stakeholder collaboration, capacity building, and ethical approaches to support AI-driven development in Africa’s Fourth Industrial Revolution.