The African Union Executive Council has adopted the “Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy,” that calls for the adoption of AI in the public and private sectors among member states, including Nigeria.
This was disclosed in the Continental AI Strategy document published on the AU website on Friday, August 9, 2024.
The AU Executive Council endorsed the AU Strategy on Artificial Intelligence (AI) at its 45th Ordinary Session, which took place in Accra, Ghana, on July 18 and 19, 2024.
The African Union’s Ministers of Communications and ICT unanimously approved the plan in June 2024.
It was previously reported that the 2nd Extraordinary Session of the Specialized Technical Committee on Communication and ICT of the African Union took place virtually between June 11 and June 13, 2024, bringing together over 130 ministers and experts across the continent.
As a result, they approved a Continental AI Strategy that will direct African nations to use AI to achieve the continent’s development goals and improve the lives of its citizens.
Highlights of the Endorsed Strategy:
Develop Africa-owned AI infrastructure: An integrated hardware and software environment created especially for AI and machine learning workloads, an AI infrastructure paves the path for data processing and deployment.
AI Regulation: The plan suggests policies that will control the extent to which AI is used across the continent.
Funding for AI-based Research: The plan calls for financial support to increase Africans’ understanding of AI’s features and possibilities.
According to the document, among other recommendations, the AU Executive Council supported the use of AI in African nations’ public and private sectors.
The Continental AI Strategy proposes a five-year timeframe between 2025 and 2030 for implementing the actions in the fifteen areas, and it will be implemented in two phases:
Phase One (2025–2026) will be devoted to developing the requisite national AI policies, governance frameworks, resource mobilization initiatives, and capacity building at the AU, RECs, specialized agencies, and Member States.
Phase two will focus on the implementation of core projects and actions of the continental AI strategy.
According to the document, only six nations—Algeria, Benin, Egypt, Mauritius, Rwanda, and Senegal— As of July 2024, had created independent AI policies.
Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda are said to be “addressing AI in combination with other emerging technologies, such as blockchain, or in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
The adoption is a response to the African Union’s (AU) demand that developing nations be given more voice and power in international artificial intelligence (AI) governance frameworks.
