Report urges Africa to close digital infrastructure gaps as AI adoption grows

African countries such as Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa are advancing rapidly when it comes to the adoption of AI, but others are lagging behind for several reasons including a paucity of digital public infrastructure (DPI) and dedicated policies to set them on the right trajectory.

This is according to The State of AI in Africa Report 2025 produced by the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT), a Kenya-based research and training institution at the Strathmore University Law School.

The 70-page publication, which takes an overall look at AI adoption on the continent, makes recommendations, which if followed by African governments, can streamline AI adoption as many of the countries pursue their digital transformation ambitions.

These factors include developing sovereign, open and inclusive data and connectivity systems; expanding AI literacy, encouraging STEM education, innovation and inter-disciplinary training; developing and putting in place national AI strategies that are in tandem with standards of the African Union AI Strategy and other global bodies, promoting the ethical use of AI by ensuring transparency, accountability and fairness; building strategic partnerships across sectors, and putting in place the right laws, policies and frameworks.

The report also calls for the promotion of context-sensitive AI, which emphasises the need to encourage AI systems that reflect African values, local knowledge systems and human rights perspectives.

According to the CIPIT report, Africa is already taking a unique and dynamic approach to the adoption of AI, marked especially by increasing AI investment, although only four countries account for about 83 percent of all AI startup funding on the continent.

It also notes the growth of local ecosystems with about 2,400 organizations actively involved in AI programs, increasing pan-African collaboration, grassroots innovation with AI efforts in sectors like legal services, healthcare, agriculture, finance and even the creative industries.

Already, several AI solutions across the continent are facilitating access to services and processes in difference sectors, says the report, which cites AI financial services platforms such as Jumo in South Africa, Mipango App in Tanzania, and Botter, a chatbot used for educational support.

The CIPIT publication also warns against unregulated biometric surveillance and privacy-by-design DPI, urges inclusive digital ID and rights-respecting digital ID systems, highlights the role of AI in facilitating digital government and the risks of opacity and exclusion, and calls for interoperable and sovereign DPI in line with the AU’s Africa Digital Compact.

Per the report, Africa is “no longer on the margins of AI development but actively reshaping how it is conceived, deployed and governed.”

This means that the continent’s AI future “depends not only on technological advancement but on the continent’s ability to embed equity, local relevance and sustainability at the heart of its AI agenda.”

The CIPIT Report on the Sate of AI in Africa 2025 is the second edition after the maiden one released in 2023. That first edition highlighted similar concerns and proffered like proposals in shaping how Africa embraces AI.

Experts, including from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, have advocated systematic adoption of AI in Africa, arguing that it can help the continent overcome some of its historical challenges and pivot economic growth and prosperity.

Article Topics

Africa  |  AI  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  research and development  |  tech sovereignty