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Priorities for Africa: Artificial Intelligence Governance at the Global and National Level

Examining global AI governance, Africa’s disproportionate risks, and South-South cooperation

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Publication Type
Policy Brief
Contributing Institution
Global Governance Innovation Network, Stimson Center
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Posted
1 May 2026
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Abstract

The United Nations’ Pact for the Future and Global Digital Compact recognize artificial intelligence (AI) as a fast-evolving technology with vast implications for peace and security. Rightly, therefore, it is an important challenge and opportunity that warrants serious deliberations on its global governance. Governing AI is particularly important given the significant variation in the distribution of the risks and benefits of this consequential technology. While AI innovations emerge from all regions, Africa continues to be the recipient of greater AI risks than rewards. Accounting for 2% of data centers, Africa is particularly vulnerable to AI-related risks like technological dependencies, harmful data extraction practices, and exploitative work conditions. Given that AI’s harms and risks are experienced locally within specific contexts, this policy brief advances that while global AI governance is critical, it is not sufficient. From an African perspective, the brief highlights the value of AI global governance, particularly for knowledge exchange and transfer and for regulating lethal autonomous weapons, then examines the cost of weak institutions in Kenya and Ethiopia as case studies emblematic of continent-wide patterns. Looking at the African state independently and in the context of multilateral and regional organizations, the brief puts forward three recommendations: the integration of South-South AI cooperation in national AI strategies, the participation of the African Union in United Nations multilateral discussions on lethal weapons, and the development of national AI oversight mechanisms.

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