Ethical Horizons - Mapping AI Policy in Africa

iv. The African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and the African Union High- Level Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET) which emphasize on the need to address concerns about job losses and the need to enhance job creation opportunities through the integration of AI in various developmental sectors (Tikoudi 2023; Engines and Growth 2023).

Based on these efforts, other African countries have gone ahead towards developing AI strategies, policy drafts, published policies and some have already started implementing them. For example, Mauritius, Egypt, Benin, and Senegal have developed AI strategies in 2018, 2021, and 2023 respectively. Whereas Rwanda (2023) have developed and published AI policy to serve as a roadmap towards harnessing the benefits of AI and mitigate its risks as briefly described in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Landscape of AI Policies, Strategies, and Data Protection Laws.

KEYS

Have Al Strategies

Have Al Policies

Drafting Al Regulations

Have Data Protection Laws

No Data Protection Laws

4.1.2 Case Study Analysis on AI Ethical Policies Landscape in Africa Most of the existing AI Strategies and Policies in Africa are in line with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and strategies for digital transformation, science, technology and innovation (Moono 2021). For example, Benin have developed AI and big data strategy which focused on strengthening the national data infrastructure, promoting AI solutions, developing human capital, research and innovation; Egypt have developed National AI strategy which focuses on building human capacity by creating the necessary enabling environment; Mauritius’ AI strategy is guided by accountability, ethics and inclusiveness to build public trust and create a robust AI ecosystem(Brief 2023); Rwanda’s AI policy aim to harness the benefits of AI and mitigate its risks by building the skills, creating an open and secure data ecosystem, driving public sector transformation and accelerating

responsible AI adoption; Senegal’s AI strategy which aim to develop human capacity in AI, support solutions that solve development problems, foster partnerships between the public and private sectors and create an inclusive and trusted AI ecosystem (Engines and Growth 2023; StandfordUniversity 2023) Other countries such as, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia, and Uganda have also taken steps to define AI policies and establish institutions to drive AI development (Chatbri, Jemmali, and Hannachi 2019; Akello 2022; StandfordUniversity 2023). There has also been progress in addressing data issues across Africa and therefore, so far, the number of countries with data protection laws has doubled compared to the statistics of the last decade. The following are some of the case study analyses on the key AI principles in the AI strategies and policies in Africa;

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Ethical Horizons - Mapping AI Policy in Africa May, 2024

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