Next week, on April 3–4, Rwanda will host the inaugural Global AI Summit on Africa, in partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF). The event is expected to bring together over 1,000 participants from more than 95 countries, marking a significant milestone for the continent. At the core of the summit is a forward-looking conversation on the future of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to transform Africa’s economies, industries, and societies. This moment presents a vital opportunity for Africa to assert its role and shape its voice in the rapidly evolving global AI landscape. There’s no doubt that AI has the potential to dramatically reshape how we live, work, and solve problems in Africa. The real question is: how quickly can we adopt it and what must we do to position ourselves at the forefront of this technological revolution? Just a few years ago, if you asked the average internet user what AI was, most wouldn’t have been able to give you a clear answer. It was a buzzword—distant, abstract, and often misunderstood. Today, that’s no longer the case. Now, almost anyone with a smartphone or laptop is interacting with AI daily whether they realise it or not. People are using AI to research topics, ask who the new Prime Minister of Canada is, generate business proposals, craft company strategies, or even to get health and wellness advice, learn to code, or plan the perfect date for a soon-to-be fiancée. The potential of AI goes far beyond casual questions or basic tasks. We’ve only just scratched the surface. When I asked ChatGPT what AI is doing in the real world, the list was impressive: diagnosing diseases, discovering drugs, predicting traffic, managing inventory, detecting fraud, analyzing business data, and even monitoring crops. By 2030, AI could add $19.9 trillion to the global economy, with $2.9 trillion flowing into Africa alone. That impact could lift 11 million people out of poverty and create half a million jobs each year across the continent. One thing is clear: Africa has the world’s largest and fastest-growing workforce, positioning it to play a pivotal role in the global AI ecosystem. To unlock this potential, the continent must navigate key social and economic challenges, and the Global AI Summit offers a timely opportunity to chart that path forward.
