Navigating the U.S.-China AI Competition: An African Perspective

Amid the emerging rivalry between the U.S. and China for AI supremacy, African countries must strategically position themselves to capitalize on technological advancements across various economic sectors.

Artificial Intelligence is crucial for African countries and, ultimately, the continent’s transformation, fulfilling the aspirations outlined in the African Union’s Agenda 2063. This is highlighted by the endorsement of the continental AI strategy by the African Union Executive Council during the 45th Ordinary Session held in Accra, Ghana, in 2024, which called for the development of national AI policies to provide a framework to leverage its potential, as well as navigate the challenges of the AI landscape.

The adoption of AI technologies is growing rapidly across Africa. This observation is supported by data presented by Amani Abou-Zeid, the African Union Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, who noted at the Accra session that ‘Google reports a 270% rise in AI-related searches in Africa over the past year.’

The increasing adoption of AI, particularly tools like ChatGPT developed by U.S. companies such as OpenAI, is significant. Abou-Zeid cited research from the 2024 Stanford AI report stating that ‘27% of Kenyans use ChatGPT daily’, placing them third globally behind India and Pakistan, according to a Brookings Institution report.

She further highlighted the establishment of AI labs in universities in Ghana, Uganda, and South Africa, centered on utilizing AI for social impact. These labs specifically address societal challenges by developing AI-driven solutions tailored to community needs.

The dominance of U.S. and Chinese AI technologies raises concerns about Africa’s digital sovereignty. Rather than being drawn into the U.S.-China AI rivalry, African countries should accelerate AI preparedness to remain competitive.

A notable example is the SignTalk project by the Responsible Artificial Intelligence Lab (RAIL) at Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, which aims to enhance healthcare accessibility for the hearing and speech impaired through a Ghanaian Sign Language translation system.

Similarly, the winning team of the 2023 Wits-Afretec-Entrepreneurship Workshop at Wits University in South Africa developed a pilot AI solution that translates sign language into text to bridge communication gaps between medical professionals and patients with speech or hearing impairments. These initiatives accentuate AI’s role in fostering social inclusion, enhancing accessibility, and driving socio-economic development beyond productivity and efficiency gains.

Despite growing momentum and engagement with AI technologies, African countries lag behind globally in adopting AI for public goods and services. According to Oxford Insights’ Government AI Readiness Index 2024, sub-Saharan Africa ranks last among regions. Only Mauritius, South Africa, and Rwanda scored above 50% in AI readiness.

A government’s readiness for AI adoption in public services was assessed across three pillars: government, technology sector, and data & infrastructure. The government pillar evaluated the strategic vision for AI development and governance, including regulation and ethical considerations. The technology sector pillar assessed digital capacity, adaptability, responsiveness, innovation support, AI technology supply capabilities, and relevant human capital.

Finally, the data & infrastructure pillar examined data availability, quality, representativeness (to mitigate bias), and the infrastructure necessary to support AI technologies.

African AI readiness requires fulfilling government, technology, and data & infrastructure prerequisites. While AI adoption is gradually increasing, there is a disparity in preparedness across the continent. Despite AU-wide calls for national AI policies, only three countries have fully developed policies, and fewer than ten have national AI strategies.

The strategies set the goals and direction for adopting and implementing AI for national development. Ghana’s strategy, for example, explores AI applications in key sectors like agriculture for increased crop yields and healthcare for expanded rural access via drone delivery of medical supplies. Such sectoral AI integration aims to drive broader national progress.

The three countries with national policies—Mauritius, Kenya, and Egypt—passed legislation to address ethical, legal, and technical standards. This leaves most of the continent without a formal AI regulatory framework.

However, many African countries have enacted dataprotection laws or amended existing legislation to address AI-related challenges such as data privacy for example. At the continental level, the African Union has introduced frameworks like the AU Data Policy Framework to guide AU member states in harmonizing national AI regulation across Africa. The Malabo Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection, which came into force in 2023, further provides a legally binding framework to harmonize data protection laws across the continent. However, with only 15 countries ratifying it, its impact remains limited.

As African countries recognize and leverage the potential of AI to accelerate its development, there needs to be a multi-faceted collaborative approach to prevent African countries from being caught in the AI competition between China and the United States.

Governments must lead efforts to build a robust African AI ecosystem by partnering with the private sector, tech companies, academia, civil society, and international organizations. International organizations like UNESCO, GIZ, and the European Union play key roles in the African AI landscape. For example, UNESCO has been active in helping countries implement recommendations on the Ethics of AI: the Readiness Assessment Methodology (RAM) to assess a country’s readiness for an ethical AI ecosystem. In 2024, Ghana’s Data Protection Commission, in collaboration with UNESCO, launched the Readiness Assessment Measurement in Accra to explore the ethical use of AI in the country.

Collaborations between African governments and technology stakeholders can accelerate AI readiness and address barriers to national AI development. A notable example is Kenya’s African Centre of Competence for Digital and AI Skilling, established in partnership with UNDP and Microsoft, according to Oxford Insights’ Government AI Readiness Index 2024. Likewise, the Ugandan government partnered with Makerere University in Kampala to develop an AI health lab. These initiatives highlight the essence of diverse partnerships in advancing AI readiness and development.

Despite gradual progress in AI readiness, African nations face substantial challenges such as inadequate infrastructure, limited connectivity, low digital literacy, and lack of robust AI governance and regulatory frameworks. The competition between Chinese and American tech firms offers African governments a strategic advantage in attracting investment in these areas, developing their AI ecosystem without exclusive reliance on either side.

China and the U.S. dominate Africa’s technology sector. China’s Transsion Holdings leads the mobile market, while Huawei provides cloud services and has built a number of data centers in African countries, including Senegal and South Africa. Beyond hardware, Huawei competes with U.S. tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft in software. Through the Digital Silk Road, China is expanding its digital footprint by investing in 5G networks, smart city technologies, and infrastructure, offering affordable solutions that have played an important role in accelerating Africa’s digital development.

The dominance of foreign AI technologies, however, raises several security concerns. Data privacy is a key issue, given these technologies’ access to vast quantities of personal data. The question of data storage location highlights the need for robust, enforced AI governance policies and data protection laws to prevent data loss to foreign tech companies. Furthermore, the potential for surveillance through AI technologies poses a significant risk, particularly in countries with weak institutional and governance systems.

The dominance of U.S. and Chinese AI technologies raises concerns about Africa’s digital sovereignty. Rather than being drawn into the U.S.-China AI rivalry, African countries should accelerate AI preparedness to remain competitive. This requires diversifying partnerships to address digital gaps through skills development, expanded internet connectivity, and infrastructure investment, reducing dependency on any single nation for digital development.

Looking ahead, African countries must prioritize developing their own national AI ecosystems, including the capacity to build and control their own AI technologies. Strengthening local capacity requires collaborating with diverse stakeholders, including tech companies from China, the U.S., and beyond and development partners. Strategically navigating the U.S.-China AI rivalry allows African countries to leverage competition and choice to advance their national AI development goals.

Pamela Carslake is the Executive Director of the Afro-Sino Center for International Relations in Accra, Ghana

Source: Navigating the U.S.-China AI Competition: An African Perspective