By Kinfe Yilma
Publication Date: 2026-06-10 13:37:00
Mauritius unveiled its national AI strategy in 2018, the first by an African country. Since then, over a dozen African states have adopted some form of national AI policies.
As a national policy plan, an AI strategy typically sets out the priorities and aspirations to achieve specific policy goals.
At the continental level, the African Union has adopted an AI strategy.
Kenya and Ethiopia have submitted draft AI laws that outline how the countries want to regulate AI. Morocco, Egypt and Nigeria are already considering the idea of AI legislation. The trend shows that policymakers are slowly shifting their attention from unbridled enthusiasm for AI to addressing AI risk management.
As technology law and political scientists, our research explores the dynamics and approaches to controlling new technologies such as AI. Our current work examines the origins, nature and scope of AI governance initiatives in Africa. We’ve found a number of common threads lately…
