Towards Shaping the Future of Responsible AI in Africa

open access bookArtificial Intelligence (AI) presents unprecedented opportunities for Africa. Increasingly, AI and other emerging technologies are being deployed in African contexts—healthcare, agriculture, sociopolitical processes, businesses and education—in ways that promise to change cultural dynamics. Despite obvious potential good benefits, AI deployment and implementation raise fundamental questions bordering on human rights, fairness, privacy, bias, discrimination, security, climate change and the future of work which highlight the importance of Responsible AI. However, the growing literature on Responsible AI focuses more on contexts in the Global North whereas African contexts are ignored or largely forgotten. This chapter makes an argument to clarify the importance of Responsible AI that considers African contexts, interests, values, fears, hopes and aspirations. It reviews the current and future AI landscape and then makes recommendations on how the discussions on Responsible AI in and for Africa should be shaped