Responsible AI in the Global South: Narratives from the Middle East and Africa

On the 23rd July the African Observatory on Responsible AI and the MENA Observatory on Responsible AI jointly hosted a webinar on "Responsible AI in the Global South: Narratives from the Middle East & Africa”. The event explored responsible AI from Middle Eastern and African perspectives, and the role of African based, African led institutions in setting the agenda on AI governance. 

Through research, the facilitation of debate and dialogue, and the development of tools for evaluation, the African Observatory on Responsible AI seeks to promote the development of responsible AI that is ethical, improves human rights, and leads to equitable governance of AI for everyone, everywhere. The Observatory takes a special focus on the foundational elements of inclusive and responsible AI governance, particularly as it relates to the context of our diverse, democratic, constitutional and legal mechanisms of accountability. Like the African Observatory, the MENA Observatory on Responsible AI is an interdisciplinary platform that connects researchers and innovators to collaborate and strengthen their capacity for responsible data and AI practices. 

Given the complementarity of the work of both observatories, a webinar was hosted to introduce the work of both Observatories in fostering knowledge sharing and discussions on governance of responsible AI frameworks in Africa.

Dr Nagla Rizk, Professor of Economics and Founding Director of the Access to Knowledge for Development Center at the American University in Cairo's School of Business heads the MENA Observatory and discussed the key challenges and opportunities for responsible AI development in Africa and the opportunity for the MENA Observatory to engage multiple stakeholders, including policymakers, researchers, industry leaders, businesses, and civil society, in shaping effective AI governance strategies for the continent.

Dr. Rachel Adams, the CEO of the Global Center on AI Governance presented the work of the African Observatory in serving as a secretariat for important networks such as the AI for Development Network (AI4D) and the Africa – Asia Policy Network consisting of AI policymakers from Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda. Dr. Adams also presented the emerging initiatives of the African Observatory on capacity strengthening including certificate courses on AI, Ethics and Governance in Africa and AI and Human Rights in Africa at the University of Cape Town and Pretoria respectively.

Dr. Sally Radwan, Computer Scientist with expertise in AI and emerging technologies & Chief Digital Officer at UNEP was a respondent to the presentations on the work of the Observatories and presented key insights on how the Observatories could lead the facilitation of a research agenda on the continent that takes into account the unique contexts of the African and MENA regions noting the regulatory gaps on the continent and the increasing development and adoption of national AI strategies across countries.

Mr. Fargani Tambeayuk, Director of Public Policy, Francophone Africa & Head of Connectivity and Innovation Policy, Africa at Meta discussed the role of the Observatories vis a vis coordinating multi-stakeholder initiatives. Mr. Tambeayuk presented a global industry perspective on the importance of multi-stakeholder governance for AI. Commenting on the role and relevance of regulatory sandboxes and policy prototypes, he highlighted a few initiatives from Meta including inclusive LLMs that utilises low-resource languages to make access to AI equitable in low- and middle-income countries. 

Mr. Tonee Ndungu, Executive Director at The Kytabu Foundation, the final speaker at the webinar, discussed the importance of an enabling ecosystem to support AI start-ups in Africa. As the founder and head of an institution leveraging Generative AI to improve access to education in Kenya, Mr. Ndungu discussed some of the infrastructure and governance challenges on the continent and how they could hinder innovation. However, he also pointed out the bright spots in the use of AI in Africa to tackle various challenges including innovative financing and tackling the dominance of big tech within the AI space in Africa.

The event was facilitated by Dr. Fola Adeleke, Executive Director for the Global Center on AI Governance.

For more insights from the webinar, you can watch the recorded session here