The AI-AI program is focused on providing practical evidence-informed insights to guide public sector institutions in addressing the human capital, sustainable financing and enabling environment challenges that come with accountable and inclusive adoption of in government.

Artificial Intelligence and Big Data have created a variety of life-changing possibilities for smallholder farmers, small businesses, non-state actors and governments alike. From satellite data and mobile call records data being processed to glean insights on movement of people, urban sprawl and service delivery gaps to crop yield predictions and farm-level crop health assessments, AI could accelerate the rate of change towards eradication of hunger, poverty and reducing inequality. But it isn’t quite doing that yet.

These possibilities are accompanied by a seemingly insurmountable array of risks and challenges that keep the continent from leveraging the extensive big data resources or AI technologies. Privacy concerns due to poor data protection regimes, lack of algorithmic transparency, exploitation of marginalised groups and many more concerns can result in many public sectors champions losing interest and the political will to pursue them dissipating. 

This program’s key objectives are

1. Contribute to the development of standards and norms for accountable and inclusive implementation of artificial intelligence in the public sector.
2. Provide actionable evidence-informed recommendations on the enabling environment, human capital and domestic financing to support broader ethical adoption of artificial intelligence.
3. Support the emergence of research and innovation on AI for development in Africa through peer networking, fellowship programs and grants.