Africa’s AI opportunity does not depend on US or China

Africa has long found itself at the wrong end of the innovation chain. Breakthroughs were made and commercialized elsewhere, then imported by African countries at prices and on terms over which they had little influence. The costs of this approach were starkly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Africa struggled to gain access to vaccines developed and manufactured elsewhere. When it comes to artificial intelligence, many policymakers seem to expect Africa to repeat this pattern: the US