The past year marked a turning point for artificial intelligence in Africa. What once felt like distant ambition began to take clearer shape as governments, companies, and institutions moved from conversations to concrete action. Across the continent, we saw the early foundations of policy, infrastructure, talent development, and collaboration being laid with greater intent and coordination.

While challenges remain, 2025 showed that Africa is no longer asking whether it belongs in the global AI conversation. Instead, the focus has shifted to how AI can be built, governed, and applied in ways that reflect African realities. This edition reflects on the key highlights from 2025 and points to the signals shaping what 2026 may bring for Africa’s AI ecosystem.

Looking Back at 2025: From Talk to Action

2025 was the year Africa truly started getting serious about AI. Many countries shifted from asking “Should we adopt AI?” to “How do we leverage AI to drive progress?”

National AI strategies became more common, with governments setting clearer priorities around ethics, inclusion, skills development, and economic impact. At the same time, infrastructure moved to the forefront. Data centres, cloud capacity, and access to compute were no longer side discussions. They became central to AI planning across the continent.

There was also good progress around skills. From government-led initiatives to private sector and global partnerships, training Africans in AI became a major priority. AI use cases grew more local and practical, appearing in education, agriculture, healthcare, public services, and language technologies.

Collaboration stood out as a defining theme. Events such as the Global AI Summit on Africa in Kigali brought African leaders together to deliberate on the continent’s AI future. The African Union convened a High-Level Policy Dialogue on the Development and Regulation of AI in Addis Ababa, bringing together participants from over 40 African countries, including Heads of State, Ministers, and AU Commissioners. Smart Africa also launched an AI Council to provide strategic and actionable recommendations to ensure AI is accessible, responsibly deployed, and beneficial to Africans. The council includes ICT ministers from several African countries and independent members who are African executives from organisations such as Google, Microsoft, and Orange.

By the end of 2025, one thing was clear. Africa was no longer watching the AI race from the sidelines. It had stepped onto the track.

Looking Ahead to 2026: What to Focus On

1. Execution Around Real Problems

2026 will be less about writing strategies and more about executing them. The focus will shift toward using AI to solve real and complex (“Wicked“) problems in education, healthcare, agriculture, and public services. We are likely to see more pilots like Chidi, the AI-powered personalised tutor in Rwanda, and similar solutions emerging across different countries and sectors.

AI can help Africa rethink how it tackles long-standing challenges. Take education as an example. Ten years ago, improving access largely meant building more schools and hiring more teachers. While these will still be important in the AI era, they may not be needed at the same scale. With AI-powered tools, we can solve “wicked“ problems faster and at lower cost, helping Africa achieve its goals with greater efficiency and less capital investment.

2. Growth of Local AI Models

There will be greater emphasis on building local AI models that understand African languages, culture, and context. These models will drive stronger adoption because they feel relevant and practical. A strong example is Nigeria’s N-ATLAS, an open-source multilingual large language model designed to understand and generate Nigeria’s diverse voices. Powered by Awarri, N-ATLAS reflects a deliberate effort to ensure local languages are represented in the global AI ecosystem. Companies like Orange have entered partnerships with OpenAI to fine-tune models for African languages. We expect this trend to continue in 2026.

3. Sovereignty Takes Center Stage

AI sovereignty will become an even bigger topic in 2026. Countries will push harder to own their data, infrastructure, and critical AI systems. This will likely lead to more regional collaboration, shared infrastructure projects, and joint conversations around data and compute across borders. Sovereignty was a recurring theme at major events, including the Global AI Summit on Africa.

In 2025, there were several major announcements around AI-ready data centres and compute infrastructure, including Cassava’s plans to build an AI factory in partnership with NVIDIA, as well as Itana’s plans to launch Africa’s first full-stack growth zone for AI and data companies. In 2026, we expect to see these plans turn into real, operational infrastructure beyond announcements.

4. Capacity building takes center stage

Investment in people will continue to grow. Governments and companies will double down on training, upskilling, and capacity building as Africa positions itself as a global AI talent hub. The goal will not only be to use AI, but to build it, maintain it, and export expertise globally. We already saw significant investments from Google, Microsoft, and several governments, including Nigeria.

In recent years, most AI capacity-building efforts in Africa have focused on an applied approach. These programs are typically open to anyone with interest, offering training on tools, basic concepts, and real world projects. While this approach is valuable and has helped raise awareness, it is not sufficient if Africa is to truly scale its AI ambitions.

What is missing is a stronger, more foundational approach to talent development, one that puts STEM education first. This foundation requires sustained investment across all levels, from secondary schools to tertiary institutions. Building this pipeline is critical to producing high-quality AI talent that can support talent augmentation, deliver resourcing services, and address the continent’s most complex challenges.

In 2026, we are likely to see continued growth in applied AI training programs. However, there is also a growing expectation for clearer commitments to strengthening STEM education as the long-term bedrock of Africa’s AI future.

5. More Support on the Horizon

In 2025, several announcements were made around foreign support for Africa’s AI ambitions. Countries such as the UAE and Japan, alongside organisations like Google and Microsoft, committed funding, training, and infrastructure support. In 2026, we expect more of these partnerships to materialise. The financing and expertise from these collaborations will help fast-track many of the developments shaping Africa’s AI future.

The groundwork has been laid. Africa has moved from conversation to commitment, from isolated experiments to coordinated action. What happens next will determine whether these efforts translate into real impact. The coming years will shape how Africa builds its AI capabilities, owns its data and infrastructure, and ensures that the benefits of AI are widely shared across societies and economies.