Africa Is Not Catching Up, It’s Building the Future of AI on Its Own Terms~Lacina Koné
In a thought-provoking conversation at the Global AI Summit on Africa, Lacina Koné, Director General and CEO of Smart Africa, made it clear: Africa is not in a race to catch up with the West in artificial intelligence. Instead, it’s rewriting the rules and the future. The panel explored the fast-paced growth of AI globally and the regulatory gaps that many African countries are still working to bridge.
Responding to a critical question on how Africa should prepare for a future that is evolving faster than its governance structures, Lacina Koné delivered a bold and unapologetically African perspective. AI, Agentic AI, AGI, and ASI, which is Artificial Super Intelligence, must be considered in Africa’s unique context, he said.
“What you will see coming out of Africa in terms of AI use cases will be completely different from the West because we are different.”
He went on to reject the widely held perception that Africa is lagging behind in technological advancement.
“We are not in a race. We are not catching up. Africa is redefining the finish line on its own terms,” Koné emphasized. “What works for the West does not automatically work for Africa.”
Lacina Koné pushed back on the idea of Africa as the “Global South,” stating that such labels no longer define the continent’s trajectory. “Africa is not a global south. It’s a new center. The south is New Zealand,” he emphasized.
With over 2,000 languages spoken across Africa and a literacy rate that reveals 40% of people speak only local languages, Koné urged the tech community to build AI systems that understand and serve Africa’s unique linguistic and cultural diversity.
Let’s take these 2,000 languages and train our AI, our large language models (LLMs), for our people to use and benefit from. In the West, it’s English, French, Italian, or Spanish. But Africa has its own assets, our languages, our youth, and our problem-solving mindset.
Urging African innovators, policymakers, and entrepreneurs to focus on inclusive, context-aware AI development that leverages Africa’s greatest assets, its youthful population, cultural richness, and deep-rooted problem-solving mindset.
Look at mobile money, it was pioneered here in Africa and transformed financial access. That same spirit can lead the AI revolution,” he noted.
“Let’s build AI that preserves our values, speaks our languages, and creates opportunities not just for a few, but for millions.”
Lacina Koné concluded with a powerful vision: an Africa-led AI movement that doesn’t wait for permission or validation, but builds boldly and responsibly for the future. One not outsourcing our future, an AI that reflects who we are, protects what we value, and unlocks what we imagine.
