Closing commentary

AI Governance for Africa > Part 1 > Section 11

This concludes Part 1 of the AI Governance for Africa toolkit. Previous sections explored what AI governance is, why we need it, and emerging examples in Europe, North America, and China. But despite the rapid developments in AI technologies, many of the governance efforts are still in their early stages.

It is interesting to note how existing public interest concepts like transparency and accountability are being adapted to support the governance of AI. Readers should consider to what extent these adaptions have been successful, and to what extent there are gaps in current frameworks. Although there are already an abundance of frameworks, declarations, and related regulatory instruments, we are still in the very early days of AI governance. New regulations are being developed and propagated monthly, often displacing, or overwriting what came before.

A close look at existing documents reveals that while there is relative consensus on which values and principles are most important in this space, there is considerable divergence on how those values and principles should be operationalised – with Europe, America, and China all taking distinct approaches. It remains to be seen which approach is most effective – and indeed, the most appropriate approach for a given region may depend on its local context.

In the face of all this regulatory uncertainty and development, there is a huge opportunity for civil society and journalists to exert influence on the future of AI governance. Given the complexity of this space, it is thus also important for civil society and related actors to understand what outcomes most desirable, and what methods might achieve them.

Part 2 of this toolkit will turn to the emerging approaches to AI governance in Africa.

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