Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant futuristic technology but a present reality that has the potential to revolutionize governance and service delivery by public institutions in Africa.

However, realizing the full potential of AI will require African governments to work collaboratively with the private sector and multilateral institutions to fully assess and access the broad scope of opportunities that AI tools bring to the table. To make the most of this technology, African governments must ensure that strong partnerships are formed between the private sector, academia, and development actors. In addition, indigenous private sector and multilateral development actors should be involved in policy design to ensure a strong spirit of collaboration across the board.
Here are some of the ways we believe African governments can use AI to support good governance and service delivery:

Detection: AI can help governments detect fraud, waste, and abuse in public programs and services, such as welfare or tax systems, by analyzing large-scale data to identify anomalies and suspicious patterns.

Prediction: AI can assist decision-making by predicting outcomes of policy interventions. For instance, by developing models that can simulate the impact of policy changes on the economy or public health.

Simulation: AI can be used to simulate policy interventions before implementation, allowing governments to test their effectiveness and identify unintended consequences. In Africa, ‘digital twins’ is a low-hanging fruit for policymakers tasked with building tomorrows sustainable cities.

Resource optimization: Governments can use AI to optimize resource allocation, such as by modeling the impact of different levels of manpower or funding in areas like law enforcement, education, or healthcare.

Fairness and accountability: Governments can develop frameworks to ensure fairness, accountability, and transparency in the use of AI technologies, such as by ensuring that AI models are explainable and transparent.

Expertise and capacity building: Governments can prioritize the development of AI expertise and capacity building in-house to foster innovation and overcome challenges.

Generalized models of policy making: Governments can use transactional data to develop new generalized models of policy making, allowing for more informed decision-making in areas like economic recovery or public health.

Resilient policy making: Governments can build data flows and use AI methodologies to create integrative models that can help them recover from crises and face future shocks, such as by integrating economic, health, and social policies.

Tackling biases and inequality: AI can be used to identify and reform long-standing biases in resource allocation, decision-making, the administering of justice, and the delivery of services.

Public ethos: Governments can embed values in AI technological systems to ensure that they prioritize fairness, accountability, and transparency, leading to a more trustworthy and effective public sector.

By harnessing the power of AI, public institutions can better serve their citizens and build a more equitable and just society. It is time for African governments to embrace the potential of AI and take a leadership role in shaping its development in a responsible and ethical manner.