article · Royal Society Open Science
Global artificial intelligence governance requires a decolonial approach to dismantle Western-centric frameworks, tackle systemic biases, and empower Global South nations to direct technological solutions. An assessment across ten Sub-Saharan African countries examined progress based on key criteria, including governance institutions, national artificial intelligence strategies, prioritisation of data sovereignty, data protection regulations, and adherence to local data requirements. Overall, findings indicate limited progress across the region. Among the ten evaluated nations, only Rwanda demonstrated notable responsiveness to decolonisation. Eight countries were categorised as decolonisation-aware, while one country remained decolonisation-blind. Key recommendations to advance decolonisation include expanding stakeholder engagement, confronting societal and resource inequalities, advancing ethical artificial intelligence practices, encouraging domestic innovation, strengthening regional partnerships, and building local governance capacity and public awareness.
Artificial intelligence systems and governance models often reflect Western-centric biases, reinforcing global inequalities in resource access across race, gender, and geography. By assessing how Sub-Saharan African nations approach data protection, national strategies, and digital sovereignty, this work highlights the institutional requirements necessary to empower local solution design and ensure emerging technologies operate under equitable, locally grounded oversight.
The abstract outlines policy analysis and governance recommendations rather than direct commercial technology. These findings provide guidance for policymakers, standard-setting bodies, and technology enterprises operating in the region. Innovators and developers can use these frameworks to align artificial intelligence initiatives with emerging domestic regulations, data sovereignty expectations, and local data usage rules. The work remains at the level of early-stage policy and institutional assessment.
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Global artificial intelligence (AI) governance must prioritize equity, embrace a decolonial mindset, and provide the Global South countries the authority to spearhead solution creation. Decolonization is crucial for dismantling Western-centric cognitive frameworks and mitigating biases. Integrating a decolonial approach to AI governance involves recognizing persistent colonial repercussions, leading to biases in AI solutions and disparities in AI access based on gender, race, geography, income and societal factors. This paradigm shift necessitates deliberate efforts to deconstruct imperial structures governing knowledge production, perpetuating global unequal resource access and biases. This research evaluates Sub-Saharan African progress in AI governance decolonization, focusing on indicators like AI governance institutions, national strategies, sovereignty prioritization, data protection regulations, and adherence to local data usage requirements. Results show limited progress, with only Rwanda notably responsive to decolonization among the ten countries evaluated; 80% are 'decolonization-aware', and one is 'decolonization-blind'. The paper provides a detailed analysis of each nation, offering recommendations for fostering decolonization, including stakeholder involvement, addressing inequalities, promoting ethical AI, supporting local innovation, building regional partnerships, capacity building, public awareness, and inclusive governance. This paper contributes to elucidating the challenges and opportunities associated with decolonization in SSA countries, thereby enriching the ongoing discourse on global AI governance.
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DOI: 10.1098/rsos.231994
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