Africa Must Build Its Own AI or Risk Being Left Behind, Experts Warn

By LOVETH-AZODO CHIJIOKE,  Lagos

Africa risks falling behind the rest of the world if it only buys and uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools made in other countries instead of building its own.

This was the clear warning from top technology researchers speaking at the 6th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (ICAIR 2026). The event brought together university teachers, tech professionals, and students to discuss how AI can help grow the continent’s economy.

Opening the meeting, the Head of the Local Organising Committee, Dr. Oladipupo Sennaike, said history has shown that big changes do not wait for anyone.

“Technological revolutions do not wait for societies to become ready. They happen, and societies must decide how to respond,” Sennaike said.

He explained that just like the industrial and digital ages created wealthy nations, AI is already changing world business. “Africa cannot afford to sit on the sidelines. We must stop being just consumers who buy AI from abroad and start creating our own tools to solve our own problems.”

Speaking on the big picture, Prof. Kanshukan Rajaratnam from Stellenbosch University in South Africa noted that AI is no longer science fiction it is already here and reshaping daily life.

“The question is not whether AI will change our world; it is already doing so,” Rajaratnam said. “The real question is: who will control this change, and who will benefit from it?”

Rajaratnam explained that AI could bring huge benefits to ordinary people across Africa. For example, it can help farmers predict rainfall, assist rural health clinics in finding illnesses when doctors are far away, and give schoolchildren better ways to learn. But for this to work, he stressed that Africa cannot just import apps from the West or Asia.

“We must build solutions that fit our own languages, cultures, and daily realities,” he stated.

However, Dr. E.P. Fashina, Head of the Department of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, pointed out the hard truth about why this is difficult.

Fashina explained that the physical computer chips and heavy machines needed to train modern AI systems are tightly controlled by foreign superpowers, including the United States, Europe, and China.

“Advanced computer chips come from a handful of foreign countries that control the factories, the lenses, and the chemicals,” Fashina said. “How can we truly control our own future if we build our growth on other people’s machines?”

He also criticized government leaders for moving too slowly and ignoring the global race. He warned that foreign powers will not simply give their best technology away, urging universities to push young people to learn how these systems actually work under the hood.

“This battle is for the youth,” Fashina said. “Our students must be in the room, learning not just how to use foreign apps, but how to build our own systems from scratch.”

The message from the conference was simple: AI is changing the world fast, and Africa must train its young people to build local tools today, or pay heavily tomorrow.