Funmi Ogundare
Academic leaders and expertise specialists have warned that Africa dangers everlasting financial dependence on technologically superior nations except it urgently shifts from consuming imported Artificial Intelligence (AI) applied sciences to creating indigenous options and digital infrastructure.
The specialists, who spoke on the sixth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (ICAIR 2026), harassed that Africa’s financial future and technological sovereignty would rely on its capability to develop home-grown AI fashions, construct indigenous digital infrastructure and equip its youthful inhabitants with related technological expertise.
The convention, themed, ‘Artificial Intelligence for Africa’s Sustainable Economic Growth’, introduced collectively tutorial leaders, researchers and expertise specialists to look at how the continent may leverage AI for sustainable growth.
In his remarks, the Head of the Local Organising Committee, Dr. Oladipupo Sennaike, stated Africa couldn’t afford to stay a passive spectator within the newest technological revolution, warning that historical past had proven that societies that did not adapt to main technological shifts risked being left behind.
He famous that the agricultural and industrial revolutions created new financial powers, whereas the digital revolution reworked the worldwide economic system.
He added that Africa should place itself to profit from the rising AI revolution.
“Technological revolutions do not wait for societies to become ready. They happen, and societies must decide how to respond,” Sennaike said.
He urged African nations to maneuver from importing AI options to creating applied sciences able to addressing their peculiar challenges.
In his keynote, the Director of the School for Data Science and Computational Thinking at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, Prof. Kanshukan Rajaratnam, stated the defining problem of the AI period was figuring out who would form the expertise and profit from its financial alternatives.
