The 13th R.P. Baffour Memorial Lecture ended with a strong call for Africa to drive its own locally grounded and ethically aligned Artificial Intelligence (AI) agenda to avoid being left behind in the global technological race.
Delivering the lecture titled “Superintelligence, Health Equity, and the Imperative for Geo-Contextual AI Development,” Dr. Mercy Nyamewaa Asiedu said AI holds the potential to transform key sectors including health, education, agriculture and energy. But she warned that if development continues without meaningful African participation, the continent risks widening inequalities.
“Africa cannot afford to be just a consumer of AI. If AI models are trained only on Western datasets, they will continue to fail in African and rural contexts. That creates not just bias, but dependency and exclusion,” she said.
Dr. Asiedu questioned how Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) would operate fairly in a world where cultural values and social realities differ widely.
She argued that future AI systems must prioritise universal needs such as healthcare access, food security, electricity, internet connectivity and disaster response.
“We must build AI that understands our realities,” she said. “Technology must reflect the people it serves.”
She stressed that the future of AI must be built on partnership rather than replacement. While AI can enhance productivity and accelerate innovation, she said it should complement human judgment and creativity rather than render them obsolete.
“AI must not replace us, but work with us. If we design it wisely and locally, AI can serve humanity, not dominate it,” she said.
To ensure Africa is not left behind in the AI revolution, Dr. Asiedu outlined key recommendations, including the introduction of AI awareness and literacy in basic schools and the integration of AI skills into vocational and technical programmes.
She also called for investment in local computing infrastructure, the collection of region-specific datasets, and increased funding for AI research tailored to African development priorities.
