Follow Us on Google Discover
Microsoft has warned that Africa risks becoming primarily a consumer of artificial intelligence rather than a creator or beneficiary of it.
Akua Gyekye, Head of Government Affairs for Africa at Microsoft, made the warning in a statement issued on Thursday in Lagos.
She drew on the company’s Global AI Diffusion Report for the first quarter of 2026 to argue that the choices Africa makes now will determine whether it captures the value created by AI or simply absorbs what others build.
Gyekye said data shows generative AI usage among working-age populations stands at 27.5% in the global North compared to just 15.4% in the global South, a gap she says continues to widen.
Also Read
What Microsoft is saying
Gyekye said Africa’s AI conversation has moved beyond whether the continent will adopt the technology to whether it can use it responsibly, confidently, and at scale.
- “The choices Africa makes now will determine whether it captures the value created by AI or simply consumes it,” she said.
She argued that African governments and businesses should be able to choose between frontier, open, and specialised AI models without being locked into a single technological pathway.
- “The strongest partnerships will be those that build enduring African capability,” she said, adding that technology providers have specific roles to play through cloud infrastructure, technical expertise, cybersecurity, and responsible AI practices.
She cited African Development Bank estimates that inclusive AI development and deployment could contribute up to $1 trillion in additional GDP across Africa by 2035, a figure she said represented both the scale of the opportunity and the cost of failing to act.
On cybersecurity, Gyekye said it was inseparable from responsible AI as the technology becomes increasingly embedded in government services, financial systems, healthcare, and critical infrastructure.
Gyekye highlighted LINGUA Africa, a $5.5 million initiative involving the Masakhane African Languages Hub, Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab, the Gates Foundation, and Google.org, which she said directly addresses one of the most significant barriers to AI inclusion on the continent.
Get up to speed
AI adoption in Nigeria is accelerating rapidly, but questions remain over whether the country is building enough domestic capacity to capture the value created by that adoption.
- In January, a Google report developed with Ipsos found that Nigeria was emerging as a global leader in AI adoption, particularly in learning, work and entrepreneurship.
- The findings put Nigeria’s AI adoption rate significantly above the reported global average of 62%.
- By July, Nigeria had also emerged as Africa’s highest-ranked country in the second edition of the Global Index on Responsible AI (GIRAI), ranking 38th globally with an overall score of 45.93.
But the country’s rapid adoption is increasingly being accompanied by concerns about dependence on foreign AI technologies.
- In August, a report titled Adoption of Artificial Intelligence in Nigeria: A Macro and Micro Economic Review warned that Nigeria could become permanently dependent on foreign AI technologies unless it significantly increased investment in indigenous AI models, datasets and computing infrastructure.
- At the same time, adoption by Nigerian businesses appears to be accelerating sharply.
Also in August, the World Bank’s World Development Report 2026: The Promise of Artificial Intelligence revealed that Nigeria’s formal businesses had reached levels of AI adoption comparable to the United States.
What you should know
Earlier, Microsoft had called on Nigeria to move beyond drafting artificial intelligence policies and focus on putting AI into practical use across government, industry, and society.
Nonye Ujam, Director of Government Affairs for West Africa at Microsoft, made the call at the AI Summit Nigeria in Abuja.
The summit was organised by Microsoft in collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and MTN.
