Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A new research agenda for African generative AI

  • Comment
  • Published:

From Nature Human Behaviour

View current issue Submit your manuscript

The rise of generative AI requires a research agenda grounded in the African context to determine locally relevant strategies for its development and use. With a critical mass of evidence on the risks and benefits that generative AI poses to African societies, the scaled use of this new technology might help to reduce rising global inequities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Adams, R. Interdiscip. Sci. Rev. 46, 176–197 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Johnson, S. & Acemoglu, D. Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity (Hachette UK, 2023).

  3. Magagula, D. FoondaMate — 2023 Q1 Roundup. Medium, https://medium.com/foondamate/foondamate-2023-q1-roundup-7197ae888a1f (13 April 2023).

  4. Oladunmade, M. How Kainene von Savant, an AI bot helped me in the past month. TechCabal, https://techcabal.com/2023/05/23/kainene-von-savant/ (23 May 2023).

  5. CGIAR. Impressed with ChatGPT’s agricultural knowledge? CGIAR’s open access effort (probably)* enabled it. cigar.org, https://www.cgiar.org/news-events/news/chatgpt-cgiar-open-access-fair/ (14 March 2023).

  6. Abbott, J., Dossou, B. & Mbuya, R. Comparing Africa-centric models to OpenAI’s GPT3.5. Lelapa AI, https://lelapa.ai/comparing-africa-centric-models-to-openais-gpt3-5-2/ (9 February 2023).

  7. Aneja, U., Latonero, M. & Sangokoya, D. Co-designing Digital Interventions and Technology Projects with Civil Society (World Economic Forum, 2021).

  8. Roberts, B. J., Gordon, S. L., Struwig, J., Bohler-Muller, N. & Gastrow, M. Dev. South. Afr. 39, 498–515 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Razzano, G. ChatGPT is a liar (and here’s when that’s useful). OpenUp. https://openup.org.za/blog/chatgpt-is-a-liar-and-heres-when-thats-useful (14 March 2023).

  10. GIZ. FAIR forward: launching the Africa-Asia policy maker network on responsible AI. digital.global, https://www.bmz-digital.global/en/news/fair-forward-launching-the-africa-asia-policy-maker-network-on-responsible-ai/ (31 May 2022).

Download references

Acknowledgements

This Comment arose out of a workshop entitled ‘Designing an Approach and Methodology for Building Evidence for the Responsible Design and Use of Generative AI for Sustainable Development in Low-Resourced Contexts’, at which the authors participated. The workshop was organised by Research ICT Africa with support and funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and was held as a side event of the AfricAI Conference in June 2023 in Kigali, Rwanda, hosted by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), International Development Research Centre of Canada and Niyel.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research ICT Africa, Cape Town, South Africa

    Rachel Adams, Moremi Nkosi, Diana Nyakundi, Nawal Omar, Zara Schroeder & Araba Sey

  2. Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Rachel Adams

  3. Information Law and Policy Centre, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London, London, UK

    Rachel Adams

  4. Bennett Institute for Public Policy, Department of Politics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Ayantola Alayande

  5. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Zameer Brey, Brantley Browning, Olubunmi Okunowo, Shreya Shirude & Eric Tutu Tchao

  6. Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa

    Michael Gastrow & Paul Plantinga

  7. Responsible Artificial Intelligence Lab, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

    Jerry John Kponyo, Henry Nunoo-Mensah & Andrew Selasi Agbemenu

  8. Digital Futures Lab, Panaji, India

    Dona Mathew

  9. University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria

    Victor Odumuyiwa & Kemi Omotubora

  10. 8 GIZ, FAIR Forward - Artificial Intelligence for All, Bonn, Germany

    Philipp Olbrich

  11. OpenUp, Cape Town, South Africa

    Gabriella Razzano

  12. Mozilla Foundation, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Kristophina Shilongo

  13. International Development Research Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Matthew Smith

  14. Huzalabs, Kigali, Rwanda

    Davy K. Uwizera

Authors
  1. Rachel Adams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ayantola Alayande
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zameer Brey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Brantley Browning
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Michael Gastrow
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jerry John Kponyo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Dona Mathew
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Moremi Nkosi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Henry Nunoo-Mensah
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Diana Nyakundi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Victor Odumuyiwa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Olubunmi Okunowo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Philipp Olbrich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Nawal Omar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Kemi Omotubora
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Paul Plantinga
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Gabriella Razzano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  18. Zara Schroeder
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  19. Andrew Selasi Agbemenu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  20. Araba Sey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  21. Kristophina Shilongo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  22. Shreya Shirude
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  23. Matthew Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  24. Eric Tutu Tchao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  25. Davy K. Uwizera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rachel Adams.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Adams, R., Alayande, A., Brey, Z. et al. A new research agenda for African generative AI. Nat Hum Behav 7, 1839–1841 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01735-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01735-1

  • Springer Nature Limited

Search

Navigation