The aim of this initiative is to ensure that policymakers have access to timely, high-quality policy research to support decision-making on responsible artificial intelligence (AI) policy issues. It will support a policy research agenda for Eastern Africa that explores how to enable and implement responsible AI that is developed and implemented to be ethical, rights-based, inclusive, and sustainable.

This project will enhance the capacity of policymakers, technologists, and business leaders to take on the challenges of AI, improve their processes and outputs related to responsible AI, and create a framework for AI innovation. It will identify and investigate the societal benefits, risks, and harms associated with AI deployment in the pan-African context and offer proposals on pre-empting or mitigating negative effects and maximizing positive outcomes. It will also develop a set of context-appropriate resources on responsible AI for use in digital policymaking and technical and professional training, including policy guidance to navigate the technical, legal, social, and ethical challenges of AI-based systems. It will collaborate with specialists across disciplines to help develop transdisciplinary research, increase gender awareness, and enhance the adoption and implementation of responsible AI policy by local and regional governments.

This project is supported through the Artificial Intelligence for Development in Africa (AI4D) program, a joint investment from IDRC and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, which focuses on three main pillars: capacity strengthening and amplifying AI talent and communities in Africa, supporting rights and inclusion through the development of responsible AI policy, and advancing AI innovation networks to address Africa’s development challenges.