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Why an observatory?
Established in 2022, the African Observatory on Responsible Artificial Intelligence (the African Observatory) has recognised the need to promote African voices, experiences and value systems in global debate around responsible AI. Scholars in the social sciences and humanities are emphasising that an ‘African’ view on AI and AI ethics is critical for ensuring that the development and adoption of these new technologies supports, and is not harmful to, African societies and ways of living. The African Observatory takes a special focus on the foundational elements of inclusive and responsible AI governance, particularly as it relates to Africa’s (pre/post) colonial memory and in the context of our diverse democratic, constitutional and legal mechanisms of accountability.
What we do
Along with our collaborative and regional partners, the African Observatory undertakes a number of different activities in support of building the capacity and raising the visibility of African AI research. These activities include:
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Policy engagement and science communication
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Research and knowledge creation
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Network convening
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Capacity development
Our main goals
The African Observatory aims to be an open space of engagement, collaboration and critical inquiry on AI in diverse African societies, by enhancing positive impacts and mitigating the negative effects of AI through rigorous research, network facilitation, policy capacity building and public engagement.
We advance policies and practices that support diverse African societies to safely and fairly (responsibly) harness the benefits of AI in realisation of Africa’s development goals.
The African Observatory also operates as a central hub for all projects funded by IDRC/SIDA AI4D Africa. As a meeting place and repository of Africa-focused AI research initiatives, the Observatory is working to:
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Create a sustainable network of researchers and research institutions to support knowledge exchange on responsible AI for the continent
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Facilitate adaptable and enabling legislative and policy frameworks at a regional level that address responsible AI
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Equip policy actors with knowledge, skills, and understanding to harness the benefits of AI for the common good
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Ensure engaged communities are able to participate in public debates on AI and claim their rights.
Gender empowerment & inclusion
Gender and diversity transformation is a foundational component of the approach, design and purpose of the African Observatory.
A commitment to gender equality and inclusion by:
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Recognising and committing to empowering women’s voices in AI as a critical opportunity for promoting sustainability in responsible AI through initiatives such as the Women in Focus series.
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Producing research into the linkages between the realisation of different developmental agendas through intersectional analysis that examines gendered implications in all thematic focus areas.
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Including gender dimensions in all work-streams and building transformation indicators into the management, reporting and evaluation of the African Observatory.
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Engaging women’s voices and participation in all African Observatory activities.
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Ensuring gender-balanced teams across the country partners and the international advisory board.
Our research
The African Observatory has four thematic research priorities, listed below. Our premise in deciding on these thematics was on developing research to address the structural, long term risks and benefits of AI in the African region and the foundational issues including democracy, regulation and equality, that underlie other concerns arising from the rapid use and deployment of AI technologies in the Continent.
By using new interdisciplinary methodologies, our research will develop findings and recommendations arising from investigating the core impacts of AI on African societies. The intention is that this will form the foundation of a long-term sustainable response to AI, as well as provide frameworks that govern policymaking, implementation and review.
- What are the ethical challenges facing the development and deployment of AI in diverse African societies?
- How can we better draw on the rich value systems, cultural codes and traditions of Africa in developing AI ethics principles that are suitable for the region?
- How can this research help inform discussions around decolonising AI and diversify global debates on AI ethics?
- How do racial, ethnic, religious, sexual and gender stereotypes, profiling and social prejudices occur in the development and deployment of AI systems in different African contexts?
- What are the linkages between the representations of women in African AI ecosystems and the development and deployment of biased technologies?
- What are the implications for gender, ethnic and racial equality of high-risk AI, including affective AI, online disinformation, and predictive policing?
- What understandings can the African experiences around race, gender, ethnicity and AI offer to the global AI ethics debate?
- Taking elections as a key marker of political stability in Africa, how are political parties using big data in their campaigns and with what effect for electoral processes?
- What are the key human rights concerns and impacts of AI in diverse African contexts?
- How can the privacy, autonomy and self-determination of African peoples best be protected in the context of increasing digital growth?
- What effect is AI having on customary and traditional governance systems in Africa?
- How can public understanding of AI and its effects, including how these systems shape the way in which information is engaged with online, be promoted in local contexts?
- What impact is AI having on fragile democracies in Africa?
- What effect are unfair technologies transfers having on democracy and human rights in Africa?
- What regulatory frameworks are needed, or require amendment, at national and regional levels to protect states and their citizens against exploitation in the development, importation and transfer of AI?
- How can we engage our findings in this research theme to understand deeper what the decolonisation of AI must entail?
- How can state sovereignty to protect the rights of its citizens be promoted in the face of AI corporate power?
Regional collaborators
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Cameroon
Senegal
Ethiopia
Nigeria
South Africa
Uganda
Advisory board
Mr John Smith
Chief technical officer
Mr John Smith
Chief technical officer
Mr John Smith
Chief technical officer
Mr John Smith
Chief technical officer
Mr John Smith
Chief technical officer
Mr John Smith
Chief technical officer
Mr John Smith
Chief technical officer
Mr John Smith
Chief technical officer
Regional collaborators
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The African Network on Responsible AI
The creation and facilitation of an African network of AI actors forms part of the African Observatory’s overall vision. We aim to establish a sustainable and expanding network of researchers, research institutions, thought leaders, AI practitioners and policy-makers with a centralised platform through which stakeholders can regularly demonstrate, debate and share their skills and capacity in research and policy on AI in Africa. The network is a communications hub for relevant publications, presentations, workshops and seminars that engage with the various research interests and thematics of the African Observatory, broadly construed, and enable a longer-term and sustainable ecosystem for multi-stakeholder engagement around AI on the Continent.
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Partners
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