Africa's Mineral and Language Assets Face Critical Window in AI Economy Stakes

Africa’s mineral wealth and 2,000-plus languages give the continent concrete leverage in the global artificial intelligence economy. The question is whether African governments and institutions will convert those assets into ownership stakes before the governance rules are written without them.

Ambassador Professor Muhammadou M.O. Kah, The Gambia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Switzerland and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva, made the economic case plainly at the African AI Governance Summit on 22 September, held on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. “For Africa, this time we must not import,” he said. “We must co-own, co-design, and own our own data.”

That framing matters. Importing technology means exporting value. Co-ownership means capturing it.

The New York summit followed an inaugural gathering in Geneva in July, supported by the governments of The Gambia and Kenya through their permanent missions. Both events signal a deliberate push to insert African voices into rule-making processes at the moment those processes are most fluid. Global AI governance frameworks are being drafted now, and the terms set today will shape who profits from the digital economy for decades.

Kah outlined five strategic markers for collective continental action. African states must negotiate as a unified bloc rather than as fragmented competitors, scaling their bargaining position in international forums. The continent must build and finance its own digital infrastructure, governing its data through public systems rather than ceding control to external platforms. Africa must become a co-author of global AI governance frameworks, not a recipient of rules written elsewhere. Entrepreneurs must shape policy alongside government officials, embedding innovation at the rule-making stage. And African nations must move from presence in international bodies to actual influence. “A seat is not a voice, and a voice is not a pen,” Kah said.

The institutional architecture is beginning to take shape. The first Global Dialogue on AI Governance convened in Geneva on 6 and 7 July, where the UN’s Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence, established by the General Assembly in August 2025, presented its initial findings. Africa already holds a position at that table: Linda Bonyo, founder and chief executive of Lawyers Hub, co-chaired the Dialogue’s breakout cluster on human rights alongside Spain’s minister for digital transformation and the civil service.

Meanwhile, the African Union adopted a Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy in 2024, establishing a policy framework that several member states have since operationalized. Kenya launched its National AI Strategy 2025-2030, signaling institutional commitment to the sector and the investment priorities that follow from it.

Bonyo, though, drew a sharp distinction between participation and power. “Africa is not a bystander, she is a stakeholder,” she said. “But alignment is a choice, never assume it.” The warning carries a clear economic subtext: coordinated positioning requires active investment in diplomatic and technical capacity, not passive attendance at summits.

The continent’s challenge is converting resource endowments and strategic positioning into durable negotiating power before governance frameworks solidify. Mineral resources that fuel the global digital transition and a linguistic base capable of supporting inclusive AI systems are genuine competitive assets. Without coordinated action and sustained engagement in rule-writing processes, those assets risk generating returns for foreign operators rather than for African economies.

Additional context on Africa’s evolving role in shaping AI policy is available at https://cioafrica.co/africas-place-in-global-ai-governance/

Whether the African Union’s 2024 strategy translates into the kind of unified bloc negotiating power Kah described, or fragments into competing national interests, will likely determine which side of the ownership equation African economies land on when the next generation of AI infrastructure is financed and built.