The World Bank's October 2026 Africa Economic Update report has highlighted the growing importance of artificial intelligence in Sub-Saharan Africa, but notes that its adoption remains at an early and uneven stage. The report identifies Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa as the countries leading the way in AI development, accounting for a significant share of the region's venture capital investment, research output, and advanced applications.
The Ghanaian Chronicle editorial emphasizes that Ghana's ability to develop and use AI will have a significant impact on its economic development, productivity, innovation, research, investment, and job creation. The editorial notes that countries that fail to build AI capacity risk becoming consumers of technologies developed elsewhere, paying others for solutions to problems they could eventually learn to solve themselves.
In response to these challenges, the Ghanaian government has launched several initiatives, including the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy and the One Million Coders Programme. The Ministry of Education has also announced plans to introduce AI into the educational curriculum of the Ghana Education Service. While these initiatives are welcome, the editorial notes that Ghana has had no shortage of policies and programmes in the past, but has often struggled with implementation and continuity.
A major concern for Ghana is the country's digital divide, with mobile phone use and internet access expanding considerably, but connectivity not being equally available or affordable to all communities. The editorial argues that AI policy must be linked to Ghana's broader infrastructure strategy, including reliable broadband, affordable internet, modern data centres, cloud infrastructure, and access to high-performance computing.
The availability of data is another area where Ghana must act, with government institutions holding enormous quantities of information that remains fragmented, poorly digitized, or locked within institutional systems. The editorial calls on the government to systematically digitize and standardize non-sensitive public data and make appropriate datasets available to researchers and innovators, while protecting personal information.
The education system is also crucial to Ghana's AI development, with the editorial commending the decision to introduce AI into the curriculum, but urging a broader focus on mathematics, physics, computing, statistics, data science, and scientific reasoning. The editorial also suggests that Ghana should begin preparing its young people for quantum science and quantum information technology, which are emerging areas with potential applications in several fields.
Ultimately, the Ghanaian Chronicle editorial argues that Ghana must not merely ask how it can use technologies developed elsewhere, but must ask how it can develop the people and institutions capable of creating technologies of its own. With the AI revolution already underway and the quantum revolution emerging, Ghana cannot afford to arrive late to either, and must act quickly to seize the opportunities presented by these emerging technologies.
Key points
- Ghana must develop its artificial intelligence capabilities to boost economic development and avoid being left behind in the emerging AI economy.
- The country's digital divide and lack of access to data and high-performance computing are major challenges to AI development.
- Ghana's education system must be reformed to focus on mathematics, physics, computing, and scientific reasoning to prepare young people for the AI and quantum revolutions.
