Kenya is positioning itself as Africa’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) hub for model innovation, aiming to drive sustainable development, economic growth, and social inclusion.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has stated that Kenya aspires to take the lead in AI research and application, recognizing the transformative potential of AI for the future.
Representing Kenya at the recently concluded Global AI Summit 2025 in Kigali, Rwanda, Mudavadi affirmed the country’s commitment to ensuring a secure AI ecosystem.
“In Kenya, there is already a very serious conversation taking place. Our focus is to implement a strategy that provides a comprehensive framework to guide us in harnessing the transformative power of AI, ensuring its deployment benefits all sectors of society while adhering to ethical principles and inclusivity,” said Mudavadi.
“As a continent, we need to not allow ourselves to be driven by fear. Fear should not deter us from advancing the agenda of artificial intelligence,” he added.
Mudavadi highlighted that Kenya is establishing a government-led vision for ethical, inclusive, and innovation-driven AI adoption. This vision aims to not only shape Kenya’s future but also establish a strategic landmark on the continent.
This initiative is supported by the recently released first National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (2025–2030) from the Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy.
He explained that central to this strategy is Kenya’s ambition to adopt AI technologies and lead in AI model innovation and commercialization, creating solutions tailored to its unique needs and those of the African continent.
“Investment in education becomes very critical considering our budgetary allocation of up to Ksh 600 billion on education. We need to ensure that component of our budget is driven to the right programs tailored towards tooling the youth towards AI driven technologies” explained Mudavadi.
“Kenya’s programmes focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics will be redefined and strengthened, as we have a large population of young, tech-savvy individuals who need to be equipped right from the start,” he added.
Mudavadi identified healthcare, agriculture, financial services, and public administration as strategic AI priorities for Kenya, highlighting that health tech and smart agriculture are among the areas in which the country is heavily investing to ensure the rapid advancement of its AI strategy.
Additionally, he indicated that Kenya is building its AI capacity by expanding digital infrastructure, developing data centres and cloud resources, and establishing national research hubs, with key legislation being drafted to guide this sector.
“What Kenya is also doing is to have sweeteners to attract the youth in the fields like agriculture, and that is where AI comes in to ensure that the youth take interest in sectors that initially largely relied on traditional labour-intensive practices,” noted the Prime CS.
In Kigali, the Prime Cabinet Secretary outlined Kenya’s efforts to establish sufficient computing infrastructure to support its AI initiatives, highlighting that the country is one of Africa’s largest producers of renewable energy and ranks among the top five most AI-ready nations according to Oxford Insights’ 2022 report.
He informed the summit that Kenya is making significant investments in building data centres to address the shortage of computing infrastructure, considering that energy will be a critical component for powering these data centres in the future.
Mudavadi pointed out that Kenya’s energy grid is approximately 93% green, focused on renewable resources, and emphasised that investing in energy is essential for the continent to successfully advance its AI agenda.
“We need to also look broadly on how we invest in the energy sector as a continent. Because we have made it quite expensive, in my view, for people to invest in the energy sector on the continent. We need to look at this component critically and what would be the incentives we can we give so that those who want to come and invest in particularly solar, wind and geothermal energy do it with ease.” He told the Global AI Summit.
“We also need to work closely, coordinate as a continent, and make sure that we direct resources to upgrade our capacity in artificial intelligence and in technology as a whole. Policy makers on the continent need to look at specific areas of interest keeping in mind that artificial intelligence is the heart of the fourth industrial revolution, reshaping economies, redefining power, and rewriting the rules of progress.” added Mudavadi.
The summit acknowledged that Africa’s future in AI should be architected deliberately rather than left to chance.
“As governments, we do not have enough resources to drive AI and other technologies. As a continent, we must open up, engage the private sector, and collaborate with them, allowing them to thrive across almost all sectors,” said Mudavadi.
The African Union has already adopted several policy frameworks that will enable the continent to develop AI strategies, with the establishment of a five-year plan phased between 2025-2026 and 2028-2030.
