Kenya is emerging as a frontrunner in Africa’s artificial intelligence (AI) landscape, positioning itself as the continent’s leading hub for AI model innovation to drive sustainable development, economic transformation, and social inclusion.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi emphasized Kenya’s ambitions during the Global AI Summit 2025 held in Kigali, Rwanda. Representing the country, Mudavadi highlighted Kenya’s resolve to lead in AI research and application, describing it as a transformative force shaping the future.
“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,” he said.
Mudavadi urged African nations to embrace AI boldly, stating, “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 revealed that Kenya is developing a government-led vision rooted in ethical, inclusive, and innovation-driven AI adoption, which not only charts the country’s digital future but also positions it as a continental trailblazer.
This vision is backed by Kenya’s inaugural National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (2025–2030), developed by the Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy. The strategy outlines Kenya’s goal to lead in AI model innovation and commercialization, addressing both national and continental needs.
“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.
He added that Kenya plans to revamp its Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs, noting the need to empower the country’s tech-savvy youth. “Kenya’s programmes focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics will be redefined and strengthened,” he stated.
Strategic sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, financial services, and public administration have been identified as key priorities. According to Mudavadi, Kenya is investing heavily in health tech and smart agriculture to ensure rapid progress in its AI agenda.
To support this initiative, the country is expanding digital infrastructure, building data centres, enhancing cloud computing capabilities, and setting up national research hubs. New legislation is also underway to provide legal grounding for AI development.
“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.
He further emphasized the importance of computing power, revealing that Kenya is making large-scale investments in data centres. As one of Africa’s top producers of renewable energy, Kenya’s nearly 93% green energy grid is a major asset in powering future AI infrastructure.
“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,” Mudavadi told the summit. “We need to look at this component critically and what would be the incentives we can give so that those who want to come and invest in particularly solar, wind and geothermal energy do it with ease.”
He also called for continental cooperation, emphasizing the need for unified policy frameworks and coordinated investment in technology: “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,” he added.
The summit echoed this vision, stressing that Africa’s future in AI must be intentionally crafted. Mudavadi also called on African governments to actively partner with the private sector, stating: “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.”
The African Union has already laid the groundwork through several policy frameworks and a five-year AI development roadmap running from 2025 through 2030.
