Africa is getting “very, very late” in keeping pace with developments in artificial intelligence (AI), Dr Yemisi Bamgbose, Executive Secretary of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BoN), has warned.
During a panel discussion at the Broadcasters Convention ’26, Dr Bamgbose said African countries were still grappling with how to begin and respond to changes in AI at a time when the technology had already advanced beyond the continent’s current efforts.
“The issue of artificial intelligence has gone beyond what we are sitting with in Africa,” he said, stressing the need for the continent to move beyond its current approach to AI.
According to him, Africa was often playing catch-up by responding to developments coming from outside rather than positioning itself to participate meaningfully in emerging technologies.
“The challenge is that we are always playing catch-up. We are constantly trying to respond to developments from outside,” Dr Bamgbose said.
He said the situation was becoming increasingly urgent, particularly as many of the approaches being adopted in Africa in relation to AI were no longer sufficient to keep pace with the speed of development.
“Many of the things that we do in Africa as far as AI is concerned are no longer enough,” he said.
Dr Bamgbose therefore called for discussions on how Africa could keep pace with AI developments and position itself to participate meaningfully in the technology’s growth.
“That is what we need to discuss today. We need to find ways to keep pace with these developments and position ourselves to participate meaningfully in the AI revolution,” he said.
He also commended the initiative providing a platform for the discussion, describing it as important in addressing Africa’s growing need to engage more effectively with AI.
