ICAIR 2026: Africa Risks Economic Dependence Without Home-grown AI Technologies, Experts Warn

Funmi Ogundare

Academic leaders and technology experts have warned that Africa risks permanent economic dependence on technologically advanced nations unless it urgently shifts from consuming imported Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to developing indigenous solutions and digital infrastructure.
The experts, who spoke at the 6th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (ICAIR 2026), stressed that Africa’s economic future and technological sovereignty would depend on its ability to develop home-grown AI models, build indigenous digital infrastructure and equip its youthful population with relevant technological skills.
The conference, themed, ‘Artificial Intelligence for Africa’s Sustainable Economic Growth’, brought together academic leaders, researchers and technology experts to examine how the continent could leverage AI for sustainable development.
In his remarks, the Head of the Local Organising Committee, Dr. Oladipupo Sennaike, said Africa could not afford to remain a passive spectator in the latest technological revolution, warning that history had shown that societies that failed to adapt to major technological shifts risked being left behind.
He noted that the agricultural and industrial revolutions created new economic powers, while the digital revolution transformed the global economy.
He added that Africa must position itself to benefit from the emerging AI revolution.
“Technological revolutions do not wait for societies to become ready. They happen, and societies must decide how to respond,” Sennaike stated.
He urged African countries to move from importing AI solutions to developing technologies capable of addressing their peculiar challenges.
In his keynote, the Director of the School for Data Science and Computational Thinking at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, Prof. Kanshukan Rajaratnam, said the defining challenge of the AI era was determining who would shape the technology and benefit from its economic opportunities.