AI Illustration./PHOTO Courtesy
Technological language has woven itself into everyday conversation. Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and digital transformation are now familiar terms, yet they remain poorly understood.
We speak about them as though each exists in isolation, dissecting their parts to make sense of the whole. In doing so, we fragment ideas that demand a shared and unified perspective.
Ask several people what artificial intelligence truly means, and each one will likely produce a different answer.
One may describe robots. Another menace to jobs. Another may see innovation. None is entirely wrong, and yet, through this fragmentation, we lose a common language for progress.
We lose the opportunity to build together.
Fragmentation is not new to Africa. Land served as a rallying cry during the decades-long struggle for independence.
Land belonged to communities; it symbolised identity, mutual responsibility, and economic survival.
But after independence, many nations embraced the capitalist model of individualised land ownership. Suddenly, title deeds replaced communal stewardship.
Even former collaborators with colonial powers secured large properties with little accountability.
This shift fractured not only land but also society. Vast acreage sits idle in the hands of a powerful few, generating little economic productivity.
Meanwhile, the majority survive on tiny plots barely capable of sustaining a household. Land became a symbol of ownership rather than a tool for empowerment.
Fragmentation constrained imagination, locking millions “in the prison of mind,” believing the mere possession of land equals prosperity.
This history is significant because Africa is currently experiencing another transformative moment.
The resource in question today is not land; it is data, knowledge, and the technological power of artificial intelligence. AI is no longer science fiction.
It is influencing how children learn, how farmers grow food, how doctors diagnose disease, and how creators produce music and film.
It is entering every dimension of life, reshaping economies and altering the nature of work.
Yet the conversation across Africa too often mirrors past misunderstandings.
We are again breaking a transformative force into disconnected worries, with job loss here and automation there, without agreeing on what AI truly represents.
We obsess over the risks but overlook the unprecedented opportunities.
This fear of technology is not without precedent.
As the world approached the year 2000, panic over the Y2K computer glitch prompted people to brace for chaos: power grid failures, crashed banking systems, and even accidental missile launches.
In response, the systems were updated, and life continued as usual. The world moved forward, reinforced, not ruined.
With every technological shift throughout history, jobs have changed, industries have transformed, and societies have adapted.
New roles emerge, productivity increases, and prosperity expands.
But transitions are uneven. Early understanders and innovators reap the greatest benefits, while those who misunderstand or resist risk being left permanently behind.
This divide is already visible. In the early days of digital communication, African postal services collapsed rather than reinventing themselves.
Email was treated as the death of mail, not the birth of a logistics revolution.
Meanwhile, in the United States, companies reinvented delivery systems, eventually building global giants like Amazon. Africa did not simply lose letters. It lost an entire industry’s future.
We cannot afford the same mistake with AI.
Africa possesses immense human capital in knowledge, creativity, sports excellence, and cultural wealth. The world sees it.
We must see it too. In athletics, for example, performance data holds the key to cultivating future stars; the next Eliud Kipchoge is as much a product of science as talent.
But if we fail to capture and leverage that data, other countries will use their data systems to profit from African potential before Africans can.
Data is the new fuel of innovation. And right now, Africa risks surrendering that fuel without ever using it.
The question, therefore, is not whether AI will change life in Africa. It already is.
The question is whether we will guide that change with clarity and unity or allow fragmentation to once again limit our possibilities.
To build an inclusive future, Africa must establish a shared understanding of AI, one that connects education, industry, policy, and local innovation.
Digital transformation is not merely about adopting tools; it requires cultivating adaptable, curious minds through lifelong learning. Skills must evolve constantly, because technology evolves continuously.
In embracing innovation, experimenting boldly, and aligning AI with the Sustainable Development Goals, Africa can enable new jobs and resilient industries.
Data can drive breakthroughs in agriculture, health systems can become more precise, education can become more equitable, and creativity can flourish in new fields.
However, such progress is only possible if we approach AI with a shared purpose.
Fragmenting AI and treating it as separate trends, disconnected threats, or niche tools means repeating past mistakes.
It means allowing others to define value, while we remain passive consumers of imported progress.
Just as land once promised liberation but instead deepened inequality through fragmentation, AI today offers empowerment if a unified understanding prevails.
Africa stands on the edge of a new era, with a choice to make: resist change and fall behind, or shape change and rise together.
If we choose unity of vision, then AI can become a force that expands dignity, possibility, and prosperity across the continent. It can redefine Africa not as a follower in global innovation but as a leader.
We lost so much when we fragmented the land. We must not fragment our future.
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