As Vice President of the Agence Francophone et Africaine de l’Intelligence Artificielle (AFRIA), Maha is one of the leading voices in AI policy, data ethics and digital sovereignty in Francophone Africa. Here, she lets us in on her approach to advocacy and using her voice to promote responsible AI practices across the continent
Maha’s journey has been nothing short of inspirational, letting us in on her passion for AI advocacy, she says, “Growing up in North Africa, I witnessed how Francophone Africa was often excluded from global AI discussions. This absence furled my determination to bridge this gap. I believe science and creativity transcend race, religion, and borders—they rely solely on human capabilities.” Enlightening that her advocacy is driven by the need to challenge biases that marginalize African and Muslim voices in global AI conversations and to ensure that ethical AI frameworks are built upon our unique socio-economic and cultural contexts. “I draw inspiration from figures like Miriam Makeba, whose connection to Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt embodied solidarity between African liberation struggles. Like her fight for freedom, our current digital advocacy is a struggle for technological sovereignty.”
Glamour: AI has the potential to drive economic development and foster inclusion. What are some of the most promising ways AI can be leveraged to create opportunities for women and youth in Africa?
Maha: AI can democratize access to education through personalised learning platforms, facilitate financial inclusion via mobile banking solutions for unbanked populations, and improve healthcare access, particularly for maternal health through early detection systems.
However, we must acknowledge that in Africa for every 100 men aged 25-34 living in extreme poverty, there are 127 women. This feminisation of poverty creates significant barriers for women in technology. As I've witnessed in my talks with Google Developer Groups in Senegal, economic disparities prevent women from embracing tech entrepreneurship.
To ensure AI becomes a tool for empowerment rather than deepening inequality, we need inclusive policies, equitable pay structures, and targeted investment in digital skills for women and rural youth.
Glamour: You've worked extensively on AI policy and data ethics. What are the biggest ethical concerns surrounding AI deployment in Africa, and how can policymakers address them?
Maha: The primary ethical concern is biased data sets that don't reflect African realities. As I emphasized at the "AI and Education" seminar led by Ministry of Education in Tunisia last month, that AI is not a neutral technology but often operates as digital colonialism through:
- Massive data extraction: Tech giants extract our personal data with minimal return to communities
- Imposition of Western models: Erasure of local cultural particularities and ways of thinking
- Algorithmic power consolidation: Decision-making shifts from humans to opaque systems
Another critical issue is the concentration of AI development in a few global centres. As I've noted in my research on the AI Global Index, this "AI monopolization" by tech superpowers makes it extremely difficult for African countries to establish sovereignty in this domain.
Additionally, we face the challenge of what I call "algorithmic governance without representation". When decision-making about African futures is delegated to AI systems designed elsewhere, we lose agency over our development path. This raises fundamental questions about democracy, sovereignty, and self-determination in the digital age.
Glamour: Digital sovereignty is a major topic in global tech discussions. How can African nations build stronger digital independence while balancing international collaborations in AI development?
Maha: Building digital sovereignty requires developing our own AI technologies that reflect Africa's diverse contexts, creating robust data governance frameworks that ensure African data serves African interests, strengthening digital infrastructure beyond the few countries with hyperscale services, and developing AI governance frameworks reflective of African values like the Windhoek Statement.
As Pierre Belanger aptly defined it, "Digital sovereignty is control of our present and destiny as manifested and guided by the use of technology and computer networks." Without this control, Africa risks falling prey to digital colonialism—the use of digital technologies to politically, economically, and socially dominate territories.
With the rise of generative AI and foundation models, Africa faces increasing technological dependency that can choke our socio-economic development. The immediate effects include brain drain and a decrease in Africa-led AI initiatives.
To counter this, Africa must generate representative data reflecting our diverse contexts and build capacity to develop our own algorithms. We must carefully balance the use of public AI tools which offer accessibility and community support, with their limitations in security, privacy, and customization for African needs.
Glamour: As a former country researcher for the Responsible AI Global Index, you've examined AI governance across different regions. What lessons can Africa learn from global AI policies, and what unique approaches should the continent prioritize?
Maha: From global experiences, Africa can learn the importance of proactive rather than reactive regulation, multistakeholder engagement, clear ethical principles with enforcement mechanisms, and balancing innovation with protection.
However, Africa faces unique challenges: fragmented institutional roles across ministries leading to disjointed policies, lack of cohesive ethical guidelines reflecting African values, and inconsistent coordination among AU regulatory bodies.
To address these, we should:
- Develop governance frameworks incorporating African philosophical traditions like Ubuntu, Hrrabi and Terenga (Generosity in Senegal ) .
- Establish coordinated frameworks through inter-ministerial collaboration.
- Strengthen regional cooperation through the AU's Digital Transformation Strategy and African Digital Compact
- Create a Pan-African charter for ethical AI reflecting our values
- Leverage institutions like AUDA-NEPAD to build capacity, foster innovation, and drive partnerships
Glamour: Your research and publications explore technology's role in shaping Africa's future. Can you share key insights from your work on how AI is transforming sectors like education, healthcare, or finance?
Maha: AI is gradually democratizing educational access through personalized learning platforms but remains constrained by the digital divide. In North Africa, Egypt has positioned AI as a catalyst for development with four pillars: AI for Government, AI for Development, Capacity Building, and International Activities. Morocco is developing frameworks emphasizing ethical implementation through institutions like the AI Movement at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. Tunisia is launching this month the AI national strategy with special focus on Economic development.
However, as I highlighted in many seminars in North Africa that Western-developed AI can impose cultural norms that may not align with our Arabs and Muslim local contexts. The most successful AI implementations address specific local challenges rather than importing foreign solutions.
In healthcare, AI applications show promise in diagnostic imaging and maternal health monitoring, while in finance, AI-driven mobile banking is expanding financial inclusion, particularly benefiting women entrepreneurs in Senegal.
A common barrier across sectors is the lack of comprehensive, standardized data, making it difficult to train AI models that accurately reflect African realities.
Glamour: Many fear that AI could deepen existing inequalities. What steps should be taken to ensure AI systems are designed and implemented in a way that promotes fairness and inclusion?
Maha: I think that algorithmic domination by tech companies is imposing automated systems that fundamentally challenge human sovereignty.
To promote fairness, we must:
- Democratize AI knowledge beyond urban centres to rural areas, women, and disadvantaged communities
- Ensure representative data collection capturing Africa's diversity
- Include diverse stakeholders in AI development—not just technologists but ethics experts, sociologists, and representatives from marginalized communities
- Develop policy frameworks with specific provisions for impact assessments on vulnerable groups
- Address the gender wage gap in technology sectors
- Invest in equitable infrastructure development across both urban and rural areas
Glamour: What role do governments, the private sector, and civil society play in fostering responsible AI development in Africa? Are there any successful initiatives that stand out to you?
Maha: Governments establish regulatory frameworks and create enabling environments, exemplified by the AU's Digital Transformation Strategy and national efforts like Egypt's AI strategy. However, fragmented institutional roles often lead to disjointed policies. Tunisia's model offers promising coordination across AI talent development, infrastructure, research, and ethics.
The private sector drives innovation through hubs like Nailab, iHUB, and TechStars in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. These innovation ecosystems are crucial for turning research into practical applications that address local challenges while creating economic opportunities.
Civil society ensures human-cantered development and advocates for marginalized communities. Organizations like the South African Association for AI, African Observatory for Responsible AI, POLLICY in East Africa, and Tunisian AI Society play crucial roles in promoting ethical frameworks and ensuring diverse voices shape AI governance.
The African Union Commission bridges these sectors by building capacity, fostering innovation, and facilitating partnerships between government, industry, and civil society. The 2023 Global Responsible AI Hackathon, which I coordinated for Africa, demonstrated how cross-sector collaboration can produce AI solutions that are both innovative and aligned with local needs and values.
Moving forward, we need coordinated frameworks, ethical guidelines reflecting regional values, stronger regional cooperation, and increased investment in talent development. Most importantly, we must ensure these efforts are guided by a shared vision of AI that serves Africa's development priorities rather than external interests.
Glamour: You've published extensively in both Arabic and English. How important is linguistic diversity in AI policy, and what challenges arise when ensuring that AI serves non-English-speaking communities?
Maha: Linguistic diversity is crucial in AI policy development. When technologies are developed primarily in English, we risk marginalizing non-English speaking communities and imposing foreign conceptual frameworks.
Publishing in Arabic and English has been a deliberate choice to bridge these divides. During my time with the African Union Youth Volunteer Program, I translated documents into Arabic and created content tailored to Arab audiences, experiencing firsthand how critical language is for genuine inclusion.
Challenges include disparities in natural language processing capabilities across languages, cultural nuances lost in translation, difficulties translating technical terminology, and information silos between linguistic communities.
As Egypt's AI strategy recognizes, Arabic language processing is a "vital" sector for extracting contextual information. This recognition needs to extend to all African languages for truly inclusive AI development.
Glamour: Looking ahead, what are your biggest hopes and concerns for the future of AI in Africa? What should be the top priorities for policymakers and innovators in the coming years?
My hope is that AI becomes a force for pan-African solidarity, economic empowerment, and technological sovereignty—technologies developed by Africans, for Africans, reflecting our diverse contexts.
Maha: We have to:
- Reclaim human agency: Ensuring AI serves humanity rather than controlling educational approaches
- Develop strong technological ethics: Prioritizing human concerns over corporate interests
- Build local AI capacity: Creating practitioners who understand both technical aspects and African cultural contexts
- Invest in local capacities and empower local cooperations.
In the spirit of Ubuntu—"I am because we are"—our approach to AI must prioritize collective well-being over individual gain. We must build technologies that strengthen our communities and honour our shared humanity, ensuring that as Africa advances technologically, no one is left behind.
