Transformations in Africa: The rise of artificial intelligence and political shifts at the heart of the continent.
In December 20, 2024, near Aberdare National Park in Kenya, a series of automated devices alerted rangers in real time about a night incursion by illegal loggers. Within minutes, officers from the Kenya Forest Service received a notification through a locally developed app: precise location, sound analysis, predicted escape route. The intervention occurred before a single chainsaw touched the first trunk. The surveillance tool was created by the startup M-Situ, which combines thermal cameras and directional microphones with artificial intelligence models to monitor vast forest areas and accurately predict threats.
The Kenyan case is not an isolated one. More and more frequently, local and regional projects are experimenting with the strategic use of artificial intelligence in key sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, and environmental protection. In Nigeria, a predictive analysis system has helped reduce malaria outbreaks by combining climate, satellite, and clinical data. In Ethiopia, similar technologies are being tested to optimize irrigation in the northern part of the country, where alternating drought and torrential rain destabilize subsistence farming.
Far from high-profile announcements or large foreign investments, Africa is tracing its own trajectory in the use of AI: decentralized, adaptive, and deeply rooted in everyday life. Artificial intelligence, far from being a showroom for speculative innovation, is being built with the immediate goal of addressing structural needs. But it is precisely this tension between innovation and necessity that is producing ripple effects beyond the technological sphere.
When a community changes how it collects data, evaluates problems, and makes operational decisions, it inevitably changes its relationship with power. The adoption of intelligent systems capable of suggesting more efficient or faster solutions has introduced new habits in the management of territories, crises, and public services. In a word: governance.
Throughout 2024, several key countries in southern Africa experienced major political tremors. In Botswana, the Botswana Democratic Party, in power since independence, lost the elections. In South Africa, the African National Congress faced the first real electoral test of the post-apartheid era without securing an absolute majority. In Namibia, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah took office as the country’s first female president, chosen not for her ties to the SWAPO’s historic leadership, but for her ability to speak to a new generation.
What links these episodes is not so much an ideological thread as a shift in perception of time. Across southern Africa, generations born after 2000 now make up the largest portion of the electorate. They have access to digital information, move through decentralized communication tools, and no longer accept political routines justified solely by historical merit. They vote based on concreteness, the ability to deliver tangible results, and tend to assess the value of institutions in terms of efficiency and accessibility.
Just like the artificial intelligence devices in Kenya’s forests, the new civic culture among African citizens seems to be recalibrating the parameters of attention: less tied to symbols, more focused on prevention, direct action, and verifiable outcomes. Whether this is good or risky for the continent’s democratic stability remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: Africa’s future isn’t waiting for anyone.
Transformations in Africa. The rise of artificial intelligence and political shifts at the heart of the continent.
technology, politics, Africa, innovation, youth,