The African AI Governance Index (AAGI) Foundation today announced the launch of Africa’s first comprehensive AI governance intelligence platform, introducing an open-access tool to track policy developments and infrastructure capacity in all 54 African Union member countries.
The announcement marks the emergence of a new institution aimed at answering a question that governments, investors, and development partners are struggling to answer: Where does Africa actually stand on AI governance?
“The data was there. It was scattered across 54 different locations, buried in government websites, locked away in consultant reports, or simply not collected,” said Kwame AA Opoku, founder and executive director of AAGI. “We have built the infrastructure to centralize, validate, and make AI useful. Africa cannot lead in AI governance if no one understands the current situation in Africa.”
Living in the moment: Africa’s AI policy tracker
AAGI’s Policy Tracker is now live and monitoring national AI strategies, regulatory frameworks, and institutional developments in all AU member states in real time. The platform is the first open-access resource of its kind and will be the single source of truth for African countries to understand their AI strategies as they announce, are developing, or have yet to launch.
Trackers address critical gaps. Global indicators like Oxford Insights’ Government AI Readiness Index cover 195 countries, but lack the Africa-specific depth that regional stakeholders need. AAGI’s 80-indicator methodology has twice the number of indicators of major global indicators and provides the solutions needed for meaningful policy guidance.
Next Shipment: African Data Center Intelligence Platform
AAGI will release an infrastructure tracker in the coming weeks, providing unprecedented visibility into Africa’s computing environment. The platform tracks:
223
Data center facilities 38
Number of countries covered: $3.49 billion
Market value (2024) ~780 MW
IT capacity tracking
Infrastructure Tracker is about more than just facilities. It maps where submarine cables land, the presence of hyperscalers (Microsoft, Google, AWS, Oracle), the energy sources powering the computing infrastructure, the regulatory environment governing data centers, and the computing power inherent in AI. There is nothing comparable in the African market.
“Africa has less than 2% of the world’s data centers, even as it prepares to absorb the largest population growth in human history,” Opoku noted. “Investors are making multibillion-dollar infrastructure decisions without enough intelligence. We’re fixing that.”
AAGI methodology: 80 indicators, 8 pillars
AAGI’s assessment framework is fully public, providing unprecedented transparency into how African countries are assessed. This methodology consists of eight pillars.
1. Strategy and Vision (15%) – National AI strategy, roadmap, and political initiatives
2. Governance and Regulation (15%) – Legal framework, regulatory bodies and enforcement capacity
3. Infrastructure and Data (15%) – Compute power, connectivity, and data ecosystem maturity.
4. Human capital and research (15%) – AI talent, education pipeline, and research output
5. Innovation and Ecosystem (10%) – Startups, capital flows, private sector activity
6. Ethics and Inclusion (10%) – Reduced bias, digital rights, and fair access
7. Regional and international integration (10%) – AU alignment, cross-border cooperation and global engagement.
8. Implementation and Effectiveness (10%) – Evidence of implementation, measurable outcomes, and budget allocation.
The complete indicator codebook, data collection protocols, and scoring criteria will be made available to the public to enable governments to self-assess and researchers to build the foundation for AAGI.
Current progress: Building the organization
Global Advisory Board
AAGI has assembled a global advisory board comprised of AI governance experts, African policymakers, technology leaders, and development finance experts. The Board provides strategic guidance, methodological validation, and organizational credibility as AAGI expands across the continent. The composition of the Board of Directors will be announced in the future.
Pilot evaluation in 10 countries
AAGI has launched a pilot assessment program targeting 10 countries representing Africa’s regional and economic diversity. The pilot will stress test the 80 indicator methodologies through rigorous data collection, government engagement and on-the-ground validation before deployment to the continent.
First Country Partner: Botswana
AAGI formalized the country partner model with Ai4Botswana, establishing Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Botswana as founding pilot nations. The partnership, currently in the Memorandum of Understanding, demonstrates AAGI’s approach to combining continental intelligence infrastructure and ground verification capabilities. Country partners provide local data collection, government access, and contextual validation that cannot be replicated in global indexes.
“We are not building a remote monitoring station,” explained founding partner Stella Agala. “We are building a network. Partners in every country will enrich our data, validate our methodologies, and expand AAGI’s reach. By the time we reach 54 countries, we will have 54 partners invested in the accuracy of what we publish.”
Why is this important now?
The African data center market is projected to reach $6.81 billion by 2030, growing at 12.86% annually. Hyperscalers are beginning to break ground across the continent. The African Union supports a continental AI framework. Governments are developing strategies. Development finance institutions are allocating billions of dollars to digital infrastructure.
These decisions are being made without sufficient information.
Which countries have clear regulations to host AI research facilities? Which countries have the energy infrastructure to power large-scale computing? Which countries have the talent pipeline to staff AI operations? Which countries have mature governance that allows them to trust sensitive data?
AAGI exists to answer these questions using data, not guesswork.
partnership opportunities
AAGI is actively seeking partners across multiple categories to advance coverage and institutional impact on the continent.
Country Partners – Local organizations that can provide local data collection, government referrals, and validation in their respective countries. Current priorities: SADC region (South Africa), East African Community, ECOWAS.
Knowledge Partners – Research institutions, think tanks, and academic centers that can contribute methodological expertise, co-author publications, and enhance the intellectual credibility of AAGI.
Funding partners – foundations, development finance institutions, corporate sponsors and impact investors working together on Africa’s digital transformation. AAGI operates as a nonprofit foundation dedicated to open access intelligence.
Strategic Partners – Organizations that can expand AAGI’s reach through platforms, conferences, and networks. This includes conferences, media outlets, government agencies, and multilateral organizations.
Data Partners – Entities that have their own datasets on African infrastructure, investment flows, or technology deployments and are willing to collaborate on intelligence products.
Advisory Board Members – Distinguished individuals who can provide strategic guidance to AAGI’s mission, open doors, and lend credibility to the organization.
About Africa AI Governance Index Foundation
The African AI Governance Index (AAGI) Foundation is a nonprofit research institute developing the first comprehensive assessment of AI governance readiness in all 54 African Union member countries. Through policy trackers, infrastructure trackers, and annual index publications, AAGI provides governments, investors, development partners, and researchers with the intelligence they need to make informed decisions about the future of AI in Africa.
AAGI is registered in Ghana and has subsidiaries in Kenya and Delaware (USA). The Foundation operates on a country partner model, combining the continent’s data infrastructure with the ground verification capabilities of each country it assesses.
