The Geopolitical AI Chessboard: Securing Africa’s Shared Commons

Conference Report

September 25, 2025

“Africa and the Geopolitics of Artificial Intelligence,” a webinar held on November 19, 2024, explored AI development and regulation in Africa and the practice of African agency within AI geopolitics. The webinar was convened under the Negotiating Africa’s Digital Partnerships project hosted at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, and supported by the Centre for International Governance Innovation. Topics of discussion included the political economy of AI in Africa, the complexities of AI geopolitics, and the opportunities and challenges they present to Africa’s digital sovereignty.

About the Authors

Folashadé Soulé is a CIGI senior fellow and senior research associate at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.

Leslie Nii Lantey Mills is a research associate on the Negotiating Africa’s Digital Partnerships policy research project, led by Folashadé Soulé, hosted at the University of Oxford and supported by CIGI.

Charles Falajiki is a research assistant at the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies.