A new global survey has ranked Kenya fifth in Africa on the government’s readiness to implement Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the delivery of services to the public.
Kenya scored 40.36 percent behind Egypt, South Africa, Tunisia, and Morocco in the 2022 edition of the annual Government AI Readiness Index released by Oxford Insights.
Kenya was ranked position 90 as countries prepare the ground for disruption expected from the new technology globally.
On the technology sector pillar that examines the availability of requisite skills to enable AI adoption, the country posted a dismal score of 28.76 percent which is below the world average of 35.17 percent.
The report comes amid the rising adoption of AI.
“AI might be the medicine the continent needs to root out problems and inconsistencies in education. Indeed, the fact that African languages were suppressed in favor of European languages as a strategy to separate thought and speech, Africa now has the opportunity to begin the process of decolonizing education,” said Kenya’s Ambassador to Belgium Bitange Ndemo.
Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence in the Middle East and Africa Outlook report reveals over the last decade, Kenya’s total value of the investment in AI is estimated at Sh13 billion which hardly compares with South Africa’s Sh165.8 billion and Nigeria’s Sh60.3 billion.
