'Made in Morocco' to drive $10-B, Tunisian filmmaker wins $1-M AI film award
Weekly News Digest ...
Good morning, and welcome to this week’s issue of Africa AI News – Weekly News Digest.
This week sees a lot of policy movements and government-led development programmes — but not a lot of on-the-ground implementation. This is becoming a concern, where high profile national initiatives, strategies, workshops, councils, committees and white papers are flourishing, but adoption and readiness is not.
The recently published World Bank “Digital Progress and Trends Report 2025” is not kind to Africa. While some countries are doing OK (South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria) in actual use, most are not.
Perhaps it’s time for Africa to look East, and not West, for the leading edge of AI.
While the US leads in startups and fundraising (hype?), China leads in papers, citations and protected Intellectual Property.
China is also arguably a leader in understanding and mitigating against the dangers of AI … with it paying specific attention to anthropomorphic AIs where they are intended to be human-like, with its “Interim Measures for the Administration of Humanised Interactive Services Based on AI” regulations.
This post on it is definitely worth a read.
On with this week’s issue!
/Roger
Policy
‘AI Made in Morocco’ initiative to accelerates national strategy
#Morocco #events — Morocco’s Ministry of Digital Transition and Administration Reform announced a national AI Made in Morocco initiative at an event in Rabat to drive its Maroc IA 2030 vision. It featured inauguration of the JAZARI ROOT Institute, a foundation for a network of AI centres of excellence. Morocco plans to add $10 billion to its GDP by 2030 through AI integration, training 200 000 graduates and creating 50 000 AI-related jobs. (Middle East AI News)
China, Ethiopia deepen cooperation from infrastructure to AI
#Ethiopia #policy — China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa, agreeing to extend cooperation beyond trade and infrastructure to include digital economy initiatives such as artificial intelligence and green energy, underscoring their “all-weather” strategic partnership. (Xinhua)
Huawei mulls Kenya public sector digitisation partnership
#Kenya #policy #digitisation — Chinese telecom firm Huawei is exploring a collaboration with the Kenya School of Government to accelerate digital transformation in Kenya’s public sector. (Xinhua)
Kenya’s AI policy committee charts responsible innovation roadmap
#Kenya #policy — Kenya’s newly established National AI Policy Committee, convening government, industry, academia and civil society, has begun shaping a comprehensive AI governance framework aimed at ethical, inclusive and responsible innovation and deployment. The committee will inform future regulations on data governance and AI ethics. (KICTANet)
Egypt expands AI council mandate to include quantum computing
#Egypt #policy — Egypt’s cabinet expanded the National AI Council to include quantum computing and emerging technologies. The renamed body will set regulatory and ethical frameworks beyond artificial intelligence to support startups and global competitiveness and integrate advanced technologies into national development strategies (Middle East AI News)
Smart Africa board unveils inaugural AI council
#Africa #governance — Smart Africa’s board has formally established the Africa Artificial Intelligence Council, a high-level body aimed at steering AI governance and innovation across the continent. Chaired by Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and involving 42 African heads of state, the council will offer strategic recommendations to advance responsible AI deployment across member states. (Herald)
Applications
Tunisian filmmaker wins first Google AI Film Award with “Lily”
#Tunisia #applications #arts — Tunisian filmmaker Zoubeir Jlassi won the inaugural Google AI Film Award with Lily, a generative AI-produced short film showcased at the 1 Billion Followers Summit in Dubai. It utilised cutting-edge generative AI tools across character creation, animation and AI-driven narratives. The award carries a $1 million prize and was judged from about 3 500 entries from over 100 countries. (African Business)
South African Tourism launches AI travel planner
#SouthAfrica #applications #travel — South African Tourism has launched Siyanda, an AI-powered trip-planning assistant, built by GuideGeek. Designed to help international visitors craft personalised itineraries and answer travel queries in real time, Siyanda draws on extensive tourism data and over 1 000 integrations to enhance visitor planning and engagement. How do you access it? No idea. (The South African)
Kenyan students win AI challenge with maternal health solution
#Kenya #applications — A team of Kenyan university students won the Stars of Innovation: U.S.–Kenya AI Challenge with MediBora, an AI-driven platform that continuously monitors expectant mothers, delivers early risk alerts and connects patients with clinicians via mobile app, SMS, USSD and voice. (Kenyans)
Humanitarian AI training bolsters Sudanese local responders
#Sudan #applications #aid — AI training tailored for local humanitarian responders equipped participants from Sudani emergency teams, youth volunteer groups and NGOs with skills to use AI safely and ethically in high-pressure, low-connectivity contexts. The initiative was led by Save the Children, Humanitarian Leadership Academy and Data Friendly Space. (Humanitarian Leadership Academy)
Funding
Côte d’Ivoire unveils 2026–30 digital strategy boosting connectivity
#Côte d’Ivoire #technology #strategy — Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Economy and Digital Transition launched its 2026–30 digital strategy, underpinned by a CFA83.2 billion ($146.9 million) budget to expand fibre-optic networks, digital public services and regulatory frameworks. (Ecofin Agency)
Education
Rwanda does compulsory AI training for civil servants
The Rwandan government has launched an AI training programs for all civil servants across the public administration, with courses compulsory regardless of their functions or initial level of technological skills. The initiative is intended to equip public employees with skills that will strengthen their capacity to deliver higher-quality public services, said the Ministry of ICT. (Ecofin Agency)
Libya and Tunisia forge educational partnership on AI training
#Libya #education — Education officials from Libya and Tunisia have initiated a bilateral cooperation agreement to modernise training programmes and integrate AI into curricula. (TMO Mag)
Datacentres
Zimbabwe unveils plans for data centre and tech park
#Zimbabwe #datacentres — The Zimbabwean government has announced plans with Econet for a new state-of-the-art data centre and industrial tech park to boost the nation’s digital transformation. Minister Tatenda Mavetera said the facility will include expanded power capacity to support AI computing. It coincides with the imminent publication of a national AI strategy. No details have been announced. (TechAfrica News)
Events
AI Everything MEA Egypt event showcases applied AI shaping policy and industry
#Egypt #events — AI Everything Middle East & Africa in Cairo (11-12 Feb 2026) convened policymakers, major tech firms and investors to explore how AI is influencing regulation, national competitiveness and industry deployment. MiddleEastAINews.com is a media partner, and will be covering the show extensively. (Fast Company Middle East)