The use of Artificial Intelligence by Nigeria is minimal as the country ranked low among other African countries, according to the 2020 Government AI Readiness Index.
Mauritius, South Africa, Seychelles, Kenya and Rwanda, according to the index, leads the continent in AI readiness.
The report produced by Oxford Insights examined the readiness of governments globally to implement AI in the delivery of public services to their citizens.
According to the study, Ghana, Namibia, Senegal, Cabo Verde, and Lesotho are also among the top 10 African countries that had a strategy for utilising AI.
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Even though many Nigerian businesses in the private sector adopt AI, Nigeria was ranked as the 20th country in the AI readiness index, lagging behind Gabon, Gambia, Botswana, Benin republic, among others.
The Index, indicated that overall, African countries are relatively better prepared in providing data and infrastructure.
The report stated that most African countries had or were building more capacity in telecommunications and other infrastructure needed to support AI, as well as in the availability of representative AI training data.
Analysts at Oxford Insights said the results of the study were not a surprise, as African countries were known to lag behind the rest of the world in technology developments.
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“Despite the different generations of technology that African countries have leapfrogged, they still face the persistent challenge of catching up, as the pace of technological change outstrips their leaping abilities,” the report stated.
“However, some scoping exercises show that AI is already being employed in several countries and in a variety of sectors including banking, e-commerce, health, agriculture, energy, education, and industry. For example, there were at least 86 African companies in 17 countries that were using Fourth Industrial Revolution Technologies (4IR) in the agricultural sector.”
The study cited the inconsistent policy as a major barrier, saying regulatory failure slow progress to AI readiness because a few African countries have an official AI strategy.
Findings showed that AI readiness in Africa was also constrained by a lack of an appropriately skilled local workforce.
The available talents, according to the analysts face numerous obstacles, including low visibility within the global community of AI researchers and entrepreneurs due to visa-related barriers to attending international conferences.
