Author: Mungai Charles

Kenya’s National AI Strategy 2025–2030 is a bold and welcome milestone. It signals the country’s ambition to harness artificial intelligence (AI) for sustainable growth and innovation.

Promising to transform Kenya into Africa’s AI hub, a beacon of sustainable growth and innovation. Yet, beneath this bold vision lies a plan that, while rich with aspiration, lacks the concrete steps to turn ambition into reality.
This isn’t just a technical quibble—it’s a matter of national destiny, as an AI researcher with recent experience from South Korea, where I was taking a Masters in applied AI. I proposed a tailored AI ethics policy framework for Kenya as part of my research project.

Having studied what the global playbook is, I know what could falter locally. This article reflects on Kenya’s strategy’s strengths, explores opportunities for refinement, and suggests pathways to ensure it delivers for all. Arguing that without urgency, investment, and sharper execution, Kenya’s AI dream risks unravelling.

The Global AI Landscape: A High-Stakes Game
For most Kenyans, it is nice to play with tools like ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot. ChatGPT is now among the top 10 websites in Kenya. Many students are using these tools to help them with their assignments, and in offices, many are using them to draft emails and write reports. But could it be a Trojan Horse masking peril? In the annals of history, the Trojan Horse stands as a timeless warning: a gift that appears benign can conceal ruinous intent.

AI is no mere tool; it’s a foundational force, akin to electricity or the internet, rewiring economies, societies, and power structures. Over 70 countries—from giants like the U.S., China, and the EU to emerging players like Kenya and Nigeria—have staked their claims with national AI strategies.

These strategies chase two distinct goals: competitiveness and geopolitical clout. Or prioritising risk mitigation and societal good, crafting “responsible AI” to tackle ethical pitfalls. Thus, from a global perspective, Kenya’s position is one of a sheep among wolves.

Competitiveness & Geopolitical Power: For China, AI is a ticket to global dominance by 2030, backed by over $150 billion in investments and a military edge. The U.S., fuelled by private titans like Nvidia and Google, counters with innovation supremacy. Both see AI as a lever for economic might and international clout.

Risk Mitigation & Societal Good: The EU and Australia, meanwhile, champion “responsible AI”, weaving ethics into their frameworks to tackle bias, privacy invasion, and job losses while boosting healthcare and sustainability. Their focus is less on conquest and more on conscience.

To put this into context, throughout history, kingdoms built & fortified walls to shape wars. At Jerusalem in 70 CE, Roman legions encircled the city, built siege ramps, and breached its defences through engineering might. By contrast, Troy’s walls stood unbowed until Greek cunning—hiding soldiers in a wooden horse—bypassed its gates. These sieges show that fortifications can delay conquest, but whether through overwhelming force or deceptive strategy, attackers adapt to overcome even the strongest walls.

Thus, a country like China has succeeded in ensuring copycat, localised technology innovations such as Weibo for Twitter & Baidu for Google while keeping out those Western nations. This is because the Chinese government understands the level of influence such technology wields if the US government were to have access to it. The US is now using the same rule book by putting barriers to Chinese applications such as TikTok & Deepseek. The main issue is that they do not want the data of American users or businesses to be accessed and/or used by the Chinese government.

Kenya’s AI Strategy: Visionary Yet Vulnerable
Kenya’s strategy tilts toward risk mitigation & societal good, mirroring that of South Korea—ethical, inclusive AI for development. But in a world where AI doubles as a weapon of power, can Kenya afford to soft-pedal competitiveness?

South Korea, unlike the U.S. or China, has been cautious and business-focused rather than security-focused. Acting like a middle power, emphasising multilateralism and economic interests, since China is a major market for Korean exports. Over military-geopolitical confrontation. Aiming for niche leadership (robotics, manufacturing AI) through infrastructure and corporate partnerships (e.g., Samsung, LG) and a funding commitment of $2B AI R&D fund. Driven by a National AI Strategy Committee with KPIs as part of their execution framework.

What We’ve Got Right: Ambition, a Local Lens, Ethics & Sovereignty
The National AI Strategy 2025–2030 envisions Kenya as Africa’s AI hub, aligning seamlessly with Vision 2030. It prioritises digital infrastructure, a robust data ecosystem, and innovation as core pillars —supported by governance, talent, and ethics.

What sets it apart is its local flavour. By championing Swahili AI, Indigenous data, and solutions like agriculture-focused tech and other local sectors, Kenya seeks tools that fit its soil, ensuring technology serves Kenya’s unique needs rather than echoing foreign models. This is similar to Germany’s push for technological sovereignty. A bulwark against overreliance on American or Chinese giants and a smart move in a globalised world. Collaboration with academia, civil society, and global partners adds further heft, painting a picture of a nation serious about its AI future.

What’s Missing: Execution, Investment, and Urgency
Yet, for all its promise, the strategy stumbles where it matters most. It sketches a grand vista but leaves the map half-drawn. Ambition thrives when paired with clarity, and here lies an opportunity for growth. Industry players and investors, eager for tangible outcomes, may find the strategy’s broad strokes inspiring but light on specifics.

Budgets, timelines, and clear accountability structures are still taking shape—details that could transform a promising vision into a dynamic reality. For instance, while three planned data centres mark progress, they sound modest next to China’s sprawling networks or the EU’s AI Gigafactories. Scaling compute power and hastening 5G deployment could unlock the advanced AI applications investors seek.

Similarly, with STEM graduates comprising just 25% of the talent pool, a sharper focus on workforce development & a bold plan to curb the brain drain could reassure the industry that Kenya’s human capital is ready to lead.

At home, many Kenyans have suffered from the predatory nature of many AI solutions by global companies. From being hired as cheap labour for content verification. The proliferation of loan apps with unethical practices, such as exorbitant interest rates and short repayment durations, ensnares vulnerable users in cycles of debt. Data mining and psychological profiling to manipulate how citizens think and vote. The threat of deepfakes, AI-generated lifelike videos, poses a significant risk of misinformation and identity theft. Algorithmic bias, privacy invasion, and addictive user experiences have led to a widespread youth online betting pandemic. To address these, like the EU and Australia, Kenya must turn ethics into action with robust regulation and funding, not just words.

This isn’t a flaw but a chance to build on success. The strategy’s framework is sound; it now needs the scaffolding of execution. Concrete incentives—like tax breaks for AI startups or milestones such as doubling AI patents by 2030 through intellectual property safeguards—could ignite the ecosystem.

Refining the Strategy: Avoiding the Trap
Like the EU’s InvestAI, Kenya needs a domestic funding vehicle to catalyse homegrown innovation. Private capital follows public confidence—tax breaks, co-investment models, and local VC support are essential.

Kenya should also partner with global tech leaders—Nvidia, Google, and Huawei—for GPU access and cloud credits. Fast-track 5G and data infrastructure, learning from South Korea’s national “data dam” rollout.

The government should introduce AI scholarships, digital fellowships, and startup visas to stem the brain drain and attract diaspora talent. Align with programmes like the EU’s Digital Europe to accelerate skills transfer.
Establish a national AI sandbox where startups can experiment under guided regulation. Align with Africa’s Continental AI Strategy to ensure cross-border consistency.

We must target high-impact, low-barrier domains: Swahili NLP, agri-AI for smallholder farmers, and mobile diagnostics in health. Leverage M-Pesa’s vast data ecosystem to pioneer financial AI innovations—Kenya’s global edge.

Create a dedicated body, perhaps a National AI Council, having a clear roadmap with milestones, KPIs & delivery timelines. This will streamline leadership across sectors, offering the precision that the industry craves without undermining the government’s vision.

My research on AI ethics made one thing clear: AI is never neutral. It reflects the values of those who design and deploy it.

For Kenya and Africa more broadly, this is a crucial fork in the road. The conversation must go beyond compliance and risk management. We must articulate African AI values—justice, dignity, and communal good—and weave them into our regulatory frameworks, tech designs, and educational curricula.

This demands more than top-down directives. It requires active public engagement, inclusion of diverse voices, and collaboration between ethicists, engineers, lawmakers, and communities. We must build an AI policy ecosystem that is dynamic, inclusive, and deeply local​.

Kenya’s AI strategy is a bold first step. But, without muscle behind its vision, it risks becoming a Trojan Horse—luring us with promise while leaving us exposed. As someone who’s wrestled with these questions in South Korea and beyond, I see the potential: AI can lift Kenya, but only if we steer it wisely.

History teaches us that intelligence—human or artificial—wins wars and builds empires. Kenya’s walls must not just stand tall but also stand smart. The future beckons—let’s not greet it with a horse we haven’t inspected.

Charles Mungai serves as KBC’s Chief Digital Media Officer and a consultant in Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation, with a special focus on strategy, training, and policy for both public and private sector organizations. He write’s about the intersection of technology, innovation, and impact. Advising organizations on how AI and digital systems can drive growth and transformation.