Preamble
More than three million years ago, on the shores of an African lake, a hand carved the first stone tool.1 On this same continent, humans mastered fire, engraved the first symbols, invented one of the world’s first writing systems, and built pyramids, empires and libraries.
The history of human intelligence began in Africa.
Then Africa missed three industrial revolutions. It watched others prosper with the tools of their time, while it was emptied of its youth, colonised, and then kept in the role of a raw-material supplier.
Today the fourth revolution begins: the revolution of artificial intelligence. It will not wait for us. If we miss it, we will be governed by intelligences designed by others, fed with our data and tuned to their interests. If we seize it, we will take our place again among the builders of the world.
We, the signatories of this manifesto, refuse to miss this appointment.
What we observe
We observe that intelligence has always been the source of human power, and that the peoples who master the tools of their time dominate those who do not.
We observe that Africa is already part of artificial intelligence, through its minerals, its workers and its data, but that it captures almost none of its value.
We observe that the real danger is not artificial intelligence itself, but the gap between those who master it and those who are subject to it.
We observe that nearly 570 million Africans still live without electricity,2 and that no intelligence is built in the dark.
We observe that humanity has already crossed seven of the nine planetary boundaries that keep the Earth in balance,3 and that Africa, which produces only about 4% of global emissions,4 is among the first victims of these overshoots.
Finally, we observe that Africa has everything it needs to succeed: youth, energy, land, minerals, data, a continental market and a talented diaspora.
Our eleven principles
First principle: data sovereignty. Data produced by Africans must benefit Africans first, be protected by African laws and, wherever possible, be hosted on African soil.
Second principle: produce, not just consume. Africa must not settle for using other people’s artificial intelligence. It must design, build and sell its own.
Third principle: our languages at the heart of the machines. No African language should be left out of tomorrow’s intelligences.
Fourth principle: energy as the foundation. Clean, abundant and affordable electricity is the condition of all digital power. It goes to Africans first.
Fifth principle: education as the first investment. Every young African must be able to learn the skills of their time, starting with reading, writing and arithmetic.
Sixth principle: equality between women and men. No revolution will succeed by leaving half of our talent behind.
Seventh principle: process our resources at home. Our minerals, our agricultural products and our data must be processed on the continent, so that value and jobs stay in Africa.
Eighth principle: unity before dispersion. Facing global giants, no African country carries weight alone. We think, negotiate and invest together.
Ninth principle: intelligence in the service of humanity. African artificial intelligence serves human dignity, justice and balance among living beings.
Tenth principle: the diaspora as a bridge. Africans abroad are not a loss but a strength. We call on them to return, invest, pass on their knowledge and build with us, wherever they live.
Eleventh principle: build within the limits of the planet. Our right to development is not negotiable, but we will not build our power by destroying the Earth. Every project will be assessed against the nine planetary boundaries.
Our commitments
To States and the African Union, we ask for artificial intelligence strategies with real budgets, protection of citizens’ data, a share of public procurement reserved for African solutions, and joint leadership of the major continental projects.
To the African Development Bank, the World Bank and donors, we ask for dedicated windows for AI infrastructure, digital energy and talent development.
To philanthropic foundations, starting with the Gates Foundation, which has announced it will spend most of its 200 billion dollars in Africa by 2045,5 we ask that they fund lasting institutions: digital health, scholarships, open research, NBIC-4IR Smart University Cities, public data, and African languages in digital tools.
To investors and the diaspora, we ask that they place part of their capital and skills in African technology companies.
To universities and research centres, we ask that they multiply training in artificial intelligence, mathematics and data science, and work hand in hand with businesses.
To African businesses, we ask that they adopt artificial intelligence to become more competitive, and create skilled jobs for our youth.
To the countries of Asia, which achieved in two generations the catch-up we want to accomplish, we propose alliances between equals: twinned universities, technology transfer, project financing and open AI models.
To the major global technology companies, we propose fair partnerships: investment, skills transfer and respect for our laws, in exchange for access to our markets.
To African youth, we say: train, dare to start businesses, contribute to the digital commons. The future is not written. It will be what you make of it.
Our pact with the planet
Because intelligence without wisdom leads to predation, we make nine commitments to the Earth, one for each planetary boundary.
- For the climate: power our data centres, campuses and factories first with sun, water, wind and geothermal energy.
- For biodiversity: protect our forests, savannahs and species, and put artificial intelligence to work monitoring them.
- For land: build on land that is already developed rather than clearing new forests, and rehabilitate every mining site after use.
- For fresh water: cool our machines and irrigate our fields sparingly, never taking from people the water they need.
- For nitrogen and phosphorus: feed our depleted soils with precision, without repeating the fertiliser excesses that have polluted rivers and seas elsewhere.
- For the oceans: cut our carbon emissions and protect our coasts, mangroves and fisheries.
- For novel entities: refuse to become the world’s electronic dump, and build on the continent an industry of repair, reuse and recycling.
- For the air: phase out our dependence on diesel generators and polluting fuels.
- For the ozone layer: fully apply the Montreal Protocol and the Kigali Amendment in all our cooling systems.6
We ask the countries that contributed most to crossing these boundaries to recognise their historical responsibility, and to fund Africa’s clean transition accordingly.
Our roadmap
We commit to carrying the eight major projects described in this book: the green data centre corridor, the African large language model, the network of NBIC-4IR Smart University Cities, the African Data Bank, the diaspora deep-tech fund, local processing of minerals, smart agriculture, and interoperable digital identity and payments.
We set ourselves three horizons. 2030, so that every project has a pilot running in at least one country. 2035, so that these pilots are scaled up and produce measured, published results. 2063, the centenary of African unity, so that Africa has become one of the world’s great powers of intelligence.7
Our call
We call on all men and women of goodwill, in Africa and around the world, to join this movement: leaders and citizens, researchers and entrepreneurs, financiers and philanthropists, Africans on the continent and in the diaspora, friends of Africa from every country.
Our ancestors carved the first stone. It is up to us to build the intelligences of tomorrow, without destroying the Earth that carries us.
Join the Builders of Intelligences.